Which Shelly do I need?

The picker above is the short way through this page. The guide below is the same logic written out: the range sorted the way you'd actually shop it, by job, by what's in the wall, and by how you want to control it.

Match the model to the job

Shelly's naming looks like alphabet soup until you sort it by what each unit does. Pick the job first and most of the catalogue falls away.

The generation matters less than you'd think. Gen4 is the current platform with Zigbee and Matter on board, Gen3 does the same core job for a little less, and Pro is not a step above either: it is the same jobs packaged for a switchboard DIN rail. The long version is in Shelly generations: Gen 3 vs Gen 4 vs Pro.

The neutral wire question

One fact about your walls decides which half of the range you can use: whether a neutral wire reaches the switch. Most Shelly relays power themselves from the neutral, so with one in the box the whole range is open and you pick by job and generation.

Many Australian light switches, especially in older homes, carry only the two switch wires. That doesn't rule Shelly out. The 1L and 2L are relays built for exactly those plates, and each ships with the Shelly Bypass, which LED lights need fitted. For dimmable lights, the Dimmer Gen3 and Gen4 run with or without a neutral, with the bypass required when the load is under 20 W. An electrician can often pull a neutral to the plate while they're there, which opens up the whole relay range, so ask before you settle.

Wall box or DIN rail

The standard and Mini models hide behind the existing switch, so nothing changes on the wall. The Minis are cut for shallow Australian wall boxes where a full-size unit won't fit.

The Pro range does the same jobs from the switchboard instead: DIN-rail mounting, an Ethernet port, and multi-channel units that run several circuits from one spot. It suits new builds and renovations, where the electrician can bring the circuits back to the board.

App, Home Assistant, Zigbee or Matter

Every model speaks Wi-Fi, so the Shelly app and Home Assistant reach the whole range. The radios are where the generations differ.

Zigbee is the narrow one: it arrived with Gen4 as an alternative firmware profile, so Gen3 and the Pro range can't join a Zigbee network. Matter is on by default on Gen4, and a Gen4 unit runs one profile at a time, Matter or Zigbee, not both at once. The Pro range trades the new radios for an Ethernet port, which is its own kind of reliability. If Zigbee or Matter is a hard requirement, the picker will only ever hand you Gen4. Still weighing the protocols themselves? Start with should you run Shelly on Zigbee or Wi-Fi?

Not stocked yet

The picker recommends the right device even when we don't carry it, because an honest answer beats a stocked one. These are the models people ask about that we don't stock, and what we'd use instead.

One last reassurance before you buy: the wall switch keeps working even when the internet drops, and local control through Home Assistant stays up with it. The detail lives in does Shelly work without the internet?