Smart plugs are a basic building block of a smarthome. If you are looking for a basic, inexpensive smart plug, it’s hard to go wrong with the Gosund Wifi Smart Plug WP3. Here’s a quick rundown of its features, pros, and cons.
Editors Note: I received this product for free in exchange for a review. My reviews are not biased by companies seeking promotion. I always give my honest opinions. For more information, ready my disclosures.
Table of Contents
Gosund smart plug overview
The Gosund WiFi smart plug functions very similarly to a TP-Link Smart plug or a Wemo mini smart plug. If you are familiar with how those work, you’ll be familiar with this.
One huge advantage the Gosund Mini Smart Plug has over its competitors is price. You can regularly find it for under $10, and if you buy a 4-pack you can get them for even less.
Gosund strengths
For that price, you aren’t compromising much. You can use Gosund as a remote-controlled switch, allowing you to turn things off via an app, Google Assistant, or Alexa. Additionally, if you set it up using the Tuya app instead of the Smart Life app, you can integrate this smart plug with Home Assistant, which is pretty much a requirement for me these days.
Setup of the Gosund is dead simple. You can use the recommended Smart Life app, but since I already have the Tuya app, I simply used that. In the Tuya app, you go to add device and select “Socket.” Seconds later you’ll be asked to name the device and then you are ready to go.
Within the Tuya app, you can remotely turn the plug on and off. You can also set timers and schedules. That’s pretty much all you’ll want to do with a smart plug.
Gosund weaknesses
Alas, there are a few compromises. One is that there is no energy monitoring, although the equivalent smart plugs from TP-Link and Wemo do not have energy monitoring either.
A second compromise is the power rating. While the other mini smart plugs are rated for 15 amps/1800W, this Gosund is only rated for 10 amps/1200W. For most things you would plug in this won’t make a difference. But your vacuum cleaner or portable space heater might have a quibble.
Update: Gosund has a higher power rated smart plug, the WP6. It’s rated for 16amps/2000W, which is higher than most smart plugs. If you need this much power, go for this smart plug for only a few dollars more.
Last, I could not find any access to a local API. All control of this device has to go through the cloud. TP-Link and Wemo smart plugs have a local API for control on your network. Not a big deal for some, but I much prefer local APIs.
Final thoughts
This is a bargain at under $10. It does all the meaningful things its competitor smart plugs do. If you don’t need energy monitoring, and you don’t plan on plugging in a very high powered device into this socket, give it strong consideration! If you do want energy monitoring for around the same price, consider the Shelly Plug US.
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