Smart plugs with energy monitoring and local control

What local control means for a smart plug

Local control means a plug takes commands from a controller on the same network without a round trip through the maker's servers. The Connectivity Standards Alliance describes Matter as a local connectivity technology. It adds that Matter-only devices need an internet-connected controller, such as a smart speaker or hub, to be controlled away from home.[1]

Local control has several forms. A Matter plug talks to a Matter controller on the home network. A Zigbee or Z-Wave plug talks to a coordinator or controller radio. A Wi-Fi plug can expose its own local API, and an app can reach a plug on the same network.[1–4]

A plug can be local on one connection path and cloud-only on another.[1]

Energy monitoring is a separate fact from local control. Shelly lists voltage, current, power and energy readings. Meross shows real-time and historical power use in its app. Tapo tracks the energy use of connected devices and lets the owner enter an electricity rate to estimate bills.[5–7]

Shelly plugs and the local API

Shelly Gen2 and later plugs connect to Home Assistant locally. Home Assistant says Gen2+ devices, including Gen3, use the RPC protocol with no extra setup by default and that the cloud connection is not needed. It classifies the integration as Local Push.[2]

Shelly lists voltage, current, power and energy measurement for the Shelly Plus Plug S, the Plug PM Gen3 and the Plug M Gen3. It lists the Plug M Gen3 for Matter over Wi-Fi as well. The Shelly Power Strip 4 Gen4 measures power on each of its four sockets and lists Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth, Zigbee and Matter.[5][8][9]

Shelly also sells Z-Wave plugs. The Shelly Wave Plug S meters power, supports Z-Wave Long Range and uses 864 MHz and 868.4 MHz, so it is a European-frequency model.[10]

Matter plugs with energy monitoring

Several makers sell Matter over Wi-Fi plugs that report power. The Tapo P110M and Kasa KP125M are Matter-certified plugs with energy monitoring. TP-Link says a firmware update dated 29 July 2025 added Matter 1.3 energy reporting, with the P110M first.[7][11][12]

Meross sells the MSS315 Matter Smart Plug with Energy Monitor and describes a completely local architecture. It needs a 2.4 GHz network with IPv6 and a Matter-compatible hub. SONOFF sells Matter over Wi-Fi plugs that monitor energy, including the S61STPF for Type F sockets at 16 A and 3,840 W and the S60TPG-M for Type G sockets. Both list a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network and pair through the eWeLink app or a Matter-compatible app.[6][13][14]

Eve Energy is a Matter over Thread plug with power metering. Eve lists it at 120 V, 15 A and 1,800 W for the United States and Canada, and it needs a Matter controller and a Thread border router.[15]

Local control without Matter

TP-Link states that Tapo plugs on the local network stay reachable through the Tapo app when the internet is down, with Bluetooth used only for setup. The Tapo P210M in-wall outlet tracks energy use and is Matter-certified. Tapo lists the same behavior for it.[7][22]

SONOFF's S60 Wi-Fi plug tracks energy and lists a local mode in the eWeLink app, which needs the phone and the plug on the same network. SONOFF also lists a bridged Matter route through its eWeLink CUBE OS Matter bridge.[23]

The Zigbee version of the S60 tracks energy use, works as a Zigbee router and needs a Zigbee 3.0 hub or coordinator. Home Assistant describes a Zigbee coordinator as a hardware radio adapter, typically a USB dongle. The Third Reality Smart Plug Gen2 (Power Metering) is a 15 A Zigbee 3.0 plug that monitors energy and repeats the Zigbee signal.[3][24][25]

The Zooz ZEN04 800LR is a Z-Wave plug that lists 400 ft of line-of-sight range, or 1,300 ft with Long Range enabled. Home Assistant requires a supported Z-Wave adapter for Z-Wave.[4][26]

Hardware each local path needs

Each local path has its own hardware requirement. A Matter over Wi-Fi plug needs a Matter controller on the home network, which Meross states on its product page. A Matter over Thread plug such as the Eve Energy also needs a Thread border router.[6][13][15]

A Zigbee plug needs a coordinator and a Z-Wave plug needs a Z-Wave controller. Home Assistant lists a supported Z-Wave adapter as a prerequisite and describes the Zigbee coordinator as a hardware radio adapter. Shelly's Gen2 and later Wi-Fi plugs need no extra radio, because Home Assistant talks to them directly over the home network.[2–4]

Tasmota and ESPHome firmware

Tasmota is open-source firmware for ESP chips, and its documentation describes total local control. A flashed device is controlled through MQTT, a web UI, HTTP or serial, and the firmware can run without any server. It supports energy monitoring sensors and smart meter interfaces and runs on the ESP8266 and ESP8285 and the ESP32 family.[19]

Flashing Tasmota replaces the maker's firmware on the chip. ESPHome builds firmware from a YAML description and connects to Home Assistant locally.[19][20]

Plugs that report power but state nothing about local control

Some plugs report power use and have no maker statement on local operation. The Govee Smart Plug Pro with Energy Monitoring is a 15 A, 1,800 W plug on 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth that works with Alexa and Google Assistant.[27]