5 Cheap Alternatives To Expensive Smart Home Gadgets

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One of the most effective ways to integrate technology in your house is to start by adopting smart devices that are easy to set up. These typically include items such as smart light bulbs, speakers, blinds, smart plugs, and more. Slightly more complex smart gadgets, such as robot vacuums, cost more and might be a little complicated to set up, but they do offer immense value once configured.

There is no shortage of smart home device manufacturers — and as long as you're picking one up from a reputable brand, you will not run into annoyances during and after setting them up. A good smart device will come with a responsive companion app, but will also let you connect to popular smart home frameworks like Google Home, Alexa, or Apple Home. The more features you have, the higher the price usually gets. You will also need to factor in the quality of the actual device — say, how bright a smart light can get, or how loud a smart speaker can play your favorite tunes. 

It might feel compelling to buy smart devices from major OEMs like Apple or Google, but they are often premiumly priced. Thankfully, the market for smart home gadgets is quite vast, with several reliable manufacturers offering alternatives at comparatively affordable prices. Here are a couple of examples that offer great value and can transform your house into a smart home. You can find out more about our methodology at the end of this read.

Installing smart light bulbs in any fixtures available in your home is a quick and easy way to add automation. You not only gain the ability to turn them on or off using your phone, but can also change their brightness and color temperature. When it comes to light bulbs, TP-Link is a popular pick, and its Tapo Smart Light Bulb is a fairly inexpensive purchase at $16 — but you can go lower. The Amazon Basics Smart Light Bulb costs $13 and offers nearly the same specifications and set of features as TP-Link's option.

It's a 60W equivalent light bulb and screws into an A19 socket. The light bulb connects to your home Wi-Fi network and doesn't require any intermediary hubs. The setup process is straightforward — you simply screw the light bulb into a compatible socket and connect to it via the Alexa app on your smartphone. If you have an Alexa-enabled smart speaker, you can ditch your phone and control the light using voice commands.

The app lets you pick between 16 color presets — this unfortunately means you can't select a specific hue. Another notable limitation of going with the Amazon Basics Smart Light Bulb is missing integration support with other smart home platforms like Google Home and Apple Home. Overall, the product has a 4.4-star rating, and customers mainly praise its quick setup process and affordability.

Twitch, Eero, and IMDb are brands you may not know are owned by Amazon. Add Blink and Ring to the list — two smart home-centric brands that specialize in security cameras and video doorbells. The Blink Mini is a classic, and has amassed over 300,000 reviews with a product rating of 4.4 stars. Though there are updated models of the same, the original is still recommended by many due to its simple design and great value.

At $29, the Blink Mini undercuts the Ring Indoor Cam, which retails at $49 with a similar feature set. It's designed to be used indoors and supports a respectable quality of 1080p, with infrared nighttime recording. You also get two-way audio with the Blink Mini, so you can hear and talk to anyone the camera sees while you're away. It comes with motion detection, and you automatically get movement alerts via the smartphone app.

The Blink Mini earned a score of 3.5 out of 5 stars in TechRadar's comprehensive review. Notable downsides include the lack of person detection, and the fact that you need to purchase an add-on module to be able to store local video recordings. This might be a dealbreaker to some buyers who need at least basic local recording support at no added price. Amazon hopes you pay for Blink subscription plans that let you store video clips to the cloud. Yet, most buyers are pleased with the Blink Mini's recording quality and ease of setup.

Kasa is another one of TP-Link's sub-brands that focuses mainly on Wi-Fi-enabled cameras, lights, and switches. Smart gadgets like light bulbs and thermostats do a lot, and that's great — but most of us already have a populous selection of "dumb" appliances and gadgets that are perfectly functional, but just lack smart connectivity features. 

The Kasa Smart Plug Ultra Mini is an affordable alternative to the Amazon Smart Plug that costs $25. At just $10 a pop, you can add wireless control to any appliance you own. Like its name suggests, the Kasa Smart Plug Ultra Mini has a considerably smaller form factor compared to other options. This makes it so it doesn't block adjacent sockets.

The smart plug connects to your Wi-Fi network, and can be controlled via the Kasa app. As noted in ZDNet's review, you can also control the smart plug via the Tapo app — in case you already have that installed to control other devices. It's also supported by Google Home and Alexa, so you can use voice commands to control the thing.

Over at Amazon, the product has a 4.5-star rating amidst 17,000 reviews. Verified buyers praise its quick setup process and reliability. A notable omission, though, is the lack of Apple Home support. Regardless, with features like a timer and an Away Mode, the Kasa Smart Plug Ultra Mini is one of the most inexpensive smart home gadgets you can pick up.

Deciding which smart features are worth the added expense is one of the things you should consider before buying a robot vacuum. In this case, the Tapo Robot Vacuum and Mop doesn't come with a self-emptying base station, which can be an annoyance to a few buyers. This, however, is how TP-Link is able to mark the price of its vacuum robot down considerably. At $160, the RV20 Max Tapo Robot Vacuum and Mop is an affordable alternative to the Eufy 11S Max — a popular pick that's priced at $280. 

It has a 4.2-star rating amidst 1,500 reviews on Amazon. Customers are pleased with the kind of value the vacuum offers, with sparingly few complaints regarding its navigation accuracy. PCMag reviewed the Tapo Robot Vacuum and Mop in great detail, and praised its performance and features, but highlighted how it might not always clear stubborn debris.

The setup process is detailed in the quick start guide. The robot vacuum first maps your entire home with its LiDAR sensor. You can then tweak the final map it constructs and add any furniture labels. The robot vacuum also comes with a detachable mop pad, which can clean hardwood flooring. You control everything via the Tapo app, where you can create automated schedules for cleaning. You can also use the physical controls on the robot vacuum. The app allows you to configure options like the number of cleaning passes and vacuum power on a per-run basis.

Decking out your home with smart devices is an exciting process, but once you have a collection that's moderately big, controlling all of them becomes quite a hassle. This is why you should always look for Google Home or Apple Home support in any smart home gadget you're eyeing. That way, you can control all your devices using a unified app. The next step in streamlining device control involves purchasing a smart speaker that can act as a centralized hub. For that, the $50 Echo Dot 5th Generation undercuts direct competitors like the Apple Homepod mini, which costscosts twice as much.

Choosing the right Amazon Echo device can get a bit confusing given the lineup's expansive catalog, but the Echo Dot is a great entry-level pick. It packs in surprisingly loud speakers and comes with Alexa — which is how you can access all of its smart features. You have integration with most popular music streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. The built-in microphone picks up audio really well, as highlighted in CNET's review of the same, where the Echo Dot received a score of 8.3 out of 10.

If you have more than one Echo Dot in your home, you can pair them and enjoy multi-room music. Additionally, if you have one of Eero's routers, the Echo Dot can act as a Wi-Fi repeater. The product is popular on Amazon, with a 4.7-star rating and close to 180,000 reviews.

Refreshing your home with affordable smart home gadgets is the quickest way to add convenience and automation to your daily routine. There are several smart home manufacturers you can choose from — and while it's true that sticking with products from the same company will help create a seamless ecosystem, sometimes you just have to venture past the popular picks to find better deals.

All of the products we've listed have received overwhelmingly positive reviews by customers and professional reviewers. We evaluate feedback left by verified buyers on Amazon — these are consumers who have owned and used these gadgets extensively. For a more technical viewpoint, we've referred to reviews from reputable sources like CNET, TechRadar, and PCMag. These publications carry out in-depth testing of products before making a recommendation.

Other things to note before shopping for smart devices include compatibility checks and the Wi-Fi coverage in your home. Even if you're shopping for different gadgets from different brands, look for Google Home, Apple Home, or Alexa support. This will significantly help with how you manage and control all of the smart devices you have set up.