The Shelly 1 Gen4 and 1PM Mini Gen4 cover most of my in-wall switching, but readers keep asking the obvious follow-up: is there anything else out there? Specifically, is there a real alternative to the full-size Shelly 1PM Gen4 — the 16A relay with built-in power metering — from another manufacturer? I went looking. The short answer: yes, but almost nobody matches all of what the Shelly does at once.
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What you’re actually trying to replace
The reason the 1PM Gen4 is hard to beat isn’t any single spec — it’s the combination. In one wall-box-sized module you get 16A switching, real power and energy metering, no hub required (it exposes a local HTTP API and MQTT over Wi-Fi), and multiprotocol flexibility — Wi-Fi and Bluetooth out of the box, switchable to Zigbee or Matter. Most competitors nail two or three of those and quietly drop the rest. So the right alternative depends entirely on which of those four things you’re willing to give up.
The five alternatives worth knowing
1. Aqara Single Switch Module T1 — the closest true match
This is the most direct like-for-like: a Zigbee in-wall relay with genuine power and energy metering, in a similar compact size. If you already run Aqara or a solid Zigbee mesh, it does almost exactly what the Shelly does. The catch is that it’s Zigbee-only and happiest through an Aqara hub, so you lose the Shelly’s hub-free Wi-Fi independence and its protocol-switching trick.
2. Sonoff MINIR4 / MINIR4M — cheapest, but no metering
Sonoff is the usual price-fighter, and this is exactly where it stumbles. Its in-wall minis are excellent little relays — the MINIR4M even adds Matter — but they have no power metering at all. Sonoff’s energy-monitoring lives in its plugs and DIN-rail modules (POWR3, POW Elite), not in a wall-box relay. So Sonoff is only an “alternative” if you’re happy to drop the metering requirement to save money.
3. EVVR Energy Monitoring Relay — 16A metering with HomeKit
EVVR built this one specifically around accurate energy monitoring at a full 16A, with Matter and native HomeKit support. It’s a genuine 16A-plus-metering competitor and a strong pick if you live in the Apple Home world. Downsides: it’s pricier than the Shelly and has a larger footprint, so back-box space matters.
4. Tuya / MOES / Zemismart Zigbee relays — cheap and metered, if you’re brave
There’s a whole class of white-label Zigbee in-wall modules with power metering, sold under Tuya, MOES, Zemismart and others, often for very little money. In Zigbee2MQTT or ZHA they can work well. But build quality and firmware are inconsistent, and there’s no clean local Wi-Fi/HTTP API like Shelly’s — so treat them as a budget/tinkerer route, not a set-and-forget one.
5. Staying inside Shelly’s own range
Sometimes the best “alternative” is a different Shelly. The 2PM Gen4 gives you two metered channels at 16A each in one box — great where two loads sit together. And the DIN-rail Wave Pro 1PM covers the same 16A-with-metering job in a consumer-unit form factor. Same ecosystem, same app, no compromises on local control.
Quick comparison
| Device | Metering | Max current | Protocol | Hub needed? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shelly 1PM Gen4 | Yes | 16A | Wi-Fi/BT, switchable Zigbee or Matter | No |
| Aqara Single Switch Module T1 | Yes | ~10–16A | Zigbee | Aqara hub preferred |
| Sonoff MINIR4M | No | 10A | Wi-Fi + Matter | No |
| EVVR Energy Monitoring Relay | Yes | 16A | Matter / HomeKit | Hub/bridge |
| Tuya / MOES / Zemismart | Usually | Varies | Zigbee | Zigbee coordinator |
Ratings vary by exact SKU and region — always check the specific model’s datasheet before wiring it to a real load.
So which should you buy?
If your requirement is the full set — in-wall, 16A, metered, hub-free, and multiprotocol — the Shelly 1PM Gen4 is genuinely still close to unique, and switching brands mostly means giving something up.
Pick Aqara’s T1 module if you’re already invested in Zigbee/Aqara and want the closest metered equivalent. Pick EVVR if you want 16A metering with proper HomeKit. Reach for Sonoff only when you can live without metering and just want cheap reliable switching. And go Tuya/MOES/Zemismart only if you enjoy the Zigbee2MQTT rabbit hole and want metering on a shoestring.
For my own house, the Shelly stays the default — but it’s healthy that the alternatives finally exist. Competition is how these things get cheaper.
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