Comparison
Shelly Pro 3EM Smart Energy Meter vs Eyedro Home Energy Monitor (EYEFI-2): Which Should You Buy? (2026)
| At a glance | Shelly Pro 3EM Smart Energy Meter | Eyedro Home Energy Monitor (EYEFI-2) |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | ★★★★★ 4.3/5 | ★★★★★ 4.2/5 |
| Price | $110-$150 | $140-$180 |
| Best for | Home Assistant and automation enthusiasts who demand local, cloud-free energy data. | Solar and net-metering homeowners who want accurate totals with zero subscription cost. |
| Guarantee | Amazon return policy applies | Amazon return policy applies |
| Check Today's Price → | Check Today's Price → |
Pick between these two and you're not really choosing a spec sheet — you're choosing where your energy data lives. The Shelly Pro 3EM keeps everything on your own network: a DIN-rail meter with a local API and MQTT, built to feed Home Assistant without ever touching a cloud server. The Eyedro EYEFI-2 makes the opposite bet: clamp on the two included sensors, get it online over WiFi or Ethernet, and read everything through MyEyedro, a cloud dashboard that's free for life with no subscription. That fork — local-first tinkerer's meter versus subscription-free cloud appliance — settles this comparison before accuracy or price gets a vote.
It has to, because nothing else separates them much. Ratings are a coin flip (4.3 versus 4.2), both measure whole-home power honestly, and neither does appliance-level detection — no AI guessing which blip is the dryer. The Shelly typically runs $110–$150, the Eyedro $140–$180, so the tinkerer's option is also, unusually, the cheaper one.
The local-first meter
Shelly Pro 3EM Smart Energy Meter
DIN-rail, local-first WiFi/Bluetooth energy meter beloved by Home Assistant power users.
$110-$150 · Amazon return policy applies
The Pro 3EM is the one electricians and Home Assistant people reach for. It reports voltage, current, and active and apparent power per phase, holds roughly 1% active-energy accuracy, and stores 60 days of history on the device itself at one-minute resolution — so a router reboot or a dead internet connection costs you nothing. It handles split-phase and three-phase service and can pair with add-on relays if you want to switch a contactor off the readings. The catch is the form factor: DIN-rail mounting means it lives in or beside your panel, and installing it is panel work. If you're not comfortable there, budget for an electrician visit, and know going in that the app and ecosystem assume you enjoy configuring things.
The set-and-forget monitor
Eyedro Home Energy Monitor (EYEFI-2)
Straightforward whole-home monitor with free lifetime cloud software and solar net-metering support.
$140-$180 · Amazon return policy applies
The EYEFI-2 is deliberately boring, in the good way. Two current sensors, service up to 200A/600V, WiFi or Ethernet — and the wired option matters more than it sounds, because panels tend to sit in basements and garages where WiFi is weakest. MyEyedro serves up real-time data, bills, reports, and history from any browser, and Eyedro charges nothing ongoing for any of it. The feature that actually wins buyers is directional sensing: it tells power flowing in from power flowing out, which makes it the natural pick for solar homes tracking net metering. The trade-offs are real but small. The interface is spreadsheets-and-graphs rather than a polished consumer app, and the base setup tracks the whole home, not individual circuits.
Who should skip which
Skip the Shelly if you will never open your panel and don't want to pay someone who will — a monitor you never install is worth exactly nothing. Skip the Eyedro if cloud dependence bothers you on principle; the service is free, but your data rides on their servers, and there's no local-control story to match Shelly's. Skip both if your actual question is "which appliance is eating my bill" — neither identifies individual devices, and a detection-focused monitor would serve you better.
Bottom line
Solar on the roof, or a preference for gear that just reports the numbers: get the Eyedro, and the free-forever software makes the higher sticker price honest. Home Assistant running on a shelf somewhere, or an itch for local data and automations: get the Shelly, and pocket the difference. They're rated nearly identically because both do their one job well. Buy the one that matches your temperament, not the one with the longer feature list.