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Renter buying guides

Plugs & Lighting

The cheapest, most reversible smart-home wins there are — plugs, bulbs and switches that need no wiring and travel with you.

Plugs and lighting are where a renter should start. Nothing else in the smart-home world gives you this much for so little risk: most of it plugs in or screws in, none of it touches the wiring, and all of it walks out the door with you. If you’ve been nervous about smart-home gear because you don’t own the place, this is the section that shows you how much you can do without changing a thing.

Start with a smart plug. It sits between the wall outlet and a lamp or fan and makes whatever’s plugged into it controllable by app, voice or schedule — no hub, no install, no commitment. From there, smart bulbs screw into the sockets you already have and add color, dimming and schedules to any fixture. Both are as reversible as a device gets: unplug or unscrew, and the apartment is exactly as you found it. The main choice to make is which voice assistant you use, because some plugs and bulbs support Alexa, Google and Apple Home while cheaper ones pick just one.

There is one honest wrinkle with smart bulbs, and we call it out on every page: the wall-switch problem. A smart bulb only listens when it has power, so if a roommate or guest flips the wall switch off, your app and schedules go dark until someone flips it back. Homeowners fix this by replacing the switch — which a renter can’t. The renter fix is the Lutron Aurora, a dial that clamps over your existing toggle switch with no wiring and keeps the bulb powered while giving you a real dimmer. It’s the cleverest thing in here.

The roundups below cover it. Our best smart plugs ranks the plug picks on ecosystem support and size; best smart lights covers the bulbs plus that no-wiring switch; and motion-sensor lights handles the dark closets, entries and hallways that don’t have a switch at all. Once the artificial light is sorted, the daylight is next: our smart blinds and curtain openers picks are robots that clip onto the rod and blind wand already hanging in your apartment, so you never touch the landlord’s window coverings. And if you’ve been eyeing strip lights but worry about the paint, our LED strip lights for renters picks are ranked on what the adhesive is stuck to, not just what the app can do. Curious whether any of this is a fire risk? Our honest take is in are smart plugs safe. Every pick carries a live price and our Lease-Safe rating.

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Plugs & lighting questions renters ask

Do smart plugs or bulbs need a hub?

None of our top picks do. The Kasa, Wyze and Amazon Basics plugs and the Kasa and Wyze bulbs connect straight to your 2.4GHz Wi-Fi with no hub required. Philips Hue can start hub-free over Bluetooth, though a Hue Bridge unlocks its full features. Fewer boxes is better in a rental, so we favor the no-hub options.

Will smart bulbs work if someone flips the wall switch off?

No — a smart bulb needs power to respond, so if the wall switch is off the app and schedules won't reach it. That's the smart-bulb switch problem. The renter-friendly fix is the Lutron Aurora, which clamps over a standard toggle switch with no wiring and keeps the bulb powered while acting as your dimmer.

Are smart plugs and bulbs safe to leave plugged in?

Broadly yes, if you buy quality gear. Look for a UL or ETL safety mark, don't daisy-chain them or run a space heater through a plug that isn't rated for it, and keep the firmware updated. We cover the real fire and privacy questions in our guide to whether smart plugs are safe.

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