Are Black Friday smart home deals actually cheaper?
Often not. Which? checked 227 products from eight big UK retailers, including Amazon, Argos and Currys, during the 2023 Black Friday fortnight, and found 92% were the same price or cheaper at other times of the year. Its method looked at price history for the 12 months before the sale and six months after.
That study is not smart-home specific, so treat it as a pattern rather than a prediction for 2026. The practical lesson is to decide what you want first, then check the price history of that exact model. A price tracker such as Keepa or CamelCamelCamel shows an Amazon listing's history in a few seconds. If today's "deal" matches a price from September, it is a normal price with a banner on it.
Which? also tested whether "was" prices were credible: for six in ten deals the higher "was" price applied for less than half the time the product was sold during the previous year. Ignore the crossed-out figure and compare the sale price with what the product has actually cost recently. For a recent example of how Amazon event pricing played out on smart home kit, see our Prime Big Deal Days 2026 smart home round-up.
How we chose what to wait for
We did not rank products by discount, because there is no verified discount yet. The picks below are products we already cover on the site and would buy at the right price, judged on four criteria in priority order. First, local control: does it keep working, and keep working with Home Assistant, if the internet or the vendor's cloud disappears? Second, no mandatory subscription for the features you actually use. Third, open standards (Matter, Thread, Zigbee) over a single vendor's app. Fourth, a UK-specific variant: 13A BS1363 plugs, UK bulb fittings, boiler-friendly heating controls.
We excluded anything where the cheap price comes from a cloud-only design, and anything that has to be bought as a bundle just to be useful. If a deal needs a proprietary hub you do not already own, add the hub's price to the total before deciding.
The smart home products worth waiting for this Black Friday
1. Shelly Plus Plug UK — best for Home Assistant power users
Who it's for: anyone who wants a local, accurately metered plug that does not depend on a vendor cloud. It carries a 13A / 3000W rating, so it can handle a kettle-class load, and Home Assistant's core Shelly integration talks to it locally with push updates.
The catch is size: it is a 60 x 60 x 56mm cube, so check it will not block the neighbouring socket, and it is 2.4GHz Wi-Fi only. It costs more than the cheapest Wi-Fi plugs, which is exactly why a genuine seasonal drop is worth waiting for. Our best smart plug UK guide compares it with the alternatives, and the home energy monitor guide shows where metering plugs fit alongside whole-home monitors.
View the Shelly Plus Plug UK on Amazon UK
2. Eve Energy (Matter) — best for Thread and Matter households
Who it's for: people building a Thread network who want zero cloud accounts. Eve Energy is a Works with Home Assistant certified plug that connects over Matter-over-Thread and includes energy monitoring.
It needs a Thread border router, such as a Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 in Thread mode, an Apple TV or a HomePod, and it is priced at the premium end for a plug. Each mains-powered Thread plug also strengthens the mesh for battery sensors nearby. If you are still choosing a radio stick, read our ZBT-2 UK review first.
3. SONOFF TRVZB — best budget radiator valve
Who it's for: anyone fitting valves to many radiators and happy to run Zigbee2MQTT or ZHA. It is one of the cheapest Zigbee radiator valves, with no hub or cloud requirement and adapters in the box for common valve types including Danfoss RA, RAV and RAVL.
The trade-off is running cost and finish: SONOFF quotes around six months from three AA batteries, shorter than Bosch's roughly two years, and the build feels cheaper. Winter is also when heating gear is most useful, so a pre-Christmas discount is worth planning for. If you want a whole-system thermostat instead, compare options in our best smart thermostat UK guide, and check running costs in the tado Auto-Assist cost breakdown before accepting a thermostat bundle.
View the SONOFF TRVZB on Amazon UK
4. Philips Hue White and Colour Ambiance E27 — best for feature lighting
Who it's for: living rooms and gaming or TV setups where colour accuracy matters. The bulb is rated at 1100 lumens, 2000-6500K and 16 million colours, is also sold in B22 bayonet for older UK fittings, and works through the Hue Bridge or paired directly to Zigbee2MQTT or ZHA.
It is the priciest bulb in this list, so multi-packs and starter bundles are where Black Friday offers tend to be worth checking. Do the sums per bulb, and remember that skipping the Bridge costs you Entertainment sync and Hue Labs. Our best smart bulbs UK guide covers cheaper alternatives for rooms where colour does not matter.
View the Hue White and Colour E27 on Amazon UK
5. Eufy Video Doorbell E340 — best subscription-free doorbell
Who it's for: households that want recorded clips without a monthly fee. It has dual 2K cameras (one on the face, one on parcels), 8GB of local storage and a battery eufy rates at up to six months per charge.
The catch is Home Assistant: it relies on the community eufy_security HACS integration and still needs a eufy cloud account, so it can break on firmware updates. If Home Assistant reliability matters more than the dual-camera trick, see the other picks in our best video doorbell without a subscription guide.
View the Eufy E340 on Amazon UK
What should you check before buying a smart home deal?
Check five things, in this order: price history, subscription, compatibility, return terms and the seller. Price history comes first because a banner is not evidence.
Subscription: cameras, doorbells and some thermostats lock features behind monthly plans, so read what the cheap price leaves out. Compatibility: confirm the protocol (Matter, Thread, Zigbee, Wi-Fi) matches the hub you already own; our best Zigbee hub UK guide explains the options. Returns: for online orders, gov.uk says retailers must refund customers who tell them within 14 days of receiving an item, and must repair or replace faulty goods returned within six months. Seller: a marketplace seller is not the manufacturer, so check who ships and who handles warranty claims.
Who should skip Black Friday smart home shopping?
Skip it if you have not worked out what you need. Buying a hub-dependent product because it is 30% off, then discovering it does not work with your platform, costs more than paying full price for the right device. Also skip it if the item is urgent, such as a thermostat for a broken-down heating system, or if the deal bundles gear you will not use. Waiting also carries little risk for most categories: Which? found a large share of products were the same price or cheaper outside the sale.
Buying audio? We have a separate dated guide to Black Friday Sonos deals in the UK, covering last year's sale prices and which Sonos products are worth waiting for.
