Best Smart Power Strips UK: 4 Top Picks [2026]

A smart plug controls one thing. Behind most UK televisions, though, there is a tangle of six: the TV, a soundbar, a games console, a set-top box, a streaming stick and a phone charger. Put a single smart plug on that lot and you either switch everything off or nothing.

A smart power strip fixes that. Each socket becomes independently controllable, so the console and soundbar can go off at midnight while the TV box stays powered for overnight recordings. This guide compares four strips that are widely sold in the UK with 13A plugs and long-standing app support.

As with everything on MyGadgetDad, these picks come from published specifications, manufacturer documentation and the pattern of independent UK reviews — not from hands-on testing.

Best overall: TP-Link Tapo P300. Three individually switched sockets plus USB ports, a mature app, and schedules that survive a broadband dropout.

Best for energy monitoring: TP-Link Tapo P304M. Four switched sockets with per-outlet consumption reporting, which is the feature that turns a strip into a diagnostic tool.

Best simple alternative: TP-Link Kasa KP303. Three switched sockets and two USB ports on the older, very well-established Kasa app.

Best for Apple Home: Meross MSS425F. One of the few affordable strips with genuine Apple Home support alongside Alexa and Google.

What a Smart Power Strip Actually Does

Three things, and it is worth being clear about which of them matter to you.

Per-socket switching. This is the real reason to buy one. Grouping devices by how you actually use them — always-on, evening-only, occasional — is only possible when each outlet answers separately.

Scheduling and automation. Sockets can follow a timetable, respond to a voice command, or join a routine such as a single 'goodnight' that drops several devices at once.

Consumption reporting, on some models. A metering strip shows what each outlet draws, which is how you find out that the thing quietly costing you money is the old set-top box rather than the television.

What a strip does not do is make any device more efficient. If you want the arithmetic on your own setup before spending anything, our standby power cost calculator will tell you whether your always-on load is worth attacking at all.

*Specifications change between revisions sold under the same name — confirm socket count, USB provision and load rating on the current listing before you buy. Prices vary; check the retailer.*

The P300 is the default recommendation for most UK households because it does the one job well and the software behind it is well maintained. Three mains sockets switch independently, the USB ports share a single always-on rail, and schedules are stored on the device so they keep running when the broadband drops.

In practice it suits a media unit or a desk: put the router or the TV box on an outlet you never switch, and give the console and soundbar their own schedules.

Choose it if you want reliable per-socket control and a well-supported app.

Do not choose it if you need consumption figures for each device — that is the P304M's job.

The P304M adds the feature that most strips omit: it reports consumption for each outlet separately, in the same Tapo app used by the P110 plug. That turns guesswork into a list you can act on, because you can leave it in place for a fortnight and read off which of four devices is actually costing you money.

It is the better buy if you are working through a whole house rather than just tidying one socket, and it pairs naturally with a home energy monitor at the consumer unit.

Choose it if you want to measure as well as switch, or you have four devices worth controlling.

Do not choose it if you only need on/off and want to spend as little as possible.

Kasa is TP-Link's older smart home line and the KP303 has been on UK shelves long enough to be a known quantity. Three switched sockets, two USB ports, and an app that many households already have installed for existing Kasa plugs.

Choose it if you already run Kasa devices and want everything in one app.

Do not choose it if you are starting fresh — Tapo is where TP-Link's newer development is going.

Apple Home support is unusual at this end of the market, and Meross is the brand that has consistently offered it. If the household runs on iPhones and a HomePod, this strip appears in the Home app, answers Siri, and can be used inside Apple automations and scenes — alongside Alexa and Google if you need both.

Build quality and app polish sit a step below TP-Link, and model names change frequently, so confirm the exact variant and its platform support on the listing.

Choose it if Apple Home is your main platform.

Do not choose it if you want the most refined app experience.

This is the part that matters more than any feature comparison, and after thirty years around electrical installations it is the part I would not skip.

Every extension lead has a total load rating printed on it, typically 13A / 3,000W for a UK strip. That figure is the total across all sockets, not per socket. Adding the devices up matters: a television, soundbar and console together are trivial, but a single fan heater can be close to the whole allowance on its own.

Manufacturers of smart strips generally advise against connecting high-draw heating appliances — heaters, kettles, irons, tumble dryers — and against daisy-chaining one extension lead into another. Follow the instructions supplied with the product and the appliance's own rating label rather than any general rule you read online.

Look for a UK-market product tested to BS 1363, and be wary of imported strips whose ratings are quoted only in a lower amperage. If a strip feels warm in normal use, unplug it and reduce the load.

Which sockets are actually switched. Some strips switch only a subset of outlets, and USB ports are frequently always-on. Read the spec, not the headline.

Socket spacing. UK three-pin plugs are bulky and power-supply bricks are worse. A strip with tightly packed sockets can lose you two outlets to one adapter.

2.4GHz Wi-Fi. Nearly all of these are 2.4GHz only. A combined router network name can complicate pairing; the router app's guided setup usually resolves it.

On-device schedules. Locally stored schedules keep running through an outage. Cloud-only ones do not.

Surge protection. Not every smart strip includes it. If you are protecting a television or a computer, check for it explicitly.