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Sonoff’s Zigbee plug lineup remains one of the most sensible choices for Home Assistant users who want local control without breaking the bank. The S60ZB is the one to buy today — it pairs cleanly via ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT, adds genuine energy monitoring, and doubles as a Zigbee router. The older S26R2ZB still works if you find one, but it is officially discontinued, and the in-wall ZBMINIR2 and ZBMINIL2 round out the family for anyone who prefers to hide the hardware behind an existing switch.
Quick Picks
| Product | Best For | Price Tier |
|---|---|---|
| Sonoff S60ZB | Current best Zigbee plug with power monitoring | Budget |
| Sonoff S26R2ZB | Simple on/off control, no monitoring needed | Budget |
| Sonoff ZBMINIL2 | Retrofitting older homes with no neutral wire | Budget |
| Sonoff ZBMINIR2 | In-wall relay with routing and OTA updates | Mid-range |
Sonoff S60ZB — The One to Buy Right Now
What It Is
The S60ZB (sold as S60ZBTPF for EU Type E/F sockets and S60ZBTPG for UK Type G) is Sonoff’s current flagship Zigbee smart plug. It runs on Zigbee 3.0, acts as a router device inside your Zigbee mesh, and is the first Sonoff Zigbee plug to ship with a proper onboard energy meter. The EU variant is rated to 16A and 4000W; the UK variant tops out at 13A and 3250W. It is not available with a US plug type — only EU and UK socket formats exist.
Why It Works for Home Assistant
- Full ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT support. Via Zigbee2MQTT it exposes switch state, power-on behaviour, and energy sensors including power, voltage, current, and cumulative energy. It also supports OTA firmware updates, which the S26R2ZB it replaces never did.
- Proper Zigbee routing. Because it is always mains-powered, it acts as a router in your Zigbee mesh rather than an end device, helping signals reach sensors further from your coordinator.
- Clean energy reporting. The device only transmits power data when readings change, which keeps your mesh traffic lean. It exposes daily, monthly, and lifetime energy totals as separate entities inside Home Assistant, making it immediately useful for automations like cutting power when a device finishes a cycle.
Real Drawbacks
- No US plug type at all — if you are in North America, this product simply does not exist in the right socket format for you.
- Zigbee2MQTT requires a recent herdsman-converters version to expose the full energy data set. Older installations may need a manual update before all entities appear.
Check price: Amazon UK | Amazon IE
(No Amazon US link — the S60ZB is only available in EU/UK plug formats and is not stocked on Amazon.com.)
Sonoff S26R2ZB — Discontinued but Still Floating Around
What It Is
The S26R2ZB was Sonoff’s workhorse Zigbee plug for several years. It came in UK (Type G, 13A/3250W), EU Schuko (Type F, 16A/4000W), and French (Type E, 16A/3680W) variants. Sonoff and ITEAD have now officially discontinued it and recommend the S60ZB series in its place, but it still turns up at third-party sellers. There is no US plug type — it was never designed for North American sockets.
Why It Held Up So Well
- Solid Zigbee routing. Like the S60ZB, it acts as a Zigbee router device rather than an end device, which means every plug you install adds a hop to your mesh.
- Reliable pairing on ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT. A one-time factory reset is all that is needed to bring it into a third-party network without touching the eWeLink app. Zigbee2MQTT exposes a clean switch entity regardless of what socket type you buy.
- Flame-retardant PC V0 casing. The build quality has been consistently praised, with the compact footprint meaning it sits closer to the wall than many rival budget plugs.
Real Drawbacks
- ZHA entity classification bug. Some units shipped with a Zigbee device_type of 0x0100 (on/off light) rather than 0x0009 (mains outlet), so ZHA creates a light entity instead of a switch entity. Zigbee2MQTT sidesteps the problem entirely by mapping every S26R2ZB to a switch expose, but ZHA users may need to manually correct the entity via customization. No OTA fix was ever issued — Sonoff confirmed these devices do not support OTA firmware updates.
- No energy monitoring. The S26R2ZB is purely on/off. If you want power consumption data, you need the S60ZB instead.
- Discontinued and increasingly scarce. Stock at mainstream retailers is thin and getting thinner.
Check price: Amazon UK | Amazon IE
(No Amazon US link — the S26R2ZB only exists in EU/UK plug formats and has never been sold on Amazon.com.)
Sonoff ZBMINIL2 — The No-Neutral In-Wall Option
What It Is
Strictly speaking the ZBMINIL2 is not a plug — it is an in-wall Zigbee relay that hides behind your existing light switch. It earns a place in this review because it is the device many Home Assistant users reach for when there is no convenient socket to plug into. Its headline feature is that it requires no neutral wire, which matters enormously in older homes where switch boxes only carry a switched live. The module is rated to 6A and 250V and measures just 39.5 x 32 x 18.4mm.
Why It Works for Home Assistant
- No neutral, no problem. Older European and UK homes routinely have only a switched live at the switch box. The ZBMINIL2 is specifically designed for that wiring and works with LED loads from as low as 3W, eliminating most flicker concerns without needing an anti-flicker bypass.
- Rock-solid ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT integration. Both integrations see it as a plain switch entity. Pairing is the standard Sonoff hold-and-flash procedure, and once it is in Home Assistant it sits in automations like any other switch — with support for external switch type configuration exposed by Zigbee2MQTT.
- Keeps manual control intact. The connected wall switch still operates the light directly, which matters if anyone in the house refuses to use voice commands or the app.
Real Drawbacks
- End device, not a router. Unlike the ZBMINIR2, the ZBMINIL2 is a Zigbee end device. It does not repeat signals for the rest of your mesh, so a large deployment of these will not help your network coverage the way a set of S60ZB plugs would.
- No energy monitoring and no OTA updates. If either of those matter to you, move up to the ZBMINIR2 or a different product entirely.
- Will not drive inductive loads like fans. It is really a lighting relay.
If you are comparing local-control protocols before committing, our article on Thread Border Router vs Zigbee covers the trade-offs in detail.
Check price: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Amazon IE
Sonoff ZBMINIR2 — The In-Wall Relay That Also Extends Your Mesh
What It Is
The ZBMINIR2 is the ZBMINIL2’s bigger sibling and the in-wall relay Sonoff recommends for new installs. It requires a neutral wire, runs Zigbee 3.0 on the EFR32MG21 chip, and fits in a body measuring just 39.5 x 33 x 16.8mm. It is rated to 10A and 2400W and works across 100–240V, making it genuinely useful on both sides of the Atlantic.
Why It Works for Home Assistant
- Acts as a Zigbee router. Because the neutral wire keeps it permanently powered, it functions as a full Zigbee router and can support up to 64 child devices. In a real home with thick concrete walls, deploying a few of these behind light switches meaningfully improves mesh coverage for sensors elsewhere on your network.
- OTA firmware updates. Unlike most of Sonoff’s older Zigbee devices, the ZBMINIR2 supports over-the-air updates via Zigbee2MQTT, which means you are not stuck on whatever firmware shipped in the box.
- Broad external switch support. It works with rocker switches, momentary switches, SPDT switches, and door-contact switches, giving you flexibility when retrofitting whatever is already on the wall.
Real Drawbacks
- Neutral wire is non-negotiable. If your switch box does not have one, you are back to the ZBMINIL2 or a complete rewire.
- No energy monitoring. For a relay that sits permanently behind a switch, that omission is understandable, but if you want consumption data you need a plug-type device like the S60ZB instead.
If you are running a Zigbee coordinator and want to understand how it compares to a Thread setup for devices like this, see our Best Thread Border Router for Home Assistant guide.
Check price: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Amazon IE
(Stock on Amazon US can be intermittent — check listing availability before ordering.)
How We Chose
Every product here was evaluated against the same criteria: documented compatibility with ZHA and Zigbee2MQTT, Zigbee 3.0 compliance, absence of mandatory cloud dependency for local operation, and real-world feedback from the Home Assistant community forums and third-party review sites. We checked regional availability on each Amazon marketplace before listing links, and dropped any link where the plug type or product simply is not sold in that market. Energy monitoring, OTA update support, and Zigbee router capability were weighted heavily because they deliver ongoing value once the device is on your wall. Products with cloud-only pairing requirements were excluded from consideration entirely. For a broader look at how Zigbee plugs compare to Matter alternatives, see our Zigbee vs Matter Smart Plug article.
FAQ
Does the Sonoff S60ZB work with Home Assistant without the eWeLink app?
Yes. Once you put the plug into pairing mode by holding its button for about five seconds, your Zigbee coordinator picks it up under ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT and it never needs to touch the eWeLink cloud again. All control, scheduling, and automation happens locally inside Home Assistant. The eWeLink app is only relevant if you also want Alexa or Google Assistant cloud integration — your local setup does not require it.
Why does the Sonoff S26R2ZB show up as a light entity in ZHA instead of a switch?
Some S26R2ZB units shipped with a Zigbee device_type value of 0x0100 — the on/off light type — embedded in the firmware rather than 0x0009, the mains outlet type. ZHA reads that field directly and creates a light entity accordingly. Sonoff confirmed the device does not support OTA firmware updates, so there is no fix from the firmware side. The workaround is to manually create a switch entity via Home Assistant customization and disable the light entity. Zigbee2MQTT avoids the problem entirely because it defines the expose independently of the underlying device_type field.
Is there a Sonoff Zigbee smart plug with a US Type A or Type B socket?
No. Sonoff’s entire Zigbee plug range — both the discontinued S26R2ZB and the current S60ZB — is only produced in EU Type E/F and UK Type G formats. If you are in North America, the in-wall ZBMINIL2 or ZBMINIR2 modules are your Sonoff Zigbee options, since those wire directly to your existing switch regardless of regional socket standard. For local-control Zigbee plugs in the US, you would need to look at other brands such as IKEA Tradfri or third-party Zigbee plugs in Type A format. See our Best Budget Zigbee Hubs guide for coordinator recommendations that work with all of these.