The best smart light switches

Smart bulbs are easier to buy, cheaper to start with, and need no electrician. They also have one architectural flaw that no amount of software fixes: they need continuous power to listen, and a wall switch removes it.

People flip switches. Guests flip switches. Children flip switches. It is what switches are for, and a system that depends on nobody using them as intended will break weekly. That is the single most common smart lighting complaint, and it is covered in smart lighting troubleshooting.

A smart switch does not have that failure mode, because it is the switch. Control lives where everybody already reaches, guests use it without instruction, and a hardwired ceiling fixture becomes dimmable in a way no plug-level product can manage.

The cost is that it is electrical work. That is the whole trade, and it is why this page opens with the neutral-wire question rather than with features.

Lutron Caseta dimmer - the pick, and the only one for older homes. Current comparisons place it first, and the reason is specific: it works without a neutral wire and has no minimum wattage requirement. That combination means it drives a couple of LED bulbs without flicker and without a bypass capacitor - which is exactly where dimmers designed for incandescent loads fail. Older switch boxes frequently have no neutral, and this is the switch that does not care.
Cons: app control needs the Lutron bridge, which is a purchase on top; the ecosystem is deliberately closed, with no native Matter support and no Thread border router; and it is the most expensive option here.

Kasa KS225 - the value pick, if you have a neutral. Matter certified dimming at the wall for a fraction of a hub-based system, with no bridge required. Matter certification is worth more than it sounds - it means the switch is not locked to one company's app surviving.
Cons: requires a neutral wire, which rules out many older homes; it is Wi-Fi per switch, so a house full of them loads the network; and it is hardwired, so permission and generally an electrician.

Leviton Decora Smart - the mainstream alternative. Well rated, widely stocked, and available in single-pole or three-way configurations, which matters for hallways and stairs.
Cons: requires a neutral wire; rated consistently below Lutron for reliability in the same head-to-head comparisons; and hardwired like the rest.

Lutron Maestro MACL - when you do not actually want smart. A plain wall dimmer rated for 150W of LED load with no neutral required. Included deliberately: a lot of people buying smart switches want dimming, not automation, and a good dimmer costs a fraction as much and never needs an app or a firmware update.
Cons: no scheduling, no remote control, no voice - which for many rooms is the correct set of features.

Every switch on this page replaces a wall switch, which is an electrical alteration to somebody else's building. That needs the owner's agreement and generally a qualified person, per can you change a light fixture in an apartment.

The good news is that the thing a smart switch is best at - a physical control that survives everybody using it - is available without any wiring at all.

• A plug-in dimmer between a lamp and the outlet dims it by hand and, on the Caseta version, from an app and a schedule too. See plug-in dimmers.
• A battery wireless remote mounts on the wall exactly where a switch should have been, drives up to ten devices, and comes off when you leave. See wireless wall remotes.

Between them those two cover most of what a smart switch does for anything that plugs in - and the whole system-level comparison is in best home lighting control systems.

One warning for owners: if a light already has two switches it is on a three-way circuit, and an ordinary single-pole smart switch will not work on it. That needs hardware sold for multi-location use - see three-way and multi-location switching.