My first smart switch appears to be failing, so I’m wanting to replace it with a smart plug (changing the form factor at the same time). I’m wondering if anyone had a current list of the “best” SmartPlugs available that works with ST? Amazon is not easy to search for comptability and most things are wifi. I’m in the USA. Would like something that fits on a single outlet, has energy monitoring. Ideally Zigbee or Z Wave. I’ve used the Sylvania zigbee one in the past, but they are big and don’t have energy monitoring. I’ve used embirghten metering ones, and there is no driver beyond the default, so I can’t readily customize the sampling period. I’d like to avoid wi-fi and it seems that Matter doesn’t support energy monitoring yet. Any help would be great.
Lots of things to unpack there.
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what country are you in? (sorry, just noticed you already answered that as being the US)
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do you have a SmartThings/Aeotec hub, and if so, what model?
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assuming you do have a hub and are in North America, then as of this posting, for most people the best for what you are describing, will be either the eve energy, which uses matter over thread, but has a custom SmartThings integration that includes energy monitoring:
Or the aqara Zigbee smart plug, which also has a custom SmartThings integration. (The product description will say it needs an aqara hub, but you can use it directly with a smartthings/Aeotec hub instead)
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Both of these will work out of the box with SmartThings without requiring any custom code and both will appear on the energy dashboard in the SmartThings app. Most other smart plugs will not at this time.
So for energy monitoring, these two would be the “best“ although that’s always subjective. Personally, I would recommend the Eve, as thread is a better transport layer for energy monitoring than either Zigbee or Z wave. Choice is good.
If you don’t have any other matter devices yet, read the FAQ on that:
FAQ: What do I need to add a Matter device to the SmartThings app? Do I need a bridge router device?
Energy monitoring was only very recently added to the matter specification so it is not yet supported in SmartThings for matter devices unless they have custom integrations like Eve does.
By the way, another option is the brand new eve energy outlet, a very nice device. This is also matter over thread, but replaces your wall outlet and has two separately controllable sockets.
If you’re OK with doing some wiring, this is a nice choice. It does cost more than the plug-in pocket sockets, but then you’re getting two controllable outlets for the price.
Lack of physical button to power socket off and on would annoy me (I’m not in US, but still). Also the design of having the two status lights in the middle without it being obvious which light is for which socket is very odd.
if you are referring to the Eve Outlet:
- left led is for top outlet
- right led is for bottom outlet (shown in image above)
From the website:
Does Eve Energy Outlet have an onboard switch?
Yes. The little green LEDs are buttons that you simply press. That way, whether your phone is out of reach, you don’t want to disturb the peace with a voice command, or a guest doesn’t have access, Eve Energy Outlet can be operated like a regular switch.
All,
Thanks for the input. To address @JDRoberts questions, I’ve got the V3 ST hub. I had been thinking of a smart plug, but I could consider a smart outlet, assuming that I’d free up one of my existing devices and use it for my desired application (which plugs into a dumb outlet strip). Nice to see these two can have ST energy monitoring, but definitely not cheap relative to ZigBee and Wave, which seemed pricey already and I thought matter was going to indirectly address…
Can’t really blame matter since it hasn’t had energy monitoring in the spec until very recently so there’s no devices on the market utilizing that spec yet. ( As mentioned, Eve uses custom proprietary code to make that work with SmartThings.) 
And Zigbee and Zwave just aren’t great choices for real time energy monitoring: The Wi-Fi devices from Tapo or TP Link Kasa would be a better protocol match.
This is a really nice budget smart plug if you’re OK with Wi-Fi and not matter:
There are certainly some cheap Zigbee plugs out there, but most of them don’t have good safety certifications and can be a fire hazard.
So as always, different things will work for different people.
I use the Third Reality Zigbee Smart Plugs with another home automation system, and they work well. Amazon says they work with SmartThings, but I don’t know if you need a custom driver or not. In a 4-pack, they are under $10 each.
ThirdReality power monitoring plugs are good value for the money, however have in mind that these devices (both the US and the EU versions) do not fully comply with the ZCL specifications and ignore the custom configuration for the reporting periods and thresholds. I.e. you can not limit the frequency of the power and energy reporting.
A lot of users consider these devices to be unneceserily spammy and have concerns that they may affect the reliability of the Zigbee network.
This issue is what I’ve been referencing above regarding the inherent protocol mismatch of energy reporting with Zigbee and zwave. You’ll almost always negatively impact your network with those. 
Third reality pricing is really good!
If you have the ability to control the energy reporting frequency and set it say at 15 minute or hourly reporting intervals, doesn’t that address the potential protocol mismatch and concerns about the network? As I recall, the embirghten one has this feature that I could adjust before Edge drivers, but there is no Edge driver that can now do this. Do the other products noted have this ability?
Yes, but it’s rarely what people are looking for. They quite commonly want to create a routine based on whether a device is turned on or off by looking at its energy draw. If the report only comes in once an hour, that won’t usually work for those use cases.
The Aeotec Z wave energy reporting devices were originally designed to only report once a day, because the assumption had been that the use case was looking at historical data for a device.
Once people started using them to trigger near real time automations, they flooded the network. 
The Eve Energy plug, which is Matter over Thread, has a non configurable 60 seconds report time. Well, actually it’s the driver asking for the reading every minute since it’s a workaround after all, but there’s no setting to change it.
With Matter 1.3 it will be different, and it should be event based (constant polling feels bad). SmartThings currently does not allow drivers to change the reporting interval or any detail regarding the subscription to attributes. It’s already an issue when trying to do colour or temperature transitions in lights since the light could literally flood the hub with events every time it adjusts the values while transitioning.
Edit: If I’m not mistaken, in Matter 1.3 it would be the ActivePower attribute, this is from the specs:
The reporting interval of this attribute SHALL be manufacturer dependent. The server MAY choose to omit publication of deltas considered not meaningful.
The server SHALL NOT mark this attribute ready for report if the last time this was done was more recently than 1 second ago.
The server MAY delay marking this attribute ready for report for longer periods if needed, however the server SHALL NOT delay marking this attribute as ready for report for longer than 60 seconds.
So… looks like with Matter, if done right by the manufacturer, routines would trigger fast but it should not flood the network too much.
That’s the problem with TR plugs. So far, @ThirdReality has not responded to multiple requests in other forums to make the reporting configurable as per the ZCL standards.
Today, I found that they have their own forum :
https://discuss.3reality.com/
If more customers request to add the possibility for configuration of the reporting intervals and thresholds, maybe they will listen to their clients needs?
I do have this use case too. So yes, some would be set for 15 minute monitoring, but alas others would need to be polled more often,
one other question: If the monitoring devices are all on different protocols (zigbee, thread, etc.), does that help the network traffic issues, or do they ultimately all count towards the same traffic limits?
It’s not about traffic limits, rather it’s just like a traffic jam on a two lane road. Too many messages make it hard for other devices to get their messages to the hub, and real time energy monitoring takes a lot of messages.
Zigbee and Zwave were designed for tiny messages sent infrequently, like telling a light switch to turn on. It’s why, for example, you don’t use them for streaming video.
WiFi can handle much more traffic, really hundreds of times more, so it doesn’t typically have an issue with realtime energy reporting devices. They still use up less bandwidth than a video game or a movie.
If you have several real-time energy reporting devices and they use a mix of protocols then, sure, it might be better than having them all on the same one, but you also run the risk of reducing the “quality of service” (QOS) on each. It’s like splitting the Thanksgiving parade in half and sending each part on a different route through the city. Most likely you’ve just snarled the traffic in two parts of town rather than one. 
Any input about this product (albeit on Z wave)? Shelly Qubino Wave Plug US | Z-Wave 800 Series Smart Plug with Energy Monitoring 15 A | Home Automation | iOS Android App | Z-Wave Gateway | Low Power Consumption | Smart Schedules and Scenes - Amazon.com
Where to start?
- from the reviews
Note that this will not work with a SmartThings hub, even though it works with ZWave.
The company’s response:
The Plug US integrates with SmartThings through Edge drivers. After installation, users select the Plug US, assign the newly installed Edge Drivers, and enjoy optimal functionality. Despite SmartThings’ limited Z-Wave capabilities and reliance on custom methods, the Plug US works seamlessly with gateways that integrate based on device data, although users may need to wait for updates to ensure proper functionality.
- It’s zwave. If you try to use it for real time energy reporting, you are very likely to flood your network. This can significantly reduce QOS, but in ways that can be difficult to diagnose. For example, a battery powered Z wave sensor might have difficulty getting its reports through to the hub because of all the traffic from the plug, causing you to think that the sensor was defective or Needed a better repeater.
You can buy it at Amazon, try it, and see if it meets your needs. Otherwise return it. Choice is good. 