The lamp behind the sofa and the fan nobody wants to get up for are ordinary appliances with a physical switch, and a smart plug is one of the cheapest ways to put them on a schedule. Amazon’s own model, the Amazon Smart Plug, drops from its typical $24.99 to $12.98 on Amazon, a 48% discount in the single-pack version.
A Smart Outlet Without a Hub
Setup is about as short as it gets: you plug it in, open the Alexa app and follow the directions on screen, and Amazon says you’re finished in a few minutes with no smart home hub involved. It works with lamps, fans, coffee makers and other household devices that have a physical on/off switch, which covers most of what people actually want to automate. I’d start with a lamp, since a light that comes on at dusk is the quickest way to find out whether you’ll use the thing at all. The fact that nothing else has to be bought to get it running matters too, because many smart home gadgets quietly require a separate bridge that doubles the real cost.
The body is compact, and Amazon points out that it leaves the second outlet free, so a second plug can sit next to the first on a standard wall socket. Timers and lighting schedules are the obvious use, including making a house look occupied while you are away, and routines can chain everyday tasks such as switching on a light or starting the coffee. For the coffee maker to work that way it has to be left in the on position, because the plug only cuts and restores power.
Reliability is usually where cheap smart plugs fall short, and Amazon says this one reconnects to Alexa by itself after a power or Wi-Fi outage, so a storm or a router reboot shouldn’t leave you re-pairing anything. The listing also leans on Alexa+, saying you can create routines and schedules in plain language by telling Alexa what the plug should do, which I find easier than tapping through menus on a phone at the end of a long day. Say you want the hallway light on at 6 p.m. and off at midnight on weekdays: describing that in a sentence is simpler than building it step by step in an app.
The main limit is that voice control needs an Alexa device, so the app is what you get without one, and nothing in the listing suggests more than on/off control and schedules, so energy tracking shouldn’t be expected. The track record is solid, with a 4.7 out of 5 rating across 571,227 ratings and Amazon’s Choice badge, which is the kind of volume that makes the average hard to dismiss.
The 1-pack is the version on sale at $12.98, while the 2-pack is listed at $23.98 against $49.98, which works out to $11.99 a plug, so anyone planning to automate more than one thing should run that number before choosing. A second plug for a fan or a bedroom lamp is the likeliest next purchase once the first one works, and since each plug takes only one outlet in the pair, the second socket stays available for it.
For a first smart plug, the sale price covers the 1-pack at $12.98 instead of its typical $24.99 on Amazon.