Best Smart Plugs That Work With Alexa
In this post we cover the best smart plugs for Alexa and how you can get the most out of smart plugs that work with Alexa.
When you combine smart plugs with Alexa it will allow you to control your smart plugs and the devices connected to them using your voice. You can then use voice commands like “Alexa, turn on my lamp” to turn on lights using your voice. This requires a compatible Alexa device like the Echo Show or Echo Dot and a Smart Plug that works with Alexa.
You can add smart control to almost any device that plugs into a standard outlet. You can control lamps, lighting, fans and even coffee makers with smart plugs. Adding a smart plug that works with Alexa adds both smart home control and voice automation of your smart home with one simple upgrade.
What is a Smart Plug?
Smart Plugs allow you to control devices that plug into the wall through wifi remote controlled plugs that you can control with your voice or phone. All you need to do is plug in your new smart plug, set it up on the app and plug in the device you want to control and you’re ready to start controlling the smart plug through your phone. You can control almost any device that plugs into a regular outlet using a smart plug.
With smart phone control of your smart plug you can turn on and off your smart plug from your phone. With some smart plugs you can even dim and change the brightness settings when connected to a compatible lamp and bulb that allows dimming.
Once you set up the smart plug through the manufacturers app you will connect the smart plug to Alexa to enable Alexa smart home voice control.
Related Post: 101 Best Alexa Commands
What can you do with Smart Plugs that work with Alexa?
With standard smart plug configurations you can control your smart plug through your smart phone. Connecting your smart plug to Alexa opens up a whole new world of smart home and smart plug control because it allows you to control your smart plugs and devices connected to them using voice commands with Alexa.
You can control your smart plugs with Alexa commands by saying:
“Alexa, turn off lights..”
“Alexa, turn on fan.”
“Alexa, turn on toaster.”
“Alexa, turn on coffee.”
“Alexa, turn on lamp.”
Adding Alexa voice control to your home is a true luxury and will take your smart home to the next level. I’ve lived with smart plug and smart home Alexa control for almost 4 years now and there’s nothing like laying in bed at the end of a long day and telling your house to turn off the lights with smart plugs that work with Alexa.
To control your Smart Plugs with Alexa all you need is a smart phone with the Alexa app installed, a smart plug and a compatible Alexa device like the Echo Show or Echo Dot.
Related Post: Echo Show vs Echo Dot
I use a fan at night to block out the city noise when it’s loud and I have an Alexa compatible smart plug connected so that if I want to turn the fan on at night I can do it while laying in bed. It’s great to be able to quickly turn on and off devices I use everyday with just my voice weather I’m laying in bed or while I’m walking through my home.
Another neat feature in the morning is laying in bed and asking Alexa to turn on the “Coffee Maker” so that I have fresh pot of coffee ready before I even get out of bed.
Most coffee pots will allow you to set a schedule but I’ve found I don’t always wake up at the same time and often forget to adjust the schedule forwards or backwards which can lead to the coffee not being ready when I’m about to go out the door if I wake up early. With the smart plug combined with a coffee maker I just say “Alexa turn on coffee maker.” and it’s ready by the time I make it downstairs.
If you’re a coffee drinker you know how awesome it is to have a fresh pot of coffee waiting for you each morning.
What is Alexa? How Do Alexa Smart Plugs Work?
Alexa is the smart virtual voice assistant created by Amazon. You tell Alexa a command with your voice and she responds by fetching the information you ask. Alexa can provide you with updates on the weather, tell you the score of your favorite team, and even give you news updates. Beyond conveying information, and answering your questions Alexa can interface and work with smart devices to allow you voice control of your smart home.
Alexa can work with Smart Thermostats, Smart Doorbells, Smart Lights, Smart Plugs and a whole host of other smart home products to allow you to control your smart home with voice commands. Alexa can even work with your security system to allow you to arm it using your voice.
Related Post: Using your security system with Alexa
Best Smart Plugs For Alexa
1. Best Smart Plugs For Alexa: Amazon Smart Plug, works with Alexa
These smart plugs from Amazon were specifically designed to work with Alexa. The Amazon Smart Plugs take the top place because it’s hard to argue with a product that was purpose built to give the best user experience with Amazon Alexa from the creators of Amazon Alexa.
These smart plugs work with all Alexa devices allow you to use Alexa voice control to turn on and off your smart devices. You can also schedule your smart plugs that work with Alexa to turn on and off at a specified time or remotely control them through the phone app.
Their low profile design also allows you to place two smart plugs side by side on standard outlet plates. Overall these are simple, quality smart plugs that work great with Alexa from the creators of Alexa. The Amazon Smart Plug is great option if you are looking to control only one device per outlet. If you want to control more than one device per outlet the other smart plugs that work with Alexa give you options to expand the number of devices you can control at each outlet.
2. Best Smart Plugs For Alexa: Kasa Smart Wifi Plug By TP-Link
These TP-Link smart plugs that work with Alexa take the 2nd place because they are a name brand, they are reliable and work well with both Google Home and Alexa. Which might be of interest to you if you are looking for dual smart home system compatible plugs. But what sets these smart plugs apart is that the outlets are placed on each end of the smart plug so that you can easily plug in multiple devices without interfering with others. It turns each in wall outlet into two separate plugs that can each be controlled individually.
The TP link smart plugs also have a slim profile that allows you to plug in two smart plugs next to each other one on top of the other, so you can turn your 2 in wall outlets into 4 smart outlets with these smart plugs.
TP-Link is one of leading smart home brands and is well known not only for their smart home products like smart plugs and smart lights but also their smart home routers.
Installation of the TP link smart plugs is simple, just plug in, follow the instructions on the app and then add the devices into Google Home. Once the smart devices are setup with Google Home they are easy to use and work great with voice commands.
These Teckin Smart Plugs that work with Google Home are unique in that they provide they have both standard smart plugs and a USB charging port. The addition of a USB charging port is a great feature in my opinion because it gives you even more locations to charge your phone and you don’t need to carry around your charger, just the cable.
The Teckin smart plugs work great with Alexa voice commands and quickly charge phones when connected. The smart plugs work with both Google Home and Alexa and offer great reliability and a small form factor.
You can stack two of these smart plugs directly on top of each other in a standard wall outlet and still have enough space to plug in to devices you want controlled with the smart plugs and to plug in your phone charging cable. The smart plug also has built in over charging protection so you don’t need to worry about the charger over charging your phone battery.
Teckin is a newer player in the smart home space but they do provide quality customer centric products and they are listening to customer feedback by adding a phone charging USB port on the side of the smart plug.
To install the smart plugs you plug them in, follow the app instructions and then set up with Alexa. The installation is quick and painless, once connected to Alexa they stay reliability connected to work with your Alexa Voice commands.
This is our brand of smart plugs, and we offer simple, reliable smart home setup with these dual outlet smart plugs. They work with both Google Home and Alexa and allow you to turn two wall outlets into 4 independently controlled smart home plugs.
These smart plugs allow you to set schedules, turn on and off your lights remotely with your phone or using your voice and Google Home commands.
The installation is easy, just download the smartlife app, follow the instructions to setup the plugs on the app and then add them to Alexa by connecting the smartlife app through Alexa.
Our smart plugs are designed around providing the best connection to Google Home and Alexa so you can use your voice assistants to control them throughout your house. These are the smart plugs that I have installed throughout my house and they’ve worked flawlessly without issue for years. We worked hard to deliver these smart home switches to you and you can support us by purchasing these smart home switches.
The only difference our smart home switches have from the #1 and #2 ranking is that we don’t have a USB outlet and our outlets are front facing rather than side facing. Our design can be an advantage in some cases where you need to plug in larger plugs because you will have more wall clearance than the side mounted plugs.
Wemo has been a reliable smart home brand for years and was one of the first adopters of wifi smart home technology. They have come along way since their original Wemo smart plug that was one of the first wifi smart plugs ever available to the US market.
To install the Wemo smart plugs I plugged them in, setup them up on the Wemo app and they flawlessly responded to the touch commands on my phone. Setting these smart plugs with Alexa was a breeze. Once fully installed on the I had no problems controlling these using either my phone or Alexa voice commands. One important thing to note that is if they don’t come with the firmware update you will need to let both the app and the smart plugs install the update so that they will function properly with Alexa.
You should also follow the instructions and set these up first on the Wemo App manually and then add them to Alexa.
What I like about these smart plugs is that they have a slim profile that allows you to plug in two smart plugs right next to each other on the wall outlet and don’t block the other outlet when plugged into the wall. Not all smart plugs have the slim profile that the Wemo switches offer, and the thinner profile looks better on the wall than some of the larger smart plugs.
Wemo is manufactured by Belkin which is a well known wifi router brand, so you know that they are designed to reliably work with wifi routers and systems. Even though they are made by Belkin they are compatible with most newer wifi routers.
The Wemo smart plug interface is easy to navigate and is easy to learn, and will allow you to turn on and off the lights remotely, set schedules, use away mode to turn on the lights at random times when you are on vacation. Wemo smart plugs will work with Alexa voice commands to turn your devices on and off through Alexa.
These smart plugs offer the similar slim profile as the Wemo smart plugs and they also work with Google Home, Alexa and HomeKit. They offer an exceptional value for a 2 or 4 pack of smart plugs that work with Alexa and the other voice assistants.
The Vocolinc plugs offer easy plug in setup and installation through the manufacturer app and allow control of the smart plugs through either the manufacturer app or Alexa. The setup with Alexa is simple and can be completed in just a few minutes.
Vocolinc is a smaller brand than Wemo but they seem to have great build quality, connect reliably and offer the majority of the same features as the Wemo smart plugs. The smart plugs connect directly to your wifi network and allow both control in your home or remotely when you are away from your home.
What I like about these switches is the less is more approach with the Vocolinc manufacturer app. If you are getting these smart plugs it’s most likely because you want to control them with Alexa voice commands. So it seems like the manufacturer focused on making the connection to Alexa simple, reliable and robust rather than building out a ton of extra features in it’s app.
I think they made the right choice focusing on making a strong connection to Alexa because most users will end up using voice to control the smart plugs more often than not.
These smart plugs from iDevices work with Alexa and offer a unique slim profile for plugging into your existing outlets. Most other smart plugs have the plugs centered inline on the front face of the smart plug. This can sometimes lead to overcrowding the outlets if you have a large plug or transformer that needs to be placed in the plug.
The iDevices have the outlet placed on the end of the device which frees up space for plugs below and can make it easier to run cords without interfering with other devices.
The iDevices smart plugs offer easy setup, plug them in, follow the instructions on the manufacturer app and then connect the smart plug to Alexa. These smart plugs offer scheduling, energy monitoring and can be controlled within the home or remotely.
The iDevices smart plugs support Alexa integration and work with Alexa commands like “Alexa, turn of the lights.” They have a good form factor, and the end mounted outlet offers a unique solution to outlet and cord overcrowding.
Summary: Best Smart Plugs That Work With Google Alexa.
Choosing the right smart plug that works with Alexa can be a challenge but any of the 7 best smart plugs that work with Alexa we have listed are great options for automating your home. We’ve sorted through dozens of other options to provide the best smart plugs for you. Each of the options we’ve listed should give you years of reliable service and quickly respond to Alexa commands.
Each one of the smart plugs we have listed will work with Alexa. In deciding which smart plug is right for you it really comes down to which form factor you like and how you will be using the smart plugs. In general the slimmer profile smart plugs will make it easier to install multiple smart plugs in one location or connect other devices that require permanent power.
All of the smart plugs we have listed above will work with Alexa and Google Home which also gives you flexibility if you decide to switch voice assistants controlling your home in the future. should give you years of reliable service and quickly respond to Google Home voice commands.
Overall adding smart plugs to your home helps integrate non smart devices into your smart home ecosystem. Adding smart plugs to bedside lamps is a game changer and it’s incredibly satisfying when you’re laying in bed and turn off your bedside lamp for the first time using your voice.
I never realized how much I use the voice commands to control my smart home lighting until I found myself in a hotel at the end of a long day of travel and realized I couldn’t use my voice to turn off the hotel lights. Needless I dragged myself out of bed only to trip on my shoes I had kicked off on the way in. In that moment it was cemented in my mind just how great Alexa integration is with smart plugs like the ones we’ve listed above.