Best smart plug with energy monitoring and local control for Home Assistant

Your smart plug should tell Home Assistant where the watts went—not make you open another app. Start with the Tapo P110M for Matter energy monitoring, Shelly Plug US Gen4 for local scripting and APIs, or THIRDREALITY Gen2 if you already have a Zigbee network. The right pick is the one that delivers power readings through the integration you’ll actually use.

Research guide: specifications and integration details come from the makers, Home Assistant and the linked projects.

For a different kind of household alert, our leak-to-main-shutoff guide pairs water sensors with a valve actuator and a practical test plan.

Quick picks: choose your local path

• Best Matter plug: Tapo P110M. Update its firmware, then use Home Assistant’s Matter integration for local power and energy reporting.
• Best practical multipack: Tapo P110M four-pack. Pick it when you want several matching plugs on the same documented Matter energy path. Use the same setup steps for each plug, then assign one job to each outlet.
• Best Shelly/tinkerer pick: Shelly Plug US Gen4. Use the native Shelly integration over Wi-Fi, with MQTT and on-device scripts available when you want to go further.
• Best Zigbee pick: THIRDREALITY Smart Plug Gen2. Add metering to the same radio network as your sensors, without adding more Wi-Fi clients.
• Already using Kasa? Kasa KP125M four-pack. Use the TP-Link integration for local metering. Keep that route distinct from its Matter switching support.
• Another Matter watt-reading option: SONOFF S61s Type B. SONOFF explicitly documents Home Assistant power, current and voltage readings. Choose it for watt-triggered jobs; the cited feature list doesn’t specify a cumulative Home Assistant energy counter.

The Parts lists above and below contain these five product configurations. Buy the path that fits your setup; you don’t need all five. New to the host and radio side? Start with the Home Assistant starter kit or browse the Home Assistant hub.

Which plugs report power locally?

Watts show what’s happening now. Kilowatt-hours add up what happened over time. You want watts for a washer-done trigger and energy for a usage dashboard. A plug can support both in its maker’s app while exposing fewer readings through another integration.

Plug	Recommended local route	Readings to build around	Setup requirement
Tapo P110M	Matter over Wi-Fi; TP-Link integration also supported	Power and energy over supported Matter firmware	Update the exact hardware revision; commission with Home Assistant
Shelly Plug US Gen4	Native Shelly integration over Wi-Fi	Power and energy through the local device API	Join Wi-Fi and add Shelly; cloud connection unnecessary
Kasa KP125M	TP-Link Smart Home over Wi-Fi	Local metering sensors	TP-Link credentials for local authentication; app compatibility setting may apply
SONOFF S61s Type B / S61STPB	Matter over Wi-Fi	Maker confirms HA power, current and voltage	Commission through Matter; use watts for these recipes
THIRDREALITY Gen2 / 3RSP02028BZ	Zigbee through ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT	Power and energy; exact Z2M device page lists both	A compatible Zigbee coordinator and one Zigbee integration

Home Assistant’s TP-Link integration documentation lists both P110M and KP125M and explains that readings travel locally rather than through the TP-Link cloud. Newer models still require TP-Link account credentials for local authentication. That’s local operation with an account-related setup step, rather than an account-free buying choice. Enable Third-Party Compatibility in the maker app if your firmware requires it.

Tapo P110M: the Matter starting point

Choose P110M when you want your plug’s energy readings on the Matter path. TP-Link’s official firmware announcement identifies US/EU/JP V1.0 firmware 1.3.2 Build 250526 Rel.171305 as the release adding Matter energy monitoring, with Home Assistant support explicitly verified. Use the current supported firmware for your exact revision; that release number identifies the documented V1 update.

The US product page covers the P110M and its multipacks. Update first, commission second, then look at the entities in Home Assistant. If your existing installation already uses TP-Link Smart Home, that local integration is another supported route.

These Matter plugs use Wi-Fi, so you can skip buying a Thread border router for them. Follow Home Assistant’s Matter setup guide using the Companion app and the supported Home Assistant OS/Matter Server route. Keep the pairing code somewhere you can find it again. Planning separate IoT Wi-Fi? Compare PoE access points, controllers and SSID/VLAN options before building that network.

Shelly: the plug you can grow into

Choose Shelly Plug US Gen4 when you enjoy making devices do a little more. Its device documentation lists the built-in power meter, MQTT and scripting components. Start with the ordinary Shelly integration: it communicates directly with the device and needs no cloud connection.

That gives you a useful first project today and room for local logic later. Keep this recommendation on native Wi-Fi/Shelly, so its Matter badge or optional Zigbee mode doesn’t distract you from the metering route you chose. The Gen4 specification also lists a local web interface and power/energy meters.

THIRDREALITY: give your Zigbee network a useful job

Already bought a coordinator for your sensors? Add the metering Gen2 plug. THIRDREALITY’s current product page documents energy monitoring with ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT, plus its repeater role. The exact 3RSP02028BZ device page lists power, energy, current, voltage and switching.

Use ZHA for the built-in route, or keep Zigbee2MQTT if you already use it. Give the plug to one coordinator stack. Our Zigbee/Thread coordinator guide covers the radio choices. Select Gen2 with power metering, rather than assuming every similar-looking THIRDREALITY plug has the same features.

Kasa and SONOFF: good fits with different strengths

Keep KP125M on your shortlist if you already like the Kasa workflow. The maker’s KP125M page lists energy monitoring, and Home Assistant lists the model under TP-Link Smart Home. Use that local integration for the readings. You can leave the question of future or revision-specific Matter energy support out of this purchase: the native metering route is the reason to buy it here.

Need six switched outlets in one spot instead? The smart power strip guide puts a desk or TV corner on a Kasa HS300 with a power reading per outlet.

Pick SONOFF S61s for a straightforward Matter watt trigger. Its US manual identifies the S61STPB as Matter over Wi-Fi. The maker’s feature overview specifically lists Home Assistant power, current and voltage. For cumulative usage, use the actual entities supplied by your firmware or Home Assistant’s power-to-energy integration guidance.

Why Govee isn’t a pick here

The candidate Govee H5086 four-pack sits outside the built-in paths above. Neither Govee lights local nor Govee Bluetooth lists H5086. A custom Bluetooth integration documents local metering, but is read-only and supplies no on/off entity. So Govee isn’t simply “cloud-only”—there is a community local route—but buy one of the picks above for this beginner-friendly control-and-energy project.

Set up the readings before the clever bits

1. Add your chosen integration under Settings → Devices & services. For Matter commissioning, use the phone workflow in the linked Matter guide.
2. Open the plug’s device page. Identify the power entity in watts and any energy entity with its displayed unit.
3. Connect an appropriate small load, turn it on, and watch the power history. Then turn it off and identify its standby level.
4. Add energy to the Energy dashboard using the individual-device instructions. A power-only device can use the documented integration helper to accumulate energy.
5. Build the automation from the power entity you just observed. Keep your phone’s Companion notifications enabled.

Don’t plug space heaters into smart plugs; keep them directly in a wall outlet, following CPSC’s heater guidance.

For a standalone display you can carry between appliances, see our plug-in power-meter guide. A meter answers “what does this use?”; an integrated smart plug adds “tell me when that changes.”

Want the plug to respond to the room? Our air-quality monitoring guide links CO₂ and particle readings to ventilation reminders or a compatible purifier, with the correct local or cloud sensor route.

Want the plug to help nearby sensors as well? Our weak Zigbee mesh guide shows where a powered THIRDREALITY router fits and why coordinator placement comes first.

Three things you can do with those watts

1. Holiday lights that turn on at sunset and off at bedtime—and tell you if a strand dies

Give your Tapo P110M or THIRDREALITY Gen2 a festive job. Connect a suitable strand of holiday lights, choose steady-on mode and watch its healthy power draw. Keep the plug and connections within their indoor/outdoor and load ratings.

Build three small automations:

• Sunset on: under When → Add trigger, select Sunset, the current UI option for the Sun sunset trigger. Leave the offset at zero and add an action to turn on your plug.
• Bedtime off: add a Time trigger, set At time to your chosen bedtime, then turn off the plug. Pick a bedtime after sunset for your lighting season.
• Strand trouble: choose Power crossed threshold, or Numeric state crossed threshold as the general fallback. Select the plug’s power entity, set Below to a threshold just below the strand’s observed healthy draw, and choose For at least 1 minute as a starting delay. Require the plug’s switch to be on. Then send your phone’s notify.mobile_app_… action a Message: “Holiday lights: power dropped—look for a failed or disconnected strand.”

Keep the strand in steady-on mode so blinking effects don’t imitate a fault. Try disconnecting the lights while leaving the smart plug on to test the alert, then reconnect them and test the scheduled off action. The switch-on condition keeps bedtime shutoff quiet. Adjust the threshold and delay to your readings; the alert spots an unexpected drop, leaving you to find the cause.

2. Make the washer tell you it’s finished

THIRDREALITY Gen2 or Tapo P110M can supply the power readings for this project. First follow the washer’s connection instructions and the plug’s load-type limits; a headline current rating alone doesn’t cover a motor’s starting load. Watch a complete cycle so a quiet soak doesn’t become a false finish.

Create a Toggle helper named Washer running. Build two automations:

• Arm: power rises above 10 W for 2 minutes → turn on Washer running.
• Done: power falls below 3 W for 5 minutes, with Washer running on → send your phone “Washer finished,” then turn the helper off.

Save the recipes with the washer idle, then start a cycle: rising power arms the helper, and the later drop sends the notification.

Those thresholds are starting examples: tune them to your cycle history. The helper stops every idle period becoming another “finished” message. Home Assistant’s numeric-trigger guide explains threshold crossings and For at least; those waiting periods reset on restart or automation reload. The Companion notification guide covers the phone action and required message.

3. Hunt the standby-power gremlins

Move your Shelly or Tapo between suitable small electronics and find the idle draw worth chasing. Measure a normal idle period before deciding what to switch off; always-on network gear may be doing a useful job.

For an automatic nudge, create a Toggle helper called Equipment should be idle and turn it on when you finish using that equipment. Give the reminder two triggers:

• Power crosses the threshold: the plug’s power rises above 20 W for 30 minutes.
• Helper turns on: add State changed, choose Equipment should be idle as Entity, set To: on, and For at least 30 minutes.

For either trigger, require both the helper to be on and the current power to be above 20 W, then notify your phone: “This device is drawing more than the expected standby level.” Now you get the nudge whether you flip the idle helper before or after the equipment starts drawing those watts. The helper-trigger route checks the current draw after the helper’s wait; choose the threshold from your readings and leave essential equipment powered.

Monthly cost card — chosen example, not a product price

Assume 10 W continuously, 24 hours a day for 30 days, at an assumed $0.15/kWh. That is 7.2 kWh and $1.08 per month. Use your own tariff and observed energy for your dashboard.

Assumed constant standby draw	Energy over 30 days	Cost at assumed $0.15/kWh
5 W	3.6 kWh	$0.54
10 W	7.2 kWh	$1.08
20 W	14.4 kWh	$2.16

The calculation is watts ÷ 1,000 × hours × electricity rate. These examples exclude the plug’s own consumption and aren’t promised savings. For varying loads, use accumulated energy rather than stretching one instant reading across a month. Our monthly running-cost guide walks through that method.

Buy Tapo for Matter energy, Shelly for local tinkering, or THIRDREALITY for your Zigbee mesh. Then build one useful alert before filling every outlet. A plug earns its place when its readings help you do something.

For hardwired loads and the mains, step up to whole-home CT energy monitoring. It puts circuit readings beside your plug data in Home Assistant.

Want plugs to respond to whether a space is occupied? The Home Assistant presence-sensor guide adds an away shutoff that combines resident location with clear room readings.

For a humidity-controlled plug-in fan, our room temperature and humidity guide pairs sensor choices with a periodic fan routine and the motor-load requirements.

Taking the display outdoors? Our outdoor smart-plug guide compares weather-rated Matter and Z-Wave picks, including the model that supplies watts for a holiday-light fault alert.

For a wired appliance or an existing control input, our Shelly plug, relay and meter guide separates outlet control, dry contacts and measurement-only retrofits.