1. Amazon Smart Plug - Best Smart Plug
Our Favorite Features
- Turns non-Internet-connected devices into smart devices
- Compact design won’t block other plugs
- Easy setup
- Integrates with Alexa
Our Least Favorite Features
- Doesn’t work with Google Assistant
- Doesn’t work with Apple HomeKit
- Only works with appliances that have mechanical on and off switches
- Glitchy when it comes to usage
Turns Basic Devices Into Smart Ones
We were owners of a regular coffee maker; plugging it into the Amazon Smart Plug made it a smart one. We also had an old-school lamp, which Amazon Smart Plug made smart too. The Amazon Smart Plug took any ordinary appliance with an on and off switch and made it a smart device we could voice control through Alexa. It’s important to note that this plug is compatible with any Amazon device, like the Fire TV, Fire Tablet, Sonos, the Alexa App or the Echo show, which we tested in our Echo Show review.
Money-Saving Tip: For $24.99 you can buy a plug to make any regular device and smart device. This will cost you less than buying a smart coffee maker or smart vacuum and is a way to create a smart home without shelling out a ton of money.
Integrates with Alexa Guard Away Lighting
We plugged the lights in our family room into our Amazon Smart Plug so we could use Alexa Guard Away, a free, remote, self-monitored security skill that comes with the Echo. By connecting our smart plug to our Echo, we could have our lights randomly turn on and off to simulate a person being home. Because home invasions increase during the summer months when most people are on vacation or out of town, we were happy we pulled the trigger and purchased our smart plugs in the spring.2 Before we headed out of town, told Alexa when we left and set it up to automatically turn lights on and off at random times. By setting our lights to intermittently turn on and off, we felt confident people who didn’t know we were gone would think we were home. In fact, it was so believable, when we were on a trip to Philadelphia, a friend popped over on his way home from work to say hi. Because he saw the lights on, he thought we were home.