These Are the Best Smart Home Gifts of 2026

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If someone on your gift list is looking to make their home smarter, the challenge can be daunting. There are a lot of smart products out there, all with varying price points and feature sets. What's more, smart home designs can be as simple or as complex as the user wants them to be: Maybe someone wants to be able to control their lights with the same convenient smart speaker they use to listen to music, while others might want their house running on automations.

If you're here, you likely know your giftee is looking for smart home devices but aren't sure where to start. As such, I've compiled some of the most popular smart categories and highlighted a specific product that is generally best for the majority of users interested in that type of device. (Though, with all technology gifts, my main piece of advice is asking what your recipient wants exactly—that will help eliminate risks of buying something incompatible with their systems, or something that requires a subscription they don't want to pay for.)

Best smart speaker gift: Echo Dot Max

"Smart home" encompasses a myriad of product categories, but for me, the most important is arguably the smart speaker. It's the most universal by far: A smart speaker can act as a smart hub to power the rest of your smart home, or it can be your only smart device. Maybe someone on your list wants to build out their smart home, and this is their first step, or they simply want something that can play music and tell them the weather at the same time.

It's tough to pick a smart speaker to recommend over all others, since this category is particularly platform-dependent. If your giftee is all-in on the Apple ecosystem, the HomePod mini could be the best choice; on the other hand, if they love Google products, the Google Home Speaker could be equally as solid. However, if I have to choose one speaker over all others, I'd have to go with Amazon. It's not that I necessarily think Amazon's product has the best audio quality, but I do think it's the most universal speaker of the bunch. It doesn't matter what platform your recipient depends on; they can connect their Amazon speaker to it and power any number of smart home devices. If they happen to have other Amazon devices, like a Fire TV or Kindle, even better; if not, it won't hurt.

Amazon makes quite a few smart speakers these days, but I'm focused on the best bang for your buck here. For that, the Echo Dot Max might take the cake. It's a bit more powerful than the Echo Dot, with more audio tech (Amazon says it has a tweeter and woofer, compared to the single front-firing speaker of the Dot), plus it's a more recent device (2025 vs. 2022). While you could upgrade to the Echo Studio, which has better audio tech than the Dot Max, the former costs nearly double. The Echo Dot Max seems to be the better overall value—or, you could gift someone two Echo Dot Max for a stereo setup, for the price of one Echo Studio.

Best smart lights gift: WiZ LED Smart Light Bulb

Other than smart speakers, smart lights are probably the first device that comes to mind when I think "smart home." Not only are they easy to set up and use, but they're perhaps the easiest demonstration of how your smart home works: Most people get a kick out of turning lights on and off with voice commands, as well as changing the colors on a whim.

There are a ton of smart lights to choose from on the market, with varying brands, price points, and features to consider. But if you want to get someone started with a set of smart lights, WiZ might have the best value. These smart lights run just over $20 per bulb, but drop in individual price quickly when you buy in multi-packs. A two-pack is $21.99, a three-pack is $24.99, and a four-pack is $37.99. These WiZ bulbs are CNET's pick for best smart lights of 2026, in part because of the affordable price, but also because they don't require a hub, support a wide range of platforms, and come with both color-changing and motion-sensing capabilities.

Best smart cameras gift: Eufy Eufycam C35

If you google "best smart cameras of 2026," you're going to find a host of brands and opinions out there. Ring, Blink, Arlo, Google, and more top all of the best-of lists out there, with features like pan and tilt, 4K video, AI capabilities, cloud video storage, etc. The problem is, many of the best smart camera features require a subscription, which I'm not a huge fan of for gifts. You want someone to be able to use the thing you buy them without also having to worry about a monthly or annual payment. And unless you're willing to keep that subscription going for them, you might want to find an option that works well without one.

That's why I'd lean towards the Eufy EufyCam C35. Eufy's outdoor camera is reasonably priced, especially when it's on sale (currently $54.99). It comes with two-way audio, as well as color night vision, and it supports on-device media storage. CNET recommends adding an SD card or Eufy hub for expanded local storage, and even a solar panel if you want to avoid having to recharge the camera every now and again. The video resolution here isn't as sharp as some other models, capping at 1080p, but that means less video data to worry about. Plus, the whole operation works without a subscription. If you're looking for something with more features, CNET has an excellent list of the best smart cameras of 2026.

Best smart lock gift: Yale Assure Lock 2

If someone in your life is looking for a smart lock, prepare yourself: These things can get a bit pricey. I suppose that's to be expected. If you're going to trust a piece of tech to keep your front door protected, you want it to be good at its job, which means it might tend to cost more than other individual smart home devices.

For the money, one of the best and most feature-rich smart locks you can buy is Yale's Assure Lock 2. It isn't the cheapest smart lock on the market, but it's not the priciest. For that price ($240), you get a versatile smart lock that works with all the major platforms (Alexa, Google, and Apple Home), supports digital passes, key-free unlocking, app control, and comes with a simple keypad for easy unlocking. There's even a version that comes with a fingerprint reader if your giftee is looking for a smart lock with biometrics, but that will up the price a bit more.

Now, other smart locks tend to hover around this price point, if not even higher. But if you're looking for something that isn't quite as expensive without compromising the feature list too much, check out the Ultraloq U-Bolt Pro. CNET highlights this option as a more affordable smart lock (around $110) that has keypad and fingerprint entry, as well as IP65 weather resistance. However, the big trade-off is the lack of Apple support, so if you're all in on Siri, you'll need to look elsewhere.

Best smart doorbell gift: TP-Link Tapo D225

Like smart locks, smart doorbells can get expensive fast. And like smart locks, that's for a good reason. You want your video doorbell to catch everything, whether that's a delivery made while you're away or an intruder looking for ways to break in.

For most people looking for a smart video doorbell, the best choice might just be the TP-Link Tapo D225. It's reasonably priced and comes with 2K video with a wide 180-degree angle, with both wired and wireless installation options. If your giftee doesn't feel like hard-wiring the doorbell to their house, they can get by on eight months of battery life in between charges. It also supports a number of platforms, including Alexa, Google Home, and IFTTT, though unfortunately not Apple Home. They'll also need to provide their own SD card for footage, or pay for cloud storage.

If you need an alternative, Arlo's second-generation video doorbell is also excellent, and is PCMag's pick for best smart doorbell. This option is around the same price, is easy to set up, has excellent video quality with a wide-angle view, and runs on a charge for four months at a time (though you can also hard-wire the doorbell if you wish). Arlo also doesn't support Apple Home, but it does support a wide variety of other platforms, including Alexa, Google Home, IFTTT, and Samsung SmartThings.

The big caveat here is that you will need an Arlo Secure subscription in order to access certain features. That includes motion alerts, notifications, and even recorded video, which can be a bummer if your giftee isn't interested in a subscription. As such, I'd point most toward the TP-Link option.

Best smart outdoor camera gift: TP-Link Tapo C310

Here's what I look for in a smart security camera: high-quality video, night vision support, and smart motion detection, all without requiring a subscription for many (or any) of the features. (Bonus points if there's a built-in spotlight.)

Speaking of TP-Link in the last category, I'd also recommend the company if you're looking for a smart home camera. Specifically, the TP-Link Tapo Wire-Free MagCam. This smart camera supports 2K video, color night vision, both local and cloud-based video recording, with an extended battery life running up to almost a year. Those perks, combined with its reasonable price, make it a great choice for a smart camera gift, and are why PCMag named it the best 2K wireless camera of the year. I particularly like that you don't need a subscription for any of these features, so your recipient can simply set up the camera and get monitoring.

Again, TP-Link doesn't support Apple Home, but it does support Alexa, Google Assistant, and IFTTT. It also doesn't have a mechanical pan and tilt system, so it won't be able to move to capture more of your yard. If your giftee is looking for something that supports this type of security capture, PCMag recommends Arlo Essential Outdoor Pan Tilt. This one's even less expensive than the Tapo C310, and also supports 2K video. That said, it requires payment to access recorded video and receive AI-powered alerts, and you have to use Arlo's cloud-based recording solution, as there is no local recording here. For those reasons, I'd recommend the TP-Link for more users.