Best Value - In-Wall Relay Switch - with Power Monitoring + WiFi + ESPHome

[NathanR (Nathan Riddle)]

Best Value or Cheapest In-Wall Relay Switch

Must have:
-Power Monitoring
-WiFi
-ESPHome [A way to flash] (soldering is just fine with me, I hate software ‘hacks’)

I want a Sonoff S31 in the Mini R2 package (why the heck is the R2 not power monitoring I’ll never know).

The Sonoff S31 is ~$9 on sale, why is everything else (looking at you Shelly 1 PM ~$18) so expensive?

Shelly 2.5 is a bit better priced (per ch), but still expensive @ $15/ch. And you have to have a suitable location with two devices you want to control.

Am I missing anything else?

Sonoff Dual R3 keeps coming up as the winner for price/ch.

I made a comparison chart.

Shelly Comparison

Previous thread(s):

Anyone using smart outlets or in-wall Shelly/sonoff relays in lieu of smartplugs?

My wife finds the smartplug bricks to be unsightly and I concur. But on the positive side, if one dies, it’s super easy to replace. I’d love to just replace my outlets with smart outlets - or stick a Shelly relay or Sonoff Mini in the wall behind the outlet - but I’d really want to make sure they’re solid so I won’t have to replace them. I also want to make sure I’ll have local control. (Not sure if the smart outlets can be flashed with other firmware.) Anyone have much experience with these? Pr…