5 Cheaper Smart Plugs That Work Without a Hub

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Upgrading to a smart home can get expensive pretty quickly, especially if you have to replace all of your appliances with their smart counterparts. Fortunately, there is a way to significantly reduce costs and still use your stupid devices. Simply plug a smart plug into a wall outlet, connect your device to it, connect the outlet to your Wi-Fi and you can turn your device on and off from your phone or even set it up on a schedule.

The good news is that smart plugs don’t have to cost a lot and can last a few years before needing to be replaced. In fact, you can find several solid options for less than $20 a plug, and many of them don’t even require you to set up a separate smart home hub to use them. This is because instead of connecting to a hub device, they are usually controlled via an app and connect via your 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network. This is ideal if you don’t want to worry about setting up an entire hub or just want to make improving your home as simple as possible.

To make sure we weren’t just choosing the cheapest options to highlight, we also focused on the top-rated smart plugs. In fact, every outlet on this list has an average rating of at least 4.0 stars on Amazon and at least 500 ratings.

If you also want to monitor how much energy your devices are using, a smart plug like the Tapo P115 is a great place to start. The Tapo app can track how much electricity a connected device uses and can even estimate how much it costs you. Smart plugs like the Tapo P115 can be a great way to save on the electricity bill because you can set schedules and countdowns. Another nice perk of the P115 is its Away mode, which is especially useful when you’re away for a while. It turns your devices on and off at different times to make it look like someone is home.

The P115 also doesn’t need a Tapo hub to work and it supports both Alexa and Google Assistant. The four-pack on Amazon costs $32.99, which works out to about $8.25 per plug. There’s also a two-pack for $19.99 if you don’t need four. One user even highlighted the energy monitoring in a five-star review of the two-pack, saying they liked being able to see how much electricity a device was using and that the outlets were easy to install and responded reliably through the app. In another review, a user noticed that some of their sockets stopped communicating with the app after just three weeks. However, they were able to reconnect the plugs and we even brought back all the information that the plug had previously reported.

Govee’s smart plug four-pack is another one of the budget-friendly smart plugs worth checking out. You can usually get the four-pack for $29.99, although it often drops in price. It’s also the highest-reviewed listing on this list, averaging 4.5 stars and nearly 14,000 ratings. Like the rest of the outlets on this list, the Govee option connects through its own app (Govee Home) and works with Alexa and Google Assistant. You can set schedules and timers, and even group outlets together, meaning you can control each one individually or turn several on or off at once, which is ideal for controlling entire rooms of appliances.

One reviewer explained how they hooked up their outlets to plant lights, tank lights, and a few small mood lights. This allowed them to control each light and set them on timers, while also making it easier to turn off their bed lights if they forgot to do so before crawling under the covers. Govee also sells a ton of other smart home gear, like its lights, so you can pair them with outlets to keep everything in one app. One buyer who was already using several Govee devices said the plugs connected quickly and he hadn’t yet had to worry about disconnections.

One of the main reasons to go for the Meross Smart Plug 15A is that it also works with Apple HomeKit, which is fantastic for users who want to operate their outlets through Apple’s Home app. The downside here, however, is that you technically need a HomePod or Apple TV device to act as a hub for HomeKit remote support to work through Apple’s Home app. If you just want to use the Meross app, you can configure everything without anything extra.

The four-pack costs $39.98 on Amazon as of this writing. This particular listing holds an average rating of 4.3 stars out of over 13,000 ratings. They’re also small enough that two of them can fit side by side on a standard outlet. These outlets support sunrise and sunset scheduling, making it easy to turn on your lights as soon as it starts to get dark outside. One user said they have recommended the smart plugs to several people and noted that they are simple to install and are their “go-to” outlet for HomeKit.

The Geeni Dot is sold in single or two packs, making it a great option if you only have a few items to connect. It usually costs $12.99 each on Amazon and has an average of 4.5 stars from nearly 6,000 ratings. The plug connects directly to your 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and does not require a hub. It also lets you set schedules and timers through the Geeni app and can be connected to Alexa and Google Assistant.

One user who purchased a two-pack noted that the outlets worked great and made it easy to turn their lights on and off remotely, even when they were out of town. They called the setup “effortless” and said they already had some of the cameras Geeni offers, meaning they could manage everything in one app. Another user praised the outlets, even going so far as to call them “the closest thing to ‘Star Trek’ you can get” thanks to how easy they make it to manage your lights without having to turn everything on manually. The biggest downside to this particular model compared to some of the other options on the list, however, is that users say you can only fit one Geeni plug into an outlet, as the overall design is too large for you to plug in another.

If you already use the Wyze app for other devices in your home, the indoor Wyze Plug will fit in perfectly. This is, however, the most expensive option on our list, with the Amazon two-pack retailing at $29.98. It has an average of 4.5 stars from more than 9,000 ratings, and like the others, it connects via 2.4GHz Wi-Fi without a hub and works with Alexa and Google Assistant. In addition to remote control and schedules, Wyze also lets you group sockets and offers a vacation mode – which works similarly to the Tapo P115’s away mode – which turns your lights on and off randomly in the morning and evening to potentially keep thieves away.

One reviewer who received the plugs as a gift said he has since ditched his old manual timers and purchased even more. They noted that they encountered occasional connectivity issues or bugs, but said these were generally easy to resolve. This is unfortunately a common problem with smart plugs because they operate off your internet connection. So this is something to keep in mind if you have an unstable internet connection. Still, if you’re already comfortable with the Wyze app and want to keep everything in one ecosystem, the Wyze Smart Plug is a slightly expensive but solid option.

When we put together this list, we not only wanted to highlight smart plugs that didn’t require a hub, but also plugs that were extremely affordable. Making your home smarter shouldn’t cost hundreds or thousands of dollars for the basics, and all of the outlets on this list should allow you to install something without breaking the bank. Additionally, we wanted to highlight smart plugs that had good reviews, and each option we chose has an average rating of over 4 stars on Amazon and thousands of ratings.