Best Solar Monitoring Systems for Home (2026)
Unless your installer fitted consumption metering, an inverter app can’t see how much of your solar the house used or how much went back to the grid. For most solar homes we’d buy the Emporia Vue 3 with 8 sensors: its main sensors track grid import and export, one circuit sensor on the solar breaker reads production, and Emporia’s help center documents the sensor placement and app settings.
Our Picks at a Glance
| Monitor | Reads Solar Production | Circuit Sensors | Data Kept | Home Assistant | Warranty | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emporia Vue 3, 8 sensors | Yes, with a sensor on the solar circuit | 8 x 50A | Hourly and daily for the device’s life | Only by flashing ESPHome | 1 year | ~$149.99 | Vue 3 8-Sensor on Amazon |
| Refoss EM16P | Solar PV monitoring listed; sensor placement not stated | 16 x 60A | 5 years at daily level | Native, no flashing | 2 years | ~$159.99 | Refoss EM16P on Amazon |
| Emporia Vue 3, monitor only | No; net import and export only | None | Hourly and daily for the device’s life | Only by flashing ESPHome | 1 year | ~$99.99 | Vue 3 Monitor Only on Amazon |
What a Panel Monitor Adds to Your Inverter App
An inverter or microinverter app knows what your panels produced, because the inverter made that power. It can’t see what the house consumed unless your installer also fitted consumption metering. A panel monitor clamps sensors on your main lines, so it sees the grid side, the import and export your utility bills on, and when each happened.
Emporia’s sensors measure AC only, so solar is read on the inverter’s AC output, at the solar breaker. And the main-line sensors alone show only the net result. To see total production, Emporia says a 50A sensor has to sit on the solar circuit itself.
Our Picks
Emporia Vue 3, 8 sensors
Put one sensor on the solar breaker and the app shows Net Production when the panels out-run the house and Net Usage when they don’t, with In from Grid and Out to Grid totals in the day view. The remaining six or seven sensors, depending on how you clamp the solar breaker, go on big loads such as an EV charger or the AC. The Refoss has more sensors, tighter rated accuracy and a longer warranty, but we pick the Vue for most solar homes because Emporia documents the solar setup and Refoss’s product page doesn’t say which sensor reads solar. It also costs a little less. Two set-up points from that help center: keep the solar off during onboarding so it can calibrate against real grid draw, and set the solar circuit to Bidirectional from the start, or earlier history stays positive.
Best for: A grid-tied solar home that wants production, grid import and export, and a handful of big circuits in one app.
Skip if: You run Home Assistant and want local data without reflashing; the Refoss does that out of the box.
Refoss EM16P
Refoss lists solar PV monitoring and consumption and feed-in tracking, and it works with Home Assistant natively, with a local web interface, MQTT and an open API. That makes it the pick if your solar display will be a Home Assistant dashboard. Refoss also pitches zero feed-in automations, built in its app or in Home Assistant, for homes whose utility pays little or nothing for exported power. Its product page doesn’t say which sensor reads solar, so plan on one or two of the 16 for the solar circuit.
Best for: Home Assistant users, and anyone who wants solar and usage data kept locally.
Skip if: You don’t run Home Assistant or care where the data lives; the 8-sensor Vue 3 costs less and documents its solar setup.
Emporia Vue 3, monitor only
The base Vue 3 reads only the main lines. With breaker-fed solar, Emporia says those sensors already sit on the grid side of the solar breaker, so the app shows net import and export: whether the house is pulling from the grid or sending power out at any moment. You won’t see total production or any single circuit. If net is all you want to check against the utility bill, it’s the least expensive way in.
Best for: Checking import and export against your bill, when the inverter app already shows production.
Skip if: Your solar is a line-side tap ahead of the main breaker and the main sensors can’t sit upstream of it; Emporia says that setup needs a 50A sensor on the solar circuit.
What About a Wall Display?
Emporia’s display is its phone app, unless you flash ESPHome to reach Home Assistant. The Refoss feeds a Home Assistant dashboard without flashing and adds a local web interface, so any mounted tablet can show solar and usage.
Which One to Buy
Want solar plus every circuit in the panel? The Refoss already covers 16 circuits; the other option is the 16-sensor Vue 3, compared with it in our Emporia Vue 3 vs. Refoss EM16P comparison and our whole-home energy monitor guide.
Adding a battery to your solar? A week of monitor data gives you the daily watt-hours our battery sizing guide starts from.
How We Picked
We compared how each monitor reads solar and how well the maker documents that setup, then sensors, accuracy, Home Assistant support, warranty and price. Specs come from Emporia’s help center and store and from Refoss’s EM16P product page. Prices were read on Amazon on October 25, 2026. We have not tested these monitors hands-on. Our editorial policy explains how picks are made.