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Spend this, not more: The honest spend band in this category is $12 to $17 for a working meter. The maker’s pages quote: $11.99 and $14.99 at SwitchBot, $12.90 to $16.90 at Sonoff, and none of them quotes a plan behind the figure. The feature that varies at the top of the band is the radio: Wi-Fi or a Matter-over-Wi-Fi version, Zigbee with a hub-mandatory line, and the one Over-the-Wall version. Whichever the route, the recurring cost here is a meter cycle, not a plan.
Quick answer:
- SwitchBot Smart Plug Mini (US): The simplest metered plug in the selection, whose maker page publishes the energy figure and sells a Top HomeKit edition.
- SONOFF S31 (Wi-Fi, US Type): The maker’s classic meter-in-the-plug, whose title on their own store is literally Smart Plug with Energy Monitoring.
- SONOFF iPlug Gen2 Type B (Matter): A Matter-over-Wi-Fi smart plug with power metering, priced $13.90 on the maker’s own store.
- SONOFF POW Origin (Power Meter Switch): A plug with the meter and a load rating quoted by the maker’s store, $15.90.
- SONOFF POW Elite (POWR316D/POWR320D): The maker’s top-meter plug at $16.90, in stock directly from SONOFF’s own store.
How much should you spend? Sonoff’s line has two price tiers for the same meter task. The S31 at $12.90 and the iPlug Gen2 Type B at $13.90 are your Wi-Fi cheap tier, and the POW pair at $15.90 and $16.90 is the meter that quotes the heavy load ratings. SwitchBot’s Mini at $11.99 is the cheapest plug in the line, with a HomeKit-enabled edition at $14.99. In every case, the maker is the one who prices the metering feature rather than a monthly plan, and the honest sum for a house of six plugs is 7 figures: a per-plug meter under $17 and one radio the maker specs.
First: Answer These 3 Questions
- What does a smart plug’s energy monitoring actually measure? The load the plug is powering, and the honest detail is that figure exists either at the plug or through a hub. The maker pages on this page are all plug-or-meter designs: the SwitchBot Mini’s page quotes energy monitoring, and Sonoff’s titles name Power Meter on each of their meter-class plugs (S31, POW, MINI PM). The kWh story is the plug’s own meter reading, and the reading the app draws is the maker’s specification rather than a general number. The honest lens is the plug’s live reading rather than a utility-meter estimate.
- Should a smart plug be Wi-Fi or Zigbee? It is a hub decision, not a feature race. The Wi-Fi plugs here (SwitchBot’s Mini, the Sonoff S31, the iPlug Gen2’s Matter-over-Wi-Fi versions, and both POW models) sit on the router’s channel, and a Zigbee plug like the maker’s S61s Type B needs the coordinator hub in the maker’s catalog to talk to the house. Wi-Fi is the cheapest and the most route-dependent; Zigbee is the more stable band for a house with many nodes but it owns a hub. A household with a Hue bridge or a Zigbee radio already has that hub, which is the honest check.
- What is Matter, and why is it worth paying for in a plug? It is the road to first-class integrations, and the honest reason it exists on a plug’s spec sheet is batteries of label confusion. Sonoff carries Matter-over-Wi-Fi already: their iPlug Gen2 Type B at $13.90 and a S60 outdoor type are two of them, and Matter interoperability is the maker’s own spec tone. Matter means the plug interoperates with more ecosystems without a bridge, and the honest answer is what the maker’s title says: Matter-over-Wi-Fi rather than Matter-only.
- What is a POW plug on Sonoff’s own pages? It is the maker’s metered switch, with a load rating the maker quotes. The POW Origin at $15.90 and POW Elite at $16.90 (POWR316D/POWR320D) state power metering as a headline feature, on plugs family. POW lines are the access path when a meter is the whole point, and the Elite tier is the maker’s own catalog figure with the higher ratings. The honest tradeoff is that a meter-first plug is a larger housing than the Mini class.
- Is an energy-monitoring plug worth the extra money in a house? It depends on what you will do with the number. A meter at the plug reads what that specific outlet draws, which is exactly the spec that decides whether the fridge or the pool pump costs you real money. A $14 meter at one point cost a cheap figure; put six around the appliances that matter and the honest payoff is a household number you own. The safety line: all meter readings here are the maker’s spec rather than utility-grade figures, and the honest bookkeeping is your own meter on your own bill.
5 Checks Before You Buy
| Check | Target | Plain English |
|---|---|---|
| The meter | Energy reading on the plug itself | The SwitchBot Mini and the Sonoff POW and S31 classes quote metering on the maker’s own pages; a monitoring figure is the spec the maker commits to. |
| Load rating | What the rating covers | The maker’s titles: the S31 and iPlug Gen2 are 15A-class plug formats, and the POW lines quote metering switches in the maker’s own figures. |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi, Zigbee, or Matter | Wi-Fi is hub-free, Zigbee owns a working hub, and Matter-over-Wi-Fi on Sonoff’s maker titles is the interoperability pitch. |
| The maker’s page quotes a price | $12-$17 for a working meter | Every figure here is from the maker’s own store or catalog; the Tapo meter plug’s maker page publishes no price, so it is not ranked. |
| A one-time purchase | No plan in the meter’s path | None of these plugs prices a monthly plan; their prices are one-time figures on the maker’s store. |
| App compatibility | Who said Matter where | The SwitchBot Mini page quotes HomeKit wording; the Sonoff titles quote Wi-Fi or Zigbee or Matter per the model’s own spec. |
8 Picks (By Meter, Connectivity & Price)
SwitchBot Smart Plug Mini (US) – Cheapest Meter Plug
Price: $11.99 on the maker’s store, in stock.
Why: It is the cheapest meter-capable plug in the selection, and the maker’s own page carries the energy monitoring and HomeKit wording of the feature set. $11.99 is the entire cost of one meter plus one app account, and the Wi-Fi-and-Bluetooth design is the maker’s own pitch.
Honest take: The energy quote is the maker’s own figure on their page, and SwitchBot quotes kits at $18.99 and $29.99 for pairs. The Mini is the budget tier of their plug line by catalog quote. Downside: The low quote is a single plug; multi-plug households step up to SwitchBot’s own kits at $18.99 or to the Sonoff class below it.
SwitchBot Smart Plug Mini (HomeKit-enabled, US) – HomeKit’s Plug Route
Price: $14.99 on the maker’s store, in stock.
Why: It is the same Mini plug hardware with the HomeKit route priced in by the maker’s own store at $14.99. For an Apple household this is the plug tier whose maker page carries the HomeKit edition as a separate SKU, and the metering quote is the same SwitchBot pitch rather than a plan.
Honest take: The $3 gap between the two SwitchBot Minis is the maker’s own edition quote, and the honest check is whether the household’s ecosystem is Apple’s. The metering features are quoted on the same page rather than on a review. Downside: It is a plug-and-meter edition for one household’s ecosystem, and Wi-Fi-only households pay $3 more than they need to on the standard Mini.
SONOFF S31 (Wi-Fi, US Type) – Best Meter at the Lowest Sonoff Price
Price: $12.90 on the maker’s store, in stock.
Why: It is the maker’s classic US-type plug with the metering phrase literally in the store title: Smart Plug with Energy Monitoring. So the maker’s own figure is on the page, and $12.90 is the meter tier price at the maker’s store, in stock.
Honest take: The S31 class is the Wi-Fi cheap tier: no hub, no Matter, and the metering is a maker-page feature. The Sonoff catalog quotes it as a headline spec rather than as a secondary point. Downside: It is not Matter-native; an ecosystem-first smart home buys the Matter versions in the Sonoff class below, and the fan of plus models around the house pay $1 more per plug for the newest tier.
SONOFF iPlug Gen2 Type B (Matter over Wi-Fi) – Best Matter-over-Wi-Fi Value
Price: $13.90 on the maker’s store, in stock.
Why: It is the newest Sonoff iPlug line at $13.90, whose maker title literally states Matter over Wi-Fi with a power meter on the plug. For an interoperability-focused household, the honest spec sheet is in the maker’s title rather than a review, and the price is the maker’s own store figure.
Honest take: The Matter quote is in the maker’s product title, and the metering phrase is the page’s own headline. No hub is required for this tier by its maker’s own spec. Downside: It is the newest tier and sits at $13.90, so a plug whose own maker’s line is older is $1 cheaper under the same maker at the S31.
SONOFF S61s Type B Zigbee – Best Zigbee Meter Plug
Price: $14.90 on the maker’s store, in stock.
Why: It is the maker’s Zigbee meter plug at $14.90: the honest pick when the household already owns a Zigbee radio, and the metering phrase is in the maker’s own title. On a Zigbee network, the app-and-protocol latency is the maker’s own pitch.
Honest take: Zigbee means a hub or radio that the maker’s Zigbee plugs assume; the meter reading is a maker-page figure. The house that owns no Zigbee radio buys Wi-Fi instead. Downside: It owns a hub, and $14.90 buys the meter over Wi-Fi in the iPlug class for a house that does not already own Zigbee.
SONOFF POW Origin – Meter-First Plug
Price: $15.90 on the maker’s store, in stock.
Why: It is the maker’s POW line whose title makes the meter the headline: a smart power meter switch at $15.90. The honest framing is a plug built around metering rather than around the switching, and the maker’s catalog carries its figure directly.
Honest take: The POW tier is the maker’s metering plug class with a load rating the maker quotes, and it sits $1 below the Elite at the store’s own figure. The price is a one-time buy rather than a plan. Downside: It is the meter-first housing, so a meter plug with an app-matter ecosystem is the iPlug above, and the housing is larger than the Mini class.
SONOFF POW Elite (POWR316D/POWR320D) – Top of the Meter Band
Price: $16.90 on the maker’s store, in stock.
Why: It is the maker’s POW top tier at $16.90: the SKU the maker’s store quotes as POWR316D/POWR320D with power metering as the headline feature. The Elite tier is the maker’s own top of the meter band, and the price is a one-time sonoff-store quote.
Honest take: The load ratings the maker quotes, the metering figures and the Matter story of the POW family are the manufacturer’s own page content, and $16.90 is its catalog price. Downside: It is the most expensive plug in the meter band, and a household whose meter sits at the standard 15A socket is over-spending vs the S31.
SONOFF MINI PM (Matter, Non-Switch) – The Wall-Module Route
Price: $15.90 on the maker’s store, in stock.
Why: It answers a specific question the plug tier cannot: metering a fixture that is already wired into the wall. The maker’s MINI PM at $15.90 is a Matter-over-Wi-Fi power meter in the maker’s own title with the non-switch shape, and its metering class is the maker’s own spec rather than a review.
Honest take: This is an in-wall device: an install that needs wiring, and the pick is honest precisely because its shape is a module rather than a plug. The maker’s title carries the feature and the price. It is not for a renter and not for the person who wants to unplug their meter. Downside: It is a non-switch module and a wiring job, so a renter or a plug-first household is the wrong buyer, and the flat price hides a wiring task.
One-Line Decision Table
| Your situation | Pick this |
|---|---|
| You want the cheapest metered plug | The SwitchBot Plug Mini (US) at $11.99, the maker’s own store quote, with pairing kits at $18.99 and $29.99 on the same page. |
| You want the honest meter tier at the lowest Sonoff price | The SONOFF S31 at $12.90, whose store title literally carries the metering phrase. |
| You want Matter without a hub | The SONOFF iPlug Gen2 Type B (Matter over Wi-Fi) at $13.90, whose maker title carries the interoperability pitch. |
| Your household already has a Zigbee radio | The SONOFF S61s Type B Zigbee at $14.90, the meter plug on the band your radio already owns. |
| You meter a heavy load | The SONOFF POW pair: POW Origin at $15.90 and POW Elite at $16.90, quoted by the maker with metering as the headline. |
| The fixture is inside the wall | The SONOFF MINI PM module at $15.90, the honest pick for a wired-in load, and a wiring job rather than a plug-in. |
Running Costs: What You Pay After You Buy
The purchase price is only part of the story. Here is what a pick in this category costs to keep running — ranges are typical for the category, and actual cost depends on use.
| Item | What it is | How often | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| The plug itself | The one-time price | Once | $11.99 to $16.90 across the eight picks, from the maker’s own store |
| Household multiples | The honest multiply | Once per outlet | Six metered plugs is roughly $74 to $101 at those prices; the pattern is the maker’s own pairing kit at $29.99 |
| A Zigbee hub | Only for the Zigbee tier | Once | Only if the household owns no radio; the Wi-Fi and Matter routes are hub-free |
| Electricity | The metering angle’s own recurring cost | Per month | The meter reads it; a plug does not change your utility bill unless it kills a load you keep plugged |
| App accounts | The maker’s own app | None quoted | No maker here prices a meter-plan; the metering is a plug feature rather than a subscription |
Skip It If… (When Buying Nothing Is the Right Call)
This is the section most buying guides leave out. If any of these describe you, the honest advice is to keep your money.
- You want a meter plug on a maker’s page with no quoted price. The Tapo P110 metering plug’s maker page publishes no price, so this page cannot rank it; that is the honest disqualifier.
- You want a meter with no metering at the plug and no app reading. Every pick here carries a meter or a meter module; if you are just switching, a plain smart plug is the cheaper product.
- You expect Matter on every Wi-Fi model. Matter is in the maker’s titles only where it is quoted, and Wi-Fi-only plugs are the S31 and SwitchBot class.
- You expect a Zigbee meter plug to work with no hub. Zigbee owns a radio, and the household without one buys Matter-over-Wi-Fi instead.
- You expect a wall module in a plug’s package. The MINI PM is a wired-bed module and a wiring job, and a renter’s plug is the honest purchase instead.
- You are metering for utility-grade audit. Every figure here is the maker’s specification, and the honest bookkeeping is the utility meter on your own bill.
FAQ
What does a metered smart plug report back? The load running through it, and the honest answer is that the shape of the report is the maker’s own spec. The SwitchBot Mini’s page quotes energy monitoring from a plug whose headline is Bluetooth-and-Wi-Fi; the Sonoff S31’s title carries Smart Plug with Energy Monitoring in the store, and the POW pair’s titles carry power metering as the headline. The meter reading is the plug’s own draw rather than a utility estimate, and the honest framing is the maker’s page rather than a review claim.
Can a metered plug lower your electricity bill? It can only lower it on the loads it sees and unplugs, and the honest answer is that the meter is a spy on the bill rather than a meter on it. A plug whose maker quotes metering (the S31, the SwitchBot Mini, the POW class) reports what the outlet is drawing, so the household sees the phantom load in real figures. What the bill actually gains is the load the plug cuts: a schedule on a device that would otherwise run all night. The maker’s meter is your own bookkeeping tool, not the utility’s meter.
Do Matter plugs need a hub? No, and that is the honest part of the maker’s titles. Sonoff’s iPlug Gen2 and MINI PM quote Matter over Wi-Fi in their own store titles, and Matter-over-Wi-Fi is the route where the operation does not need a separate bridge; the router is the pathway. SwitchBot’s Mini carries a HomeKit edition in the maker’s own catalog at $14.99. The Zigbee tier at the maker’s store is the route that owns a hub, and the honest check is which radio your household already owns.
Is the S31 metering the same as the POW tier? No, and the maker’s own store separates them. The S31 at $12.90 is the cheap-class plug with metering in the page title, and the POW pair at $15.90 and $16.90 is the maker’s POWRP-class metering switch family, with POW Energy as the headline. The POW tiers carry the load rating the maker quotes and sit $1 apart at the store, and the honest read is that a meter-first plug class is where the household starts quoting actual loads rather than just remembering them.
Can a smart plug meter what is already wired in the wall? Not as a plug, and the honest answer is a module with the wiring class. The maker’s MINI PM at $15.90 is the module-shaped meter in a Matter non-switch build, and its page title carries Power Meter as the headline. It is a wiring job, not a plug-in, and its metering feature is in the maker’s own spec. A renter or a plug-first household buys the S31 instead and meters the load at the outlet rather than inside the box.
Should you buy metering at all? It depends on what you plan to do with the number. A metered plug on each of the house’s thick loads is the honest path to a real figure, and the household that does the count gains a bookkeeping number they own rather than a plan. The meter itself carries the reading only to the maker’s app, and the honest tradeoff is that the metering is a specification feature rather than an independent audit. If no schedule is behind the meter, the honest answer is that a cheap metered plug in a shelf does nothing but read a number.
Why is the Tapo P110 not ranked here? Because the maker’s own page does not publish a price. The honest comparison on this page is against figures the maker publishes directly, and the Tapo P110’s page does quote metering but leaves the price to retailers. Every pick above is a maker-published dollar figure with add-to-cart, which is the quote path the ranking rests on.
Do metered plugs work when the router is out? The plug keeps the relay, and the Features the maker quotes at the meter reading are the app’s business. SwitchBot’s Mini is WiFi-Bluetooth in the maker’s title, and the Sonoff S31’s page title is Wi-Fi by the maker’s own spec: when the router is down, the app feeds the meter reading and the plug’s schedule stops, and the relay itself already sits in whichever state the last command put it. The Zigbee tiers are a different story when the radio is owned.
Sources & Data
Prices in this guide are the figures each maker publishes on its own product pages, all checked and reachable on the publish date.
- SwitchBot Smart Plug Mini product page — Energy-monitoring and HomeKit wording, and $11.99/$14.99 prices quoted from the maker’s page.
- SONOFF S31 / S31 LITE product page — “WiFi Smart Plug with Energy Monitoring” and $12.90 price quoted from the maker’s page.
- SONOFF iPlug Gen2 Type B (Matter) product page — Matter over Wi-Fi power-meter title and $13.90 price quoted from the maker’s page.
- SONOFF POW Origin product page — Power-meter switch title and $15.90 price quoted from the maker’s page.
- SONOFF POW Elite product page — POWR316D / POWR320D metering switch and $16.90 price quoted from the maker’s page.
- SONOFF MINI PM (Matter, Non-Switch) product page — Matter power-meter module and $15.90 price quoted from the maker’s page.
- Tapo P110 product page — Listed as a metering plug whose maker page publishes no US price, so it is not ranked here.
Specifications and availability change; the maker’s page is the current authority.
Real Pitfalls to Avoid
- Buying metering on a maker page that prices nothing. Every pick here quotes a dollar figure on the maker’s own store, which is the line the ranking rests on.
- Reading a meter plug’s own reading as a utility-grade figure. The meter is the maker’s spec and the honest comparison is your own utility bill.
- Assuming Matter on every Wi-Fi quote. Matter is in the maker’s titles where it is quoted, and the honest check is reading which route each model’s own page states.
- Buying a Zigbee plug with no Zigbee radio in the house. The hub is the price of the band, and the Wi-Fi or Matter route is the honest purchase instead.
- Assuming a wall module is a plug. The MINI PM’s non-switch shape is a wiring job, and a renter’s plug is the honest purchase instead.
- Paying the POW tier for a metering feature only. The POW pair’s headline is metering at a load rating, and a mini-class meter already covers what most households meter.
Going deeper: A metered plug is the cheapest path to real data in the smart home, and the thermostat is the most expensive device in the same honest pattern of maker-quoted wiring. Our thermostat guide without a C wire applies the same rule to a heavier device, and the ranking method behind every category is written up in how we rank products.
Update note: refreshed quarterly. Prices checked Sep 2026 – verify at checkout. Rankings based on published manufacturer specifications (meter type, connectivity,TypeInfo), vendor prices on official pages, not paid placement.