UK Smart Plugs 2026

Hardware
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I'm new and wondering about the pros and cons of different Smart Plugs in UK. I guess there are two categories, control, and control plus energy monitoring, but correct me please, if I'm wrong.

Control Plus Energy Monitoring

I see SONOFF, Shelly and TP-Link as quality, and also found UPXNBOR. Also Ecoflow + Shelly joint branded, but I suspect only useful with Ecoflow products?

I have WiFi and ZigBee networks.

Examples:

Are any of these NOT useful without a cloud service? This article suggests only the Shelly is good for Home Assistant, but I'd guess that SONOFF are good with HA too, but what about others?

Have you used any of these and if so what for?

The prices vary from £7 to £30 so what are the pros and cons here?

Any others to consider and if so, have you used them?

If you include a link to the manufacturer page for any others I will add them to the OP. Or you can edit the Wiki post yourself of course.

UK only thanks.

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You could extend your list with 50 others.
But first think what you need to switch, not all plugs are equal. Read specs and compare.
Zigbees are likely all compatible, from wifi options go with Shelly.

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Basically, there's tens of devices out there...

  • IKEA kit is very safe, cheap, and easily available.
    The latest Matter plugs should be good, but their Matter implementation has a few questions over it. Their Zigbee kit works well.

  • Sonoff WLAN used to be good, but I'd ALWAYS flash the ESP8266 uP with Tasmota firmware for local-only.
    The advantage it was possible to hack-in sensors like DS18x20 temp probes for extra automations.

These days, I'd go with...

  • Shelly - the latest kit isn't cheap, but the ESP32 kit works across MULTIPLE protocols (more than IKEA) and includes power measurement, with BTLE proxies.
    Some kit can run Tasmota or ESPhome, but Shelly firmware has lots of tricks and a good HA integration.
    Shelly Matter works with HA (tested a Mini4RM, so not a plug).

Some YT videos (e.g. a recent IntermitTech) showed AliExpress plugs pre-flashed with ESPhome, but were EU Shucko - not looked for UK variants as I don't trust the certifications.

Avoid Tuya (penny-pinching uP, harder to flash with something local). I found it easier to replace the uP with a packaged ESP than use open Bekken firmware.

A cursory glance at EcoFlow (and similarly SigEnergy) suggests they may be just re-branding Zigbee/WLAN devices with their own inverter/hub. I'm not interested in a single-vendor lock-in, so I'd prefer HA tells the inverter what to do, rather than the other way around.

Cheaper kit may be fine for 5A, but I'd not recommend trying 13A. Even Shelly suggests 10A, and not the full 3kW so be careful out there. Shelly offers a 25A module which might meet its specs properly and replace the Sonoff TH16 for higher-current use.

A reasonable range of UK kit can be found at:

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My base of experience is with European plugs, but most of this should apply similarly.

There are a few basic things you need to decide upon first:

  • rf technology (wlan, zigbee, matter/ thread, z-wave)
  • electrical rating (10A, 16A, etc.)
    to quite some extent this comes down to trust, especially with the cheaper (basically noname) devices.
  • power metering capabilities
  • local-only control vs cloud based controls
  • any extra requirements (outdoor rating, etc.)

Personally, I don't see any reason not go full-featured (16A, again this is a hot topic with the cheap stuff, and power-metering capabilities), because the price difference just doesn't adequately represent the loss of features.

If you care about local-only control, even without home-assistant in the loop (although it still fully integrates), devices pre-flashed with (or officially/ easily flashable without opening the plug with-) tasmota is kind of a gold standard for WLAN based devices. A few years ago pretty much all devices could be flashed with tasmota easily, these days that is harder (alternative MCUs, not supported by tasmota (but maybe OpenBeken), case needs to be opened, but is welded/ glued shut and can't be opened without damage, small scale sodlering required), so prefer pre-flashed devices despite their higher prices. OpenBeken can be an alternative as well (for non-Espressif MCUs, but disassembling/ flashing is not for the faint of heart). All of these just need WLAN coverage to function, they can integrate with home-assistant via mqtt and/ or matter, but can also concurrently be used with other ecosystems (google, alexa, …) or via browser locally.
My advice from this category would be for tasmota pre-flashed and not esp8266/ esp8285, so esp32/ esp32-c3 or better. Reasoning for this is that you need at least an esp32 for WPA3 compatibility, which is becoming a topic (yes, current tasmota versions no longer enable WPA3 support, but that's software-only and may be fixed, if needed). esphome can also be flashed, WPA3 support (for esp32 or better, not esp8266/ esp8285) enabled by default, some -but more limited- local-only control/ configurability available via local browser access, but it's more integrated/ dependent on home-assistant.
All of these (tasmota/ esphome/ OpenBeken) are valid choices for WLAN based devices, with full local-only functionality (plus all the conveniences home-assistant integration can give you), but avoid WLAN based devices that don't explicitly use either of those firmwares (because those usually depend on the proprietary cloud services).

zigbee, matter/ thread or zigbee will each need some kind of hub- or USB dongle to function, these devices can (usually) be integrated directly into home-assistant without using their corresponding proprietary hubs or cloud services. Usually these devices are cheaper, but you need the hub/ USB dongle and the running home-assistant instance for them to function (beyond manually pressing the button on the plug), there is no local webpage for configuration and no (remote-) control when home-assistant is down for any reason. It does make sense to pick an rf technology you are familiar with and try to stick to it throughout, to the extent possible. At this point, especially on the cheaper end, I would suggest zigbee for this - matter/ thread is still very new (but IKEA is pushing it strongly, although their devices often still have a zigbee fallback mode).

For devices that are important to you or high wattage, it does make sense to spend on name-brand devices (IKEA is decent quality) and tasmota support, both because you may have some confidence that they'll actually do 16A and for the advanced local-only possibilities that don't hard-depend on home-assistant to run. It just gives you more options (but there is some inherent risk in tasmota/ esphome/ OpenBeken upgrades to brick the device/ requiring disassembly and serial flashing, which usually is not fun). But given the price delta (less than half), some (e.g.) zigbee plugs are a nice addon (also to improve the mesh density) nevertheless.

In terms of zigbee vs matter/ thread vs z-wave, just go with what you are already familiar with (~= have already deployed). It does not make sense to set up another hub/ mesh just for a power plug, if you're already invested into some other rf technology. Neither of these rf protocols allow the end devices to talk to the internet (contrary to WLAN, where it is common for those to be directly cloud-based), but their official hardware hubs usually do depend on cloud interaction(!), so I would recommend not using (or even buying) those, but to use native zigbee coordinators, thread border routers, z-wave dongle with home-assistant instead, which will allow you local-only service (as long as home-assistant is running).

Here we can diversify a little:

  • tuya/ WLAN
    bad, because cloud access is required
  • tuya/ zigbee
    fine, if you use your own zigbee coordinator with home-assistant. these devices might not be great, but they will usually do well enough (trusting them to do 16A long-term/ repeatedly might be a hard ask, though; there are some better known companies offering tuya-zigbee devices, which hopefully are more dependable).

If you start from zero, with only a few (~1-3) plugs in mind, WLAN/ tasmota (and 16A/ power-metering) probably makes most sense. Yes, you pay more (>= 15 EUR) for the plugs (especially with tasmota preflashed or officially flashable), but you only need your existing WLAN infrastructure and can even get decent functionality without home-assistant running (and all the niceties while it runs).
Going into zigbee territory offers a cheap entry (<10 EUR for a USB based zigbee coordinator (e.g. EFR32MG21) XOR ~15-20 EUR for an ethernet/ tasmota based zigbee coordinator (e.g. esp32 + EFR32MG21); yes there are better alternatives which can make sense, yes replacing a coordinator later is not nice) and cheap devices (~5 EUR for a plug, lots of different/ cheap sensors).

With IKEA heavily pushing matter/ thread, this can be a sensible choice as well, as they do provide affordable devices with decent (~trustworthy) electrical quality (many of those still offer a zigbee fallback mode), but setting up a thread border router is a tad more involved and it's still early days for thread (fewer device options, no cheap-cheap noname options, more interoperability 'surprises'). This does require some hope for other vendors to jump on this wagon in the future (or being content with IKEA as (almost) the sole supplier).

I have no personal experience with z-wave.

Disclaimer: I have personal experience with tasmota, esphome, openbeken and tuya-zigbee, not with thread or z-wave; I do care heavily about local-only/ cloudless operations. I do prefer tasmota, but availability and pricing of cheap zigbee stuff (lots of battery powered sensors, which is not possible with Espressif MCUs) does tilt the scales in that direction (at least in numbers). FloatingBoater has raised many important aspects.

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Interesting point - I had no idea they offered Zigbee kit after seeing the debacle with the original Tuya cloud integration, and the removal of ESP82xx. ISTR the Tuya cloud integration got updated a few years later.

If you want a longer read comparing different protocols, get a :hot_beverage: and have a look at my ramblings...

My architecture plan is to move from Zigbee + Z-Wave to Matter/Thread + Z-Wave but the questions over the IKEA Matter firmware are worrying - even Frenck mentioned Matter issues on the 2026.05 livestream! (and remember HA is used as a compatibility baseline test)

TL;DR Either YOU pay for the manufacturer to test kit and get certification or YOU test kit with sweat equity with custom quirks and workarounds.

I started with DIY PCBs and importing US 110V X10 kit and modifying it for UK 240V so have some history.

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@slh @FloatingBoater thanks so much for taking the time to guide me on - not complaining - a much more complex quest than I realised!

I can narrow my wish list down quite a bit though:

  • ZigBee: because l already have a SONOFF ZigBee dongle and a couple of SONOFF temperature and humidity sensors or..
  • ESPHome: where I want more capabilities (such as built in Metering and device based automations)
  • No Cloud: for independence and privacy
  • HA App: I don't mind dependence on HA for control atm, BUT...
  • Metering in Plug: I would like power monitoring to include sampling in the plug rather than just being calculated in HA using polled values
  • Reliability: going for 16A sounds wise, but not essential at this point as I'm learning rather than implementing something specific, but it is BS certification that really matters
  • Cost: I'm only starting small so not too price sensitive yet

I hadn't even come across Tuya before you mentioned it! So much to learn :laughing:

I'll do some searching based on the above but if anyone knows of a UK plug meeting the above please share.

I think in plug metering might be the tricky thing for me to check, assuming it's available!?

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If you read this forum there is mention of Athom, which you can buy pre-flashed with ESPHome (my preferred platform because of its local integration with HA and because I have learnt how to use it!) and seems to provide pretty accurate power / energy numbers. I have run about 15 of them for three years without any failures. However, you will see on this forum some complaints.

Perhaps it is all in the expectations but when I look at most of these devices they are so small that I have no believe that they will handle continuously their quoted rating. They are all made to a certain price point. So I would never use them for say an immersion ….. perhaps a washing machine at a push (not critical). My plugs only do amps and lighting. That might be the reason they have not failed. Anyway good luck!

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Athom also known as IoTorero these days.

If you want in-plug metering, you need tasmota, esphome or OpenBeken and WLAN. Out of those options, I still favour tasmota, because it's more complete without home-assistant.

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IoTorero is what IntermitTech unboxed on YT recently - looked like generic Shucko plugs, but with ESPhome pre-installed which is useful.

Although they have changed their name, they do seem to offer BS1364, but using ESP8285 which works fine, but these days an ESP32 is more useful.

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Better than 8A, but doesn't change the fact that it's rating for resistive load. You can't plug a 16A pump to 16A plug. Serious manufacturers give specs for different load types. For uncertified chinese crap it's just a worthless number.

You didn't loose anything, just saved you from troubles...

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Another twist, and another! Fantastic everyone, you are helping me learn fast without so far spending money on things I regret :rofl:

I think my starting out spec switched from ZigBee to ESPHome but will need to do some comparing. Maybe ZigBee where I just want simple lowest power, and ESPHome for more complex stuff. I'll probably try both, but ESPHome seems better than Tasmota... having read two comparison blogs. I question that because Tasmota seems to get more mentions. All fun.

I'm starting to get a broader understanding of the options, costs and capabilities.

:folded_hands:

Have edited my requirements:

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Under the heading Don't Try this at Home I'm thinking it would be interesting to get several plugs and plug them all into each other and compare their power measurements.

Has anyone tried this? Surely someone has :laughing:

This in part because before realising what a brilliant thing Home Assistant et al is, I bought two cheap stand alone temperature and humidity displays and they differ by quite a margin.

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FYI the Local Bytes (nice option I think) docs say ESPHome doesn't do cumulative energy monitoring. EDIT: I don't believe this is true as there are posts on the forum which seem to contradict this (here and here). Maybe @AAllport can clarify what is said in his docs?

Looking for energy monitoring plugs that don't rely on continuous polling:

If anyone understands the energy monitoring APIs of any UK Smart Plugs I'd love to hear what capabilities they have, particularly about sample value storage and cumulative power measurement.

Althom's no relay monitoring UK plug also interests me because high availability is also a priority, so I will probably get one, plus maybe one of each of the above to try out and check the reality.

I may as well get one of the Local Bytes plugs to check out too.

Any others that I really shouldn't miss?! I guess at least one Tasmota, so maybe two Local Bytes plugs, one ESPHome and one Tasmota.

And boom, another thing to consider...

https://www.xda-developers.com/matter-promise-is-a-mess-and-im-going-back-to-zigbee-only-devices/

But his gripes with Matter probably won't affect me (no big corp, no cloud), and you don't have batteries in smart plugs either. So my plan survives.

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Look under switch status.

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Many thanks. Details here:

For switches with power metering capabilities, the status payload contains an additional set of properties with information about instantaneous power, supply voltage parameters, and energy counters.

Status values here: Switch | Shelly Technical Documentation

Have edited my reply to include this.

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Don't edit replies, its confusing at best. You can post new updated summary if you want, keeping the sense and natural flow of replies.

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The way I edited keeps it clear I think.

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Yes, you did it well and its up to you what you do with your posts. I still recommend not to edit posts after you get replies. It asks lot of effort to understand what replies were done before you edited and which after. After all it's getting confusing. Generally, chronologic flow is preferred.

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The plugs I have used are Sonoff S60 (Zigbee), Localbytes Wifi and Localbytes Tasmota.

I have these different versions mainly because the price they were on offer at. Which led to being able to have some comparisons.

I'd say the Sonoff Zigbee was my goto device now. I have a Zigbee network of other devices. The Sonoff S60 has a built in Zigbee repeater. Very useful if other (Zigbee) devices are being used around the house.

Summary:

All are easy local access from HA. (No clouds involved).
Sonoff Zigbee uses Zigbee. (They also have Wifi versions, but I don't have that type).
Localbytes Wifi and Tasmota use Wifi. If you connect to them using your main internet Wifi router, you'll likely loose some (history) data during periods when/if the internet provider does updates or accesses the router. For me, it was typically on Sunday night for a short period or them causing a reboot.

Physically:
They're all quite similar. Sonoff has a slightly recessed base which enables fitting flush into a UK 13A switched socket easier.

LED on/off indicator.
Sonoff: The built in led is subtle.
Localbytes: Bright blue led. Might be seen as trendy, but far too bright in a lot of circumstances. Yes. It can be set to off. but then the indication is totally lost.

Power monitoring:
Sonoff: Voltage, Current and Power, plus Power totaliser.

Localbytes Wifi, Voltage, Current and Power

Localbytes Tasmota: Voltage, Current and Power, power totaliser, plus apparant and reactive power.

Other:
All have a pushbutton to turn on/off locally. This feature can be disabled in HA.

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'All' zigbee powerplugs do, at least by far most of them, regardless of the manufacturer. This is a common trait among 'all' (most) mains powered zigbee devices.