While the smart home is packed with handy devices, not all are as easy to start with as the humble smart plug. These mainstays of the smart home are inexpensive, provide smarts to dumb appliances, and can be controlled from your smartphone or sometimes from a voice assistant. While many plug into your existing sockets, they sometimes come as socket replacements for a more streamlined look. The better models offer power monitoring, API access, and the ability to trigger automations. And yes, they can save you money on your power bill, but that’s a happy by-product in my eyes, because they can do so much more.
Smart plugs are essential for smart home users
They’re not just for adding smarts to dumb devices
Smart plugs are one of my favorite smart devices, whether they’re used in the kitchen, the living room, or the home lab. Being able to control things like lamps or TVs from your preferred smart home platform is nothing short of magical, and the plugs are more versatile than simply swapping in some smart bulbs. Compatibility can vary depending on the smart home platform you have at home, so check for that before any other specifications.
That makes them the perfect companion for your holiday lights when you put them up, plus any year-round illuminations you might have in the yard for entertaining. Basic ones can toggle on and off or set timers for scheduled use, but the more you spend, the more features you get, including HomeKit or Matter support, light-up manual power buttons, and voice control. Just be careful when buying because some models will block the second socket on your wall plate, and that’s not very smart at all.
If you’re only using them to cut costs — you’re missing out
Smart plugs can be linked to a world of automation
Building your smart home with centralized control software like Home Assistant is something I wholeheartedly recommend. It’s the most user-friendly of all the automation and smart home controller software I’ve used, at least without going into proprietary control programs that require the entire house to have hardware from the same vendor.
The Home Assistant dashboard can view the power monitoring statistics from many brands of smart plug, but if that’s the only thing you’re using that data for, you’re only using part of the utility. There’s a ton of automations you can schedule in Home Assistant with smart plug data as the trigger:
- Setting your robovac to clean at 10pm, but only if the smart plug detects your smartphone is charging in the bedroom
- Turn down your speakers when the smart plug turns on your webcam
- Stop your dehumidifier from power cycling unnecessarily by having the automation power on at 57% and off again at 50%
- Put one on your subwoofer but not your other speakers, so you’re not blasting bass at night
- Using them on hair straighteners and other common causes of house fires with either a timer or geofenced switch-off condition tied to the user’s smartphone
You can also chain devices with your automations. Not every device will switch on automatically when power is applied, but adding a FingerBot to the chain could power on the smart plug, then press the Brew button on your coffee maker, or the button on a pedestal fan.
Smart plugs can also be smart hubs
Depending on the protocols, they can be hubs for Zigbee, Z-Wave, Thread, and more
Smart plugs usually use Wi-Fi to connect to your smart home, which gives you versatility in how you control them. If you pay a little more, however, you can find ones that act as Z-Wave, Zigbee, or Matter controllers, so adding in the smart plugs also provides a solid mesh network for your other smart devices.
That enables a whole world of sensors and devices that you can scatter throughout your smart(er) home, without having to worry if Wi-Fi coverage will result in drop-outs or other connectivity issues. Plus, none of those smart home protocols interfere with your Wi-Fi signal, so you’re not trading one set of issues for another.
Smart plugs aren’t just for saving electricity costs, but they do that too
For sure, smart plugs are often used as a primary indicator of power consumption in the smart home, with the aim of saving on the electricity bill. But they can be so much more with a little inventiveness, or looking for the right combination of features before picking them up. The end result will be a smart home that works with, and for, you, and not one that you have to adjust your needs to get used to.
