2026 verdict
Shelly or Sonoff? Between these two, the
Shelly 1 Gen4 is the more capable smart relay, with Zigbee, Bluetooth, a 16A rating and a three-year warranty against one.
It adds Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 and Zigbee through a hub with router mode, switches inductive and capacitive loads and has overheating protection, while both relays offer dry and wet contacts, Matter and support for Alexa, Google Home, Apple Home, SmartThings and Home Assistant. The
Sonoff MINI Dry Wi-Fi Smart Switch is the lower priced and better reviewed of the pair, with a physical on/off button the Shelly lacks, and owners like it for triggering gates and garage doors. Its limits are a 2A resistive rating, no inductive or capacitive loads and Wi-Fi only. Pick the
Shelly 1 Gen4 for general-purpose switching, and the
Sonoff MINI Dry Wi-Fi Smart Switch for a cheap, clean dry-contact trigger.
What owners say
Owners of both relays reach for them for the same job more often than any other: wiring the dry contact into a garage door opener or a gate so it can be triggered from the phone or by voice. Shelly 1 Gen4 owners single out local schedules that survive power cuts, reliable Home Assistant integration and uses beyond doors, such as pool heaters, pumps and low-voltage lights, while complaining that Zigbee pairing, with Hubitat especially, is fiddly and poorly documented and that it can be a tight fit in a switch box. Sonoff MINI Dry Wi-Fi Smart Switch owners like voice control through Alexa and Apple Home and the manual button, and their complaint is that the eWeLink app explains pulse mode poorly, with one reporting occasional disconnections.
