Best overall smart plug: Kasa Matter Smart Plug KP125M (2-pack)
Works with Apple Home, Alexa, Google Home and SmartThings, so it’s safe when you don’t know what the person uses. About $40 for two. A stocking-stuffer alternative: the WiZ Full Color A19 bulb at about $13.
- Matter setup works in every major home app
- Energy tracking with cost estimates
- Slim, doesn’t block the second outlet
- 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi only
- Apple Home remote control needs a HomePod or Apple TV
Skip it if you only use Alexa and never care about energy data. The Amazon Smart Plug is simpler and usually cheaper.
Best whole-home lighting: Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance A19 (2-pack)
The lighting most people grow a whole home around, at about $99 for two. For a TV lover, the Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite at about $70–90 is a gift that shows off every evening.
- Excellent color quality and a polished app
- Works with Alexa, Google Home, Apple Home and SmartThings
- Very reliable Zigbee mesh via the Hue Bridge
- The most expensive bulbs per unit
- Matter, full features and away-from-home control need the Hue Bridge
Skip it if you only want one or two colored lamps. WiZ bulbs do that for far less.
Best smart thermostat: Google Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Gen)
A gift for a homeowner that can lower their energy bill. Check their heating system first with our heat pump thermostat guide. For a busy home instead, the eufy X10 Pro Omni robot vacuum and mop often lands in this range on sale.
- Learns your schedule automatically
- Matter brings it to Apple Home and Alexa
- Remote temperature sensor included
- One of the most expensive thermostats
- The remote sensor doesn’t appear in Apple Home or Matter
Skip it if you rent, or your heating system isn’t compatible. Check Google’s compatibility tool before buying.
Best robot vacuum for pet hair: Dreame L60 Ultra PE
For a home with pets, this robot picked up all the pet hair in published tests with none tangled on its brush. Our pet hair guide has the numbers.
- 100% pet-hair pickup and 0% hair wrap in Vacuum Wars’ tests
- 94% carpet deep clean, second-best of nearly 200 robots (Vacuum Wars)
- Avoided 21 of 24 obstacles (Vacuum Wars)
- Small onboard dustbin
- Below-average stain removal: little water on the mop (Vacuum Wars)
Skip it if you mostly need a mop for dried stains on hard floors. Light mopping is its weak spot.
Gifts for renters
Anything that plugs in or screws in moves out with them: smart plugs, bulbs, light strips and speakers. For a lock that leaves the landlord’s deadbolt in place, see our renter lock guide.
How to tell a real deal from a fake one
A sale sticker only compares against a list price, and list prices can be set high on purpose. Three quick checks work for anything on Amazon:
- Look up the price history. Free trackers such as camelcamelcamel and Keepa show what a product actually sold for over the past months. A real deal is at or near its lowest price in that history.
- Compare with our typical range. Every product page here shows what the product usually costs. Paying clearly less than that range is a good sign.
- Count the full cost. A cheap camera or doorbell can need a monthly plan to be useful. Our guides say which ones work without one.
Where these facts come from
Every pick comes from our buying guides, which link their sources, checked on September 30, 2026. Prices are the usual ranges we track, not sale prices. We haven’t tested these products ourselves; our how we choose page explains how we pick.
