Best gifts for a smarter home in 2024

Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (5th Gen)
(Image credit: Future)

Want to give the gift of a smarter home this season? Whether it’s a voice-enabled smart speaker, app-controlled lights or connected kitchen gadgets, smart home gifts are both entertaining and helpful. They also come in a range of prices, meaning you can find the best smart home gifts in any budget.

There are excellent smart home devices for every room in the house: bedrooms, living rooms, entryways and kitchens can all get higher IQs with the gadgets we’ve listed below. Not only will smart home gifts feel high-tech and futuristic, but some can truly make a home a better, safer, and even more cost-efficient place.

Here are the best smart home gifts in 2022, listed in order of price.

Amazon Echo Glow

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Best gifts for a smarter home in 2022: Amazon Echo Glow

(Image credit: Amazon)

The Amazon Echo Glow is the ultimate smart home gift for kids, or should we say anyone with kids. This little multicolor smart lamp is equal parts cute and clever. It displays all colors of the rainbow while taking cues from Alexa. Parents can use Alexa routines to display color-synced countdown or timers with the Echo Glow, while with a compatible Alexa speaker, a kid can ask to see a certain Alexa color or light sequence. That’s why an Echo Dot Kids Edition makes a great bundle gift for the Echo Glow, too. Read our full Amazon Echo Glow review to learn more.

GE Cync Smart Home starter kit

Best gifts for a smarter home in 2022: GE Cync Smart Home starter kit

(Image credit: Cync)

Smart light bulbs are always good smart home gifts, but they’re even better when they’re bundled with a physical controller. That’s what you’ll get with the GE Cync Smart Home starter kit, which, as the name suggests, is ideal for those who are new to having connected devices in their abode. The kit comes with an A19 color bulb that’s compatible with most existing lamps, as well as a small battery-powered dimmer that can be wall-mounted like a switch or left out like a remote. The bulb can also be controlled via the Cync app, Alexa or Google Assistant for the full smart home effect. Cync offers a number of other smart lighting products (including the new Cync Dynamic Effect Light Strips) that your gift recipient could be interested in.

Kasa Smart Plug Power Strip

Best gifts for a smarter home in 2022: Kasa Smart Plug Power Strip

(Image credit: TP Link)

A smart power strip or smart surge protector is one of the most versatile smart home gifts you can buy. No, it might not seem very glamorous, but it’s something everyone needs in their life. As one of the best smart plugs overall, the Kasa Smart Plug Power Strip features three power outlets that can be individually controlled through the TP-Link Kasa companion app, Alexa or Google Assistant. This means electricity only gets fed to the outlets you currently want to use. All outlets have manual on/off switches on the power strip, plus it has two USB ports for charging miscellaneous devices. You can use the Kasa Smart Plug Power Strip just about anywhere, but it’s particularly helpful in areas like the garage, kitchen or home office.

Wyze Cam v3

Best gifts for a smarter home in 2022: Wyze Cam v3

(Image credit: Wyze)

The Wyze Cam v3 is one of the best home security cameras you can buy, not to mention one of the most affordable. It’s still full-featured for the low price: it has clear 1080p resolution, water resistance, color night vision and versatile mounting options. A security camera like this makes a good gift for new home or business owners, as it can be placed inside or outside. It’s also a great gift for someone with a pet they’d want to keep an eye on when they’re not home. When motion is detected, an alert will be sent to the user's smartphone. The camera’s sensitivity can be adjusted to prevent unwanted alerts, too. Read our full Wyze Cam v3 review to learn more.

Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (5th Gen)

Best gifts for a smarter home in 2022: Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (5th Gen)

(Image credit: Amazon)

The Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (5th Gen) is truly the ultimate smart home gift. This orb-shaped Alexa speaker has a digital display on its side that shows the time, temperature, timers, song titles and more. It’s basically an alarm clock but smarter, putting Alexa conveniently at your bedside to play music, make calls, answer queries or whatever you might need. The sound quality is stellar for a speaker this size, so you’re basically giving many gifts in one: an alarm clock, a speaker and a smart home-connected device. Read our full Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (5th Gen) review to learn more.

Pura Smart Home Fragrance Device Starter Pack

Pura Smart Home Fragrance Device Starter Pack

(Image credit: Pura)

Everyone wants their home to smell great, but what if you could customize the scent? That’s what you get with the Pura Smart Home Fragrance device starter pack, a kit that takes a plug-in scent diffusers and makes it more high-tech. When you plug the Pura in you can schedule and geo-fence the scent output in your home from the app, as well as control the scent intensity. This Pura device fits two scent pods that you can combine or switch to your liking. Pura also has scent partnerships with well-known fragrance brands including Homesick, Nest, Capri Blue and more. And of course, you can easily ask Alexa to turn the Pura on or off. Read our Pura review to learn more.

Apple HomePod Mini

Apple HomePod Mini

(Image credit: Apple)

Apple’s HomePod Mini is a great gift for anyone in your life who uses other Apple devices. It’s a smart speaker that can be voice-activated with Siri. It can play your music or be used to make calls, as well as control HomeKit-connected smart home devices. As such, the HomePod Mini is set up and managed in the HomeKit app for iPhone or iPad. There’s even a HomeKit app for Apple Watch, making it a breeze to change the HomePod Mini’s music controls. But our favorite part about the HomePod Mini has to be the color choices — it comes in black, white, blue, orange and yellow. Read our full Apple HomePod Mini review to learn more.

Govee LED Strip Light M1

Govee LED Light Strip M1

(Image credit: Govee)

Smart light strips make excellent gifts, and one of our favorite options is the Govee LED Light Strip M1. Govee has a large selection of color lightening products, but the 16.4-foot Light Strip M1 is one of the more full-featured options. One strip has 50 customizable segments, meaning multiple colors can be displayed simultaneously. You can design your own light show or use any of the presets available in the app. The strips can also be synced to music to create a party atmosphere. Govee’s light strips can be controlled with the Govee app or with Alexa or Google Assistant. 

Anova Sous Vide

Anova Sous Vide

(Image credit: Anova)

The Anova Sous Vide is the best smart home gift for those who love to try out new cooking gadgets. Sous vide is a precision cooking method in which you vacuum seal meat or fish in a water bath, and let the sous vide machine control the water temperature to ensure a perfect preparation. What’s more, sous vide can be used to create infusions, boiled eggs and even oats. The Anova Sous Vide can be programmed with hundreds of free recipes in the Anova app, and controlled with the app, on the device itself or with Alexa. A vacuum sealer or sous vide container are excellent accessories if you want to take your gift one step further. Read our full Anova Sous Vide review to learn more.

Nest Doorbell

Nest Doorbell (battery)

(Image credit: Nest)

Give the gift of letting someone know who’s at their front door. The Nest Doorbell is the best video doorbell because of its video quality and features. Not only will it alert you when a person is at your door, but it also has package and vehicle detection available without needing a subscription. It comes with three hours of rolling video recording free, too. Night vision, a wide field of view and a minimalist design are other reasons the Nest Doorbell is one of our favorite smart home gifts this year. Read more about it our full Nest Doorbell (battery) review.

Nanoleaf Lines

Best gifts for a smarter home in 2022: Nanoleaf Lines

(Image credit: Nanoleaf)

Nanoleaf Lines aren’t your average smart lights. They’re designed to elevate an entertainment space with backlit illumination. They’re sturdy, modular and support more advanced features than any other smart lights on the market. Installing them isn’t as simple as sticking up some strip lights, but the final product is worth a little patience and sure to impress any gift recipient. When hooked up behind or above TVs and PC monitors, the Nanoleaf Lines can match the colors of the content on-screen for an immersive effect, making them especially great for gamers. Read our full Nanoleaf Lines review to learn more.

Sonos One

Best gifts for a smarter home in 2022: Sonos One

(Image credit: Sonos)

The Sonos One is a high-quality smart speaker and one of the best smart home devices you can give to someone who cares about their music sounding great. Compatible with both Alexa and Google Assistant, the Sonos One can be controlled via voice commands as well as control other smart home devices. But it’s also integrated with the Sonos app, which combines all your music streaming platforms into one place. When you have other Sonos speakers, you can enable multi-device or multi-room playback. For a portable Bluetooth option with similarly impressive sound, the Sonos Roam makes a great gift, too. 

Amazon Echo Show 15

Best gifts for a smarter home in 2022: Amazon Echo Show 15

(Image credit: Amazon)

The Amazon Echo Show 15 is the best smart display you can give as a gift. Unlike the other Echo Show devices, this one acts more like a smart home control center than a speaker. When placed in a high-traffic area in your home, the Echo Show 15 provides a digital destination for family members to interact, leave notes for each other, and more. Each family member can set up their own profile with a visual ID, so when they walk by, they’ll see customized communication options and information relevant to their day. The Echo Show 15 will work as a Fire TV smart TV, too. If you like the idea of gifting a smart display but want to get something more compact, the Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen) is also an awesome present. Otherwise, check our our Amazon Echo Show 15 review to learn more.

Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2

Best gifts for a smarter home in 2022: Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2

(Image credit: Ring)

“Alexa, who’s at the door?” The Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 shows much more of your front stoop than other Ring doorbells, so you're more likely to see when a package has been dropped off. Better yet, this Ring doorbell is compatible with package detection, so you know when something arrives (AKA, this is a great gift for someone you know who loves online shopping.) It also has customizable motion zones and a new "radar" feature that helps cut down on unwanted notifications. Read our Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2 review to learn more.

Bartesian robot cocktail maker

Best gifts for a smarter home in 2022: Bartesian

(Image credit: Barstian)

The Bartesian robot drink maker is the perfect gift for a person who loves having cocktails, without the hassle of making them. With dozens of different cocktail pods available, ranging from classics to seasonal creations, the Bartesian is a one-stop destination for preparing drinks quickly. This model holds four alcohol types at once, and using the barcode on the mixer pod, crafts the perfect drink every time. For those who stick to one or two kinds of spirits, the new Bartesian Duet ($279) lands in Walmart in November. Just be sure to give your friend or family member at least one pack of their favorite drink along with the machine, whether it’s a margarita, martini or old fashioned. 

Moen Smart Faucet

Best gifts for a smarter home in 2022: Moen Smart Faucet

(Image credit: Moen)

A faucet might not be a gift that typically comes to mind, but the Moen Smart Faucet is no regular plumbing fixture. It’s a smart faucet, meaning it pairs to Alexa or Google Assistant for voice controls. You can ask the faucet to dispense a certain amount of water at a certain temperature, and it’ll do so precisely without wasting a drop. Otherwise, you wave your hand in front of the faucet to turn the water on and off, which is not only more convenient but also more hygienic for food prep. If you’re looking to give a gift to someone who spends a lot of time in the kitchen, the Moen Smart Faucet is a thoughtful choice. 

Vestaboard

Vestaboard

(Image credit: Future)

Who said a smart home can't be stylish? The Vestaboard smart messaging display has both brains and beauty, presenting like a piece of modern art while packing a huge collection of messaging options that are controlled via app. Some examples of messages that Vestaboard can display include personalized notes, inspirational quotes, sports scores, the time and more. Endless messages are made using 132 modular character units reminiscent of a train station departure board. This is the ultimate smart home gift to get for your special techie someone who has a sharp eye for design.

Looking for more gift inspiration? Check out our roundup of the best stocking stuffers, best gifts for new homeowners and best gifts for home cooks.

Tom's Guide Staff

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