Shopping for a smart light switch or dimmer? These are the best of 2025

Looking for the simplest path to sensible lighting? Screw a sensible bulb right into a socket. Done! If you’re in search of one thing with extra class and class, nevertheless, you need to exchange the switches in your partitions. Besides, the most typical downside of counting on sensible bulbs with standard switches is that somebody inevitably turns the swap off. Boom! Your costly sensible bulb is now a dumb bulb that may’t be managed with voice instructions or be included in any lighting automations you’ve arrange.

If there’s a draw back to changing to sensible in-wall dimmers and switches, it’s putting in them. Don’t fear, it’s a simple DIY undertaking. Be conscious, nevertheless, that almost all–however definitely not all–sensible controls depend upon the presence of a impartial wire within the field. The impartial wire will provide fixed energy to the system’s radio, even when the load it’s controlling is turned off. If you’re not comfy coping with high-voltage wiring, rent an electrician for the job.

Now, don’t assume we’re besmirching sensible bulbs. They have their place, too; if for no different purpose than with the ability to change the colour of the lighting in a room. I’ve lived with sensible lighting in my house for greater than 15 years, and I can’t think about turning my lights on and off with out the choices of utilizing a voice command, in response to movement, on schedules, or with a smartphone app. You gained’t be upset within the outcomes.

Need extra info earlier than you select a particular product? We can reply all of your questions on selecting the best kind of sensible dimmer or swap on the previous hyperlink.

Why you need to belief us

TechHive’s editors and contributors have been testing sensible switches and dimmers for greater than that 15 years, putting in them in our personal houses to realize actually real-world expertise earlier than we decide to our opinions. We repeatedly check the most recent sensible dimmers and switches, together with the apps that management them. We mix these experiences with our basic data of sensible house units, so we’re capable of assess how effectively these merchandise combine with different sensible units you’ll need to use in your house.

TechHive’s favourite sensible dimmers and switches

Best sensible dimmer general — Lutron Diva Smart Dimmer (and the Lutron Caséta ecosystem)

Pros

• Part of the strong Lutron Caséta sensible house ecosystem
• Broadly appropriate with different sensible merchandise and programs
• Doesn’t depend upon a impartial wire

Cons

• You should have Lutron’s Caséta Smart Hub wired to your house community
• Lutron’s unsure stance on Matter

Price When Reviewed:

$69.95

Why we just like the Lutron Diva Smart Dimmer (and its Caséta ecosystem)

Lutron constructed its personal sensible house ecosystem primarily based on its proprietary Clear Connect expertise. By definition, proprietary requirements far much less open than requirements like Matter, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, or Z-Wave; nevertheless, the Caséta Smart Hub you’ll want to attach Caseéta merchandise to your house community helps Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeEquipment, Google Assistant, IFTTT, Samsung SmartIssues, and Sonos audio system, and extra. And all that’s along with Lutron’s personal lighting merchandise, sensible shades and sensible blinds, ceiling-fan controllers, movement sensors, and different merchandise. With that diploma of compatibility, it’s tough to think about a posh sensible house routine that couldn’t be completed.

Who should purchase the Lutron Diva Smart Dimmer (and its Caséta ecosystem)

Anyone seeking to incorporate lighting controls into a strong sensible house community ought to think about the Lutron Diva Smart Dimmer and a Caséta Smart Hub. Lights can swap on when somebody rings a doorbell or mechanically flip off once you depart house. If you may have a Sonos speaker, you possibly can mechanically play music once you return house. While Lutron’s expertise is just not Matter appropriate right now, Lutron is a member of the Connectivity Standards Alliance that’s accountable for growing Matter, so it’s potential that Caséta may very well be Matter appropriate someday. Given the broad compatibility the Caséta ecosystem already enjoys, that in the end may not make a distinction. Lutron’s original Caséta dimmer switch is an equally good product and prices barely much less, nevertheless it appears a bit busier.

Read our full

Lutron Diva Smart Dimmer review

Best budget-priced sensible dimmer — Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Dimmer Switch, Motion-Activated (mannequin ES20M)

Pros

• Endlessly tweakable motion-sensing choices
• Wiring design makes for straightforward set up
• Attractive design aesthetic

Cons

• Requires a impartial wire
• Kasa app must be modernized
• Motion sensing vary is a bit weak

Price When Reviewed:

$39.99

Why we just like the Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Dimmer Switch (mannequin ES20M)

TP-Link’s Kasa Smart Wi-Fi dimmer swap is remarkably cheap, and its Wi-Fi help signifies that it doesn’t require a sensible hub to work. Users have immense management over how its motion- and light-sensing options work, with full help for fade-in/out choices, movement sensing, and ambient mild detection.

Who should purchase the Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Dimmer Switch (mannequin ES20M)

The low value makes the Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Dimmer a sexy different, however patrons might want to have entry to a impartial wire on the set up level. This dimmer won’t work with Apple HomeEquipment or 3-way circuits, however when you don’t want both of these capabilities, the Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Dimmer is an absolute discount. Don’t have a impartial wire within the field the place you need to set up a motion-activated dimmer? Consider the GE Cync Dimmer, under.

Read our full

Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Dimmer Switch, Motion-Activated (model ES20M) review

Best Wi-Fi sensible swap/dimmer — GE Cync Dimmer + Motion Smart Switch

Pros

• Motion sensing works nice
• Very simple to arrange
• Can management Cync sensible bulbs even when they aren’t wired to the swap
• Available in a model that doesn’t require a impartial wire

Cons

• Ugly industrial design
• Motion sensing settings aren’t at all times intuitive
• Pricey for this class

Price When Reviewed:

$74.99

Why we just like the GE Cync Dimmer + Motion Smart Switch

This isn’t the prettiest dimmer available on the market, however GE Lighting’s Cync Dimmer + Motion Sensor Switch positive packs the options. An onboard movement sensor can flip the sunshine swap on when the room is occupied, and an ambient mild sensor will cease that from occurring if there’s sufficient daylight that the further mild isn’t wanted. The swap also can management GE Lighting’s Cync sensible bulbs, even when they’re not bodily wired to the dimmer.

Who should purchase the GE Cync Dimmer + Motion Smart Switch

The GE Cync Dimmer + Motion Sensor Switch doesn’t require a sensible house hub, and GE now presents customers a selection of a less expensive model that does require a impartial wire on the set up location, and a 3-wire model that doesn’t depend upon a impartial wire. The expertise remains to be up-to-date, however the Cync Dimmer + Motion Sensor Switch has seen a considerable value drop since its introduction in 2020.

Read our full

GE Cync Dimmer + Motion Smart Switch review

Best Zigbee sensible swap/dimmer — Jasco Enbrighten Zigbee In-Wall Smart Dimmer

Pros

• EasyWire expertise successfully eases set up hassles
• Slim profile would possibly assist some customers with area administration within the electrical field
• Smooth set up and no operational hassle

Cons

• Requires a impartial wire
• Broadsheet consumer handbook will trigger your eyes to glaze over
• Dependent on a third-party sensible house hub with a Zigbee radio

Price When Reviewed:

$44.99

Why we just like the Jasco Enbrighten Zigbee In-Wall Smart Dimmer

The Jasco Enbrighten Zigbee In-Wall Smart Dimmer is ideal for less-experienced owners who need to DIY their sensible lighting. The slimline design isn’t powerful to shove again into the field once you set up it, and Jasco has given the Enbrighten sufficient onboard intelligence to tell apart the road wire from the load wire, so that you don’t want to fret about mixing them up. You will, nevertheless, want a impartial wire on the set up location.

Who should purchase the Jasco Enbrighten Zigbee In-Wall Smart Dimmer

You’ll want a sensible house hub that helps the Zigbee protocol. Several fashions of the Amazon Echo and Echo Show are well-known examples, however there are dozens of choices, together with the Samsung SmartThings Station, the Aeotec Smart Home Hub, or the Hubitat Elevation. You needs to be conscious, nevertheless, that Zigbee help doesn’t mechanically imply Matter help. This system is just not Matter appropriate.

Read our full

Jasco Enbrighten Zigbee In-Wall Smart Dimmer review

Most refined sensible swap/dimmer — Brilliant Smart Home Control

Pros

• Touchscreen and built-in digital camera provides unbelievable flexibility
• Alexa onboard; plus nice third-party integrations, together with Ring and Apple HomeEquipment
• Impressive construct high quality

Cons

• Devilishly complicated to arrange correctly (not less than in my home)
• Very costly: $399 for single swap panel, $449 for a 2-switch panel, $499 for a 3-switch panel

Price When Reviewed:

$449

Why we just like the Brilliant Smart Home Control

The touchscreen and the touch-sensitive sliders on the Brilliant Smart Home Control sensible swap/dimmer offers it some spectacular capabilities, together with the capability to stream video from Ring and Google Nest video doorbells and management Sonos multi-room audio programs. Don’t need to mess with the wiring inside your house’s partitions? The firm presents a mannequin that you can hang on the wall and plug into a close-by electrical outlet.

Who should purchase the Brilliant Smart Home Control

As you’d count on, all these attractive Brilliant Control options come at a value—each when it comes to value and set up complexity—however if you need probably the most refined sensible house controls available on the market, that is it.

Read our full

Brilliant Control review

Best multi-function sensible swap/dimmer — Leviton Decora Smart Voice Dimmer with Amazon Alexa (mannequin DWVAA)

Pros

• Alexa with no footprint, uncovered energy twine, or wall wart
• No sensible house hub required
• Lots of choices for lighting management and integration with different sensible house units

Cons

• Wi-Fi dependent, so vary may very well be a problem
• Operates on 2.4GHz networks solely
• Doesn’t help Alexa’s whisper mode
• Tinny speaker, and it might’t be paired with a Bluetooth speaker
• No HomeEquipment or Google Assistant help

Why we just like the Leviton Decora Smart Voice Wi-Fi Dimmer with Alexa

Just what number of options are you able to cram in a single-gang mild swap? Leviton squeezes a Wi-Fi radio, a dimmer swap, and a complete Amazon Alexa-compatible sensible speaker into this system. Yes, Ecobee pulled off an identical trick a lot earlier, however with an on/off swap, not a dimmer. Leviton additionally has a deeper catalog of different Wi-Fi parts—switches, dimmers, ceiling fan controllers, multi-button controllers, and extra—to go along with it.

Who should purchase the Leviton Decora Smart Voice Wi-Fi Dimmer with Alexa

If your house revolves round Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant, putting in this dimmer in your wall will eradicate the necessity to put an Echo sensible speaker in the identical room. Leviton has added Google Home help since we first reviewed this product; Apple Home customers, nevertheless, ought to look elsewhere.

Read our full

Leviton Decora Smart Voice Dimmer with Amazon Alexa (model DWVAA) review

How to decide on the precise sensible dimmers and switches to your house

You’ll have to make a raft of choices earlier than you select which sensible switches to put in in your house, and your selections will probably be influenced by every little thing from the kind of wiring in your partitions to what taste of sensible house system you may have now or plan to put in later. Here’s what you have to know in roughly the order you’ll have to resolve.

Neutral wire requirement: Many sensible switches and dimmers require the presence of a impartial wire within the electrical field contained in the wall, along with the road (energy from the circuit-breaker panel), load (energy to the sunshine to be managed), and floor (a low-resistance path for electrical energy to stream to the bottom within the occasion of a malfunction) wires. Smart switches have radios that have to be continually powered, and the impartial wire is often what provides that juice.

While all houses have impartial wires, many older houses don’t have a impartial wire in each field. If you’re unsure if there’s a impartial wire on the location you need to set up a sensible swap, this how-to story will provide help to determine it out. If you don’t have a impartial wire, Lutron’s Caséta and Diva sensible dimmers and the GE Cync Dimmer (3-wire version) are among the many few sensible switches that do not require one.

GE Lighting

Single- or multi-pole: If the sunshine you want to management is linked to only one swap, then you definitely’ll want to exchange it with a single-pole sensible swap. If multiple swap controls that load—switches on reverse sides of a room, for instance—then you definitely’ll want to exchange it with a multi-pole (aka 3-way) sensible swap. This sometimes signifies that you’ll additionally want to purchase a companion swap or switches for the opposite finish(s) of the circuit. There are a number of exceptions to this rule, so examine the documentation accompanying whichever sensible swap you resolve to purchase prior to installing it.

Control protocol: You’ll undoubtedly need to management your sensible lighting together with your smartphone or pill, and most of the people may even need to flip lights on and off with voice instructions spoken to a sensible speaker, equivalent to an Amazon Echo or a Nest Hub. But to try this, the sensible swap you purchase should have a way of connecting to your house community (which explains why Bluetooth sensible switches can’t speak to sensible audio system).

Some sensible switches join on to your Wi-Fi community, whereas others require a bridge to your router. If you’ve invested in a sensible house system—Samsung SmartThings, Hubitat Elevation, Vivint Smart Home, or some other ecosystem—you’ll need to make it possible for the sensible swap you purchase is appropriate with it. These are the most typical communication protocols you’ll encounter.

• Bluetooth sensible switches are managed straight by an app in your smartphone or pill. Bluetooth sensible lighting is straightforward, since you don’t want a hub or a connection to your house community. That isolation additionally makes it safe, since you have to be inside about 30 toes of the swap to pair with it. On the opposite hand, approved customers additionally have to be inside 30 toes of a Bluetooth swap to manage it, and you may’t management the swap once you’re away from house (though most Bluetooth switches will be managed in accordance with a pre-programmed schedule). The different main limitation of Bluetooth switches is that they’ll’t be managed by sensible audio system or sensible house hubs, which usually depend on one of many different wi-fi protocols described right here. As a end result, Bluetooth-only switches have change into comparatively uncommon.

• Lutron Clear Connect is a proprietary wi-fi protocol utilized by Lutron Caséta Wireless sensible house units, together with switches, dimmers, ceiling fan controllers, occupancy sensors, motorized blinds and shades, and battery-powered distant controls. You also can management a restricted variety of third-party units with Lutron’s app—starting from thermostats to Wi-Fi audio system—and incorporate them into sensible house “scenes.” Clear Connect operates independently of your Wi-Fi community, however you have to hardwire a Lutron Smart Bridge to your router to make use of it. You can management Lutron Caséta units through Lutron’s app, with voice instructions spoken to sensible audio system, and from cell units anyplace you may have broadband entry. Some sensible house programs, together with Samsung SmartIssues, also can incorporate Lutron’s sensible house merchandise.

• Matter is the latest sensible house commonplace. It goals to be an overarching commonplace incorporating a number of different sensible house requirements, together with Thread, Wi-Fi, and Zigbee. Matter’s promise is that it’ll someday unite all the varied sensible house ecosystems: Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeEquipment, Google Home, and Samsung SmartIssues amongst them. Matter may change into extra necessary over time, however we don’t think about the absence of Matter help or compatibility to be a purpose to keep away from any sensible house product right now.

• Thread is a low-power networking expertise that’s a core factor of the Matter sensible house commonplace. It’s just like Z-Wave and Zigbee in that Thread units can speak straight to one another; in contrast to these requirements, Thread doesn’t depend upon a central hub. Matter units can use both Thread or Wi-Fi, however battery-powered units are extra possible to make use of Thread due to its low energy necessities. To entry Thread units from the web, you’ll have to have a Thread border router, such because the Aqara Hub M3, the Aeotec Smart Home Hub; a number of fashions of Amazon Echo sensible audio system and Echo Show sensible shows; an Apple TV 4K (2nd-gen and up), an Apple HomePod or HomePod mini; some later-model Eero routers; a Nest Wifi or Nest Wifi Pro; or a Samsung SmartIssues Station. This is just not a whole listing.

• Wi-Fi has gained a foothold in sensible lighting due to the rise of mesh routers that blanket your house with community protection. The attraction of Wi-Fi sensible switches is that they often don’t require a hub or a bridge to connect with your router (though Leviton does have some Wi-Fi merchandise that talk over a proprietary community with a plug-in bridge that connects them to Wi-Fi. While Wi-Fi is integrated into the Matter sensible house commonplace, that doesn’t imply each Wi-Fi system is mechanically Matter appropriate.

• Z-Wave This is a wi-fi mesh community expertise wherein every node on the community can be a repeater that may ahead instructions to different Z-Wave units close by. It operates within the unlicensed 800- to 900MHz radio spectrum (particularly, 908.42MHz in North America). Its low energy requirement means it may be integrated into battery-operated units that can’t be plugged straight into {an electrical} circuit, together with door/window sensors, sensible locks, water leak detectors, and movement sensors along with sensible dimmers and switches. You’ll want a sensible house hub, equivalent to a Samsung SmartIssues, to behave as a bridge to your Wi-Fi community. There are fewer Z-Wave merchandise out there right now, in comparison with the usual’s heyday, and a few of the Z-Wave dimmers and switches we’ve reviewed from Jasco and Leviton are now not in manufacturing, however another manufacturers are nonetheless out there. Note that Z-Wave Long Range (LR) household of chips that was launched in 2020 do not function on a mesh community. They use a star community topology wherein every Z-Wave LR node communicates straight with the Z-Wave hub that’s linked to your router for web entry.

• Zigbee This wi-fi mesh community expertise is similar to Z-Wave, nevertheless it operates within the unlicensed 2.4GHz radio spectrum (similar as single-band Wi-Fi). Like Z-Wave, Zigbee has a decrease energy requirement and will be integrated into each battery and line-powered units, starting from sensors to sensible switches. And as with Z-Wave, you’ll want a sensible house hub or another type of bridge to attach Zigbee units to your house community. This may very well be one thing so simple as an Amazon Echo Plus, which has an built-in Zigbee radio, or it may very well be on the order of a Samsung SmartIssues hub, which has each Zigbee and Z-Wave radios onboard. Like Wi-Fi, Zigbee is a part of the Matter sensible house commonplace; additionally like Wi-Fi, not each Zigbee system is mechanically Matter appropriate.

Lutron

Switch mechanism: Since most individuals management sensible switches and dimmers with voice instructions, they quickly uncover that they hardly ever bodily work together with the units of their partitions. But you’ll need to think about the kind of mechanism the sensible swap makes use of if for no different purpose than to make sure its aesthetic matches the remainder of your house. These are the most typical varieties you’ll encounter.

Michael Brown/Foundry

• Rocker (aka paddle) This kind of swap has a large plastic panel that rocks forwards and backwards when pressed to show the managed load on and off (one aspect of the swap raises when the opposite is depressed). These modern-looking switches hug the wall and are very simple to function. Since a command issued over the air will override no matter bodily state the swap is in any other case in, sensible rocker switches sometimes don’t bodily flip, so there’s no confusion once you see a lit bulb when the swap is ostensibly within the “off” place. A sensible dimmer swap might need a secondary management—a vertical slider or a horizontal rocker—for adjusting brightness
• Toggle A toggle swap operates by shifting a lever up and down (flipping the lever up turns the managed mild on, and flipping it down turns it off). These forms of switches are likely to look extra old school than rocker switches, however you’ll find sensible variations of them if you need one thing that not less than resembles the opposite switches you may have in your partitions. As with sensible rocker switches, they often don’t fully change bodily look when switched on or off.
• Touch High-end sensible switches and dimmers characteristic touch-sensitive surfaces. Typically fabricated from glass, touch-sensitive sensible switches and dimmers are often backlit by a number of LEDs that may be a number of colours. The contact sensitivity will be so simple as contact to show the swap on and contact once more to show it off, or it may be as complicated as displaying a consumer interface that helps finger swipes for calling up totally different lighting scenes or management parts. Needless to say, these kinds of sensible switches and dimmers value significantly greater than easy plastic units.

Christopher Null/Foundry

Wiring connections: Smart switches and dimmers are usually bigger than their dumb counterparts, so you need to think about how the brand new swap will slot in your current electrical field. This is especially necessary when you’re putting in a number of sensible switches subsequent to one another in a single field. Remember that there’ll sometimes be not less than 4 wires to take care of—line, load, impartial, and floor—and that there may even be a traveler wire when you’re coping with a multi-pole circuit. It will be difficult to stuff all these wires and the brand new swap again into the field. These are the most typical forms of electrical connections you’ll encounter in sensible switches.

• Backstabs These are holes at the back of the swap into which you’ll push (“stab”) the suitable stable copper wires popping out of the wall.
• Pigtails Some switches have brief electrical wires rising from the again of the swap that you simply’ll connect to the wires popping out of the wall, utilizing wire nuts to safe them. This is usually the simplest approach, but when the swap is deep, it may be a problem to pack the additional wires and the wire nuts tightly sufficient into the field in order that the swap mounts flush towards the wall. It will be significantly tough if the field has different units in it.
• Terminals With this kind of swap, you’ll wind the wires popping out of the wall round flat screws on the edges of the swap after which tighten the screws down. This approach presents much less of a problem on the subject of pushing the wires and the swap again into the field, however the wires will be stiff and also you’ll should be cautious to make sure the stripped wire doesn’t come into contact with stripped wires linked to adjoining switches within the field or the field itself, if it’s metallic.

Christopher Null/Foundry

How we consider sensible dimmers and switches

How simple are the dimmers and switches to put in? Can a comparatively inexperienced house owner deal with the wiring, or will they should rent knowledgeable electrician?

What sensible house platforms does the system help? The extra protocols a person swap or dimmer can work with, the extra versatile it is going to be as sensible house expertise evolves sooner or later.

Is there an app? If so, how polished is the interface and the way simple is it to make use of the app to manage the dimmers and switches. If they’re motion-activated, how reliably do they reply to motion in a room.

If the dimmer and swap have added options like cameras or audio system, we have a look at how these options carry out when in comparison with standalone units that carry out these capabilities.

Other sensible dimmers and switches we’ve reviewed

• Eaton Wi-Fi smart universal dimmer: Eaton is a really huge title within the electrical market, however this system did not impress.
• GE Cync Smart Dimmer Light Switch: This is a decidedly odd-looking sensible dimmer, nevertheless it’s an excellent selection when you don’t have a impartial wire within the field the place you need to set up it. It connects on to your Wi-Fi community, so there’s no sensible house hub requirement.
• Leviton Decora Smart Zigbee dimmer (model DG6HD): This is a Zigbee dimmer, however not a Matter-compatible one (to be truthful, it predates Matter by a number of years). It’s a stable product, however its measurement gave us set up hassle. It’s value noting, nevertheless, that it seems to be out of manufacturing at Leviton.
• Leviton Decora Smart Wi-Fi (model DW6HD-1BZ): This was the primary technology of Leviton’s Decorea Smart Wi-Fi merchandise; as such, it has been discontinued. We haven’t but reviewed the second-generation product that changed it.
• Treatlife Smart Dimmer: This extremely cheap connects to your 2.4GHz Wi-Fi community, however its efficiency is commensurate with its value.
• Treatlife 3-way Smart Dimmer (model DS02): This Treatlife product is significantly better than the one reviewed above. Its main declare to fame is that it may be put in on a 3-way circuit without having matching (aka companion) switches on the opposite ends of the circuit.
• Sinopé Smart Adaptive Phase Dimmer (model DM2550ZB): This Zigbee dimmer could be very costly, however the firm’s sensible adaptive part dimming all however eliminates the danger {that a} linked load–LED lighting particularly–will flicker or flip off prematurely because it’s dimmed.
• Wemo Smart Dimmer with Thread (model WDS070): Wemo’s dimmer helps Thread, so it should help Matter, proper? Well, no it doesn’t; and when you’ll nonetheless discover this product out there at Amazon and some different locations, it appears Belkin has discontinued it.