You don’t have to equip your whole house with expensive equipment—that may be monitored—to enjoy the ease of life that comes with a smart home. A low-cost best smart plug will suffice. They can go a long way toward transforming things like lights or televisions from dumb to smart with the simple installation of an app. Check out this buying guide.

Some Notes on Smart Plugs

Before you go out and buy a smart plug, there are a few things to consider.

#1. What are you planning to do with it?

Not everything you put into a smart plug will operate as you want it to. If you put an old window air conditioner into a smart plug, for example, you may be able to manage electricity to it, but you may still need to press the “On” button on the air conditioner to get it to start cooling, rendering the smart plug worthless. You’ll probably be OK if anything you wish to attach quickly begins working with the flip of a switch (such as fans, lights, or TVs).

#2. Keep in mind the sizes.

Smart plugs are heavy and thick. If you connect one into a socket, it may take up too much room, making it hard to plug anything else into the second socket. You can typically discover the dimensions of a smart plug on the firm or retailer’s website, so measure before you purchase and read customer reviews to see whether this is an issue.

#3. You’ll need to download an app.

To set up a smart plug, you’ll normally need to download an app, and here is where you’ll discover more specific options like the ability to make schedules and put many smart plugs into one category. If you want to utilize a lot of smart plugs in your house, purchasing from a single manufacturer will be simpler. 

#4. There’s a chance you’ll have trouble connecting.

You may need to reconnect your smart plug if your Wi-Fi or electricity goes off. It’s simply one of those little annoyances that come with having one.

Look for The Following Features

1. Monitoring Energy Use

Some smart plugs will track and show an appliance’s energy use on your phone. You can examine how much particular appliances cost you daily, even in standby mode, and identify methods to minimize costs and save money by doing so.

2. Dimmer

Some smart plugs include a dimmer option. If the smart plug is for lighting, this is a terrific feature since it offers you a lot more control than simply turning it on and off.

3. Timer/Scheduling

A timer is included with most smart plugs. You can use this to schedule when the appliance turns on and off, which is useful for turning on the lights while you’re away.

4. Make Zones

By connecting to groups of smart plugs, certain smart plugs may establish zones. You might use this to regulate many power points in a room simultaneously – for example, after you’ve gone to bed, you could want to turn off all of the downstairs lights.

5. Connectivity with Other Smart Gadgets

IFTTT, which has its applications, allows certain smart plugs to connect and interact with other smart gadgets. You may set it up such that if your smart doorbell detects a possible thief or someone attempts to open your smart lock, the best smart plug turns on the lights to make it seem as though you’re home.