Best Automatic Router Rebooters in 2026
An honest comparison of the ways to reboot your router automatically — dedicated rebooters like Keep Connect, smart plugs, ezOutlet, and your router's built-in schedule — and where each one wins.
By Byron Johnson — Founder of Johnson Creative & engineer behind Keep Connect
Written by a networking hardware engineerUpdated July 2026
If you’ve landed here, you’ve already accepted the premise: rebooting your router works, but doing it by hand every time is a chore you’ll never keep up with. The fix is to automate it. There are four realistic ways to do that, and they are notequally good. Here’s an honest breakdown — including where the cheaper options genuinely make sense.
Full disclosure: I designed and sell Keep Connect, one of the options below. I’ll tell you exactly where it wins and where a $15 smart plug is honestly all you need.
The four ways to auto-reboot
| Option | Reboots on outage? | Scheduled reboots? | Typical cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dedicated rebooter (Keep Connect) | Yes — monitors & detects | Yes | $50–75 one-time |
| ezOutlet / IP power switch | Yes (pings a server) | Yes | $50–100 one-time |
| Smart plug on a timer | No — blind to your internet | Yes (time only) | $10–25 one-time |
| Router’s built-in schedule | No | Sometimes | Free (if supported) |
1. Dedicated automatic rebooter — best overall
A purpose-built rebooter like Keep Connect is the only option that actually understands your internet. It continuously monitors your connection and power-cycles the router the moment it detects a real outage — then verifies you’re back. It also runs scheduled reboots, needs no app or account to work, and can text or email you when something happens (including when the outage is your ISP’s fault, not your router’s).
- Best for: anyone who wants it handled — set it up once and forget it exists.
- Keep Connect ($49.99) covers most homes and apartments.
- Keep Connect MAX ($74.99) adds scheduling and advanced monitoring for smart homes that can’t afford to drop cameras, garage doors, or automations offline.
The trade-off is honest: it costs more than a smart plug, because it’s doing far more than a smart plug can.
2. ezOutlet / IP power switch — capable, but fiddlier
These auto-reboot outlets ping an internet server and cut power to whatever’s plugged in when the pings fail. Functionally similar to a dedicated rebooter, and reliable once configured — but they tend to be bulkier, more industrial, and more setup-heavy, and some assume a bit of networking comfort. A solid pick if you like tinkering.
3. Smart plug on a timer — cheap and fine for scheduled reboots
This is the honest budget answer. A $15 Wi-Fi smart plug (Kasa, Wyze, and the like) can power-cycle your router on a schedule — say, every night at 4 a.m. If your problem is the slow monthly buildup and not random daytime outages, that alone solves most of it.
The catch:a smart plug is completely blind to your internet. It can’t tell whether your connection is up or down; it just flips power on a clock. So it won’t rescue you from a 2 p.m. outage, and — awkwardly — many smart plugs rely on the very Wi-Fi they’re power-cycling, so if the router is down, you may not be able to trigger them. For a fuller take on this exact trade-off, see how a dedicated rebooter differs from a smart plug.
4. Your router’s built-in schedule — free, if you have it
Some routers (and most mesh systems) have a scheduled-reboot option buried in their admin page or app. If yours does, it’s free and worth turning on. Two limitations: it only does scheduledreboots, not outage-triggered ones, and plenty of routers don’t offer it at all — or hide it well enough that you’ll never find it.
So which should you buy?
- Want it truly handled, including surprise outages? A dedicated rebooter like Keep Connect.
- Just want to stop the slow monthly creep on a budget? A smart plug on a nightly timer is genuinely enough.
- Your router already has a reboot schedule? Turn it on before you buy anything.
Whatever you choose, the underlying fix is the same — a clean, well-timed power cycle. If you want to understand what that’s actually doing, read why rebooting your router works, or go back to the step-by-step reboot guide.