The 3 Best Portable Power Strips and Surge Protectors With USB Charging | Reviews by Wirecutter

Mar 17, 2025

By Sarah Witman

Sarah Witman is a writer focused on batteries and charging accessories. She has spent countless hours charging, discharging, and recharging batteries.

Our previous pick for international travel, the Allocacoc PowerCube ReWirable USB, is no longer available. We’re in the process of testing new power strips for traveling abroad.

Wall outlets are in short supply on planes, trains, and buses—and in many airports and hotels—so packing a portable power strip is a must for frequent travelers.

This compact strip gives you three AC outlets and two USB power ports but doesn’t take up much space in a bag or weigh you down. We don’t recommend it for international travel.

May be out of stock

This is the only portable option we tested with reliable surge protection. The 18-inch cord adds a little extra bulk but gives you more flexibility than models that plug directly into an outlet.

A portable power strip should be easy to pack. We dismissed models that were too bulky or heavy to be tucked away in your luggage.

We looked for models that maximize the number of devices you can plug in and dismissed models with tightly spaced outlets.

We preferred models with plugs that can fold into the body of the unit to help prevent damage to personal items during transit.

We limited our search to power strips with USB ports so you don’t have to cram as many wall warts into your luggage.

After researching dozens of models and testing the top contenders, we’ve concluded that the best power strip for North American travel is the Tripp Lite Protect It 3-Outlet Surge Protector.

It has three outlets and two USB-A charging ports with adequate spacing for bulkier plugs, and it’s smaller and lighter than any other travel model we’ve tested.

This compact strip gives you three AC outlets and two USB power ports but doesn’t take up much space in a bag or weigh you down. We don’t recommend it for international travel.

May be out of stock

This travel power strip has been our top pick every year since 2015. Although other companies use a similar design in their models, we've found that the Tripp Lite Protect It 3-Outlet Surge Protector offers the best capabilities at a price that’s usually lower than that of the competition.

Advertisement

This is the only portable option we tested with reliable surge protection. The 18-inch cord adds a little extra bulk but gives you more flexibility than models that plug directly into an outlet.

If you prefer a power strip with robust surge protection and a cord, Tripp Lite’s Protect It 3-Outlet Travel-Size Surge Protector is the best choice.

It’s the only portable model we tested that clamps down on harmful power surges as effectively as full-size surge protectors. Other portable models we tested let more than twice as much surge voltage through, which could potentially damage anything plugged into them.

The third AC outlet on the back of this unit helps reduce plug clutter, and its right-angle plug lets it easily fit into tight spots.

Advertisement

Senior staff writer Sarah Witman has been a science writer for nearly a decade, covering a wide variety of topics from particle physics to satellite remote sensing. Since joining Wirecutter in 2017, she has reported on portable power stations, household surge protectors, and more.

Consulting engineer Lee Johnson, who has more than 10 years of experience designing and testing electrical components, performed our surge tests.

When you’re traveling, a portable power strip can be a lifesaver in places like airports and hotels, where wall outlets are often few and far between. A power strip that easily fits into a carry-on bag can mean the difference between enjoying fully charged devices en route or trying to stretch the last 10% of your battery over an hours-long flight.

Generally, a power strip is a device that merely adds extra outlets, whereas a surge protector is designed to absorb the voltage from commonplace power surges and keep them from frying your electronic devices. Surge protection is especially important if you’re traveling in places with an unstable power grid.

Most portable versions are surge protectors in name only and don’t provide a level of protection that we would trust, especially long-term. We’ve highlighted any models that have surge protection similar to what you can expect from a full-size surge protector.

If you aren’t worried about surges—and the damage they can cause to unprotected devices—and need only to charge USB-powered devices such as a phone, laptop, or handheld gaming console, you might prefer a multiport USB wall charger instead. Or you can skip wall outlets entirely and pack a high-capacity power bank.

Advertisement

For every round of testing, we scour the websites of popular retailers and brands, cultivating a list of contenders based on the following criteria:

To test each model, we insert plugs of various shapes and sizes into the power strips, trying different combinations to see which outlet layouts can accommodate the most devices. We also take into account whether each model can be plugged into a two-outlet wall plate without obstructing the second outlet, and we assess its overall appearance.

Next, we test the charging capabilities of each USB port by plugging in a USB power monitor along with an iPad Air 2, noting the monitor’s amperage reading. We then connect a second iPad to measure the total output while charging two devices.

Our consulting electrical engineer, Lee Johnson, tests each model with a 5,000-volt surge generator, which is capable of creating voltage surges 40 times the standard AC power in the US. He starts with a series of surges from 160 volts all the way up to 5,000 volts, recording the voltage at the outlet where you would normally plug in your devices. Then he subjects each contender to a series of five 5,000-volt surges and averages the outlet measurements to get the protected output voltage. These tests show that our picks can protect most devices in the face of common power surges—and even in rare surge events up to thousands of volts.

This compact strip gives you three AC outlets and two USB power ports but doesn’t take up much space in a bag or weigh you down. We don’t recommend it for international travel.

May be out of stock

With three outlets, two USB ports, and a handy fold-up plug, the pocket-sized Tripp Lite Protect It 3-Outlet Surge Protector is the best and most portable power strip to pack for a trip.

It has lots of room for plugs. This power strip’s unusual design keeps all three outlets easily accessible, as they’re located on different faces—the front and either side. As a result, it can accommodate an impressive variety of plug shapes and sizes.

It’s small and light. At 4.5 inches long, 2.5 inches wide, and just under 1.5 inches deep, this power strip is one of the smallest of those we’ve tested.

It’s easy to fit into the pocket of a backpack or a carry-on suitcase, and the plug prongs fold away neatly when it’s not in use. You’ll barely notice the 5-ounce weight (which is about as heavy as a roll of pennies) in your bag.

It’s sturdily built. In our testing, this power strip stayed firmly in the wall outlet with minimal wobbling, even with three bulky plugs and adapters plugged into it.

Not only does its stability help keep your devices charging at full power, but it’s also safer; a plug pulled partly out of an outlet can damage your electronics or start a fire.

It has a pair of USB ports, letting you charge two devices without an adapter. This power strip worked as advertised in our USB speed tests: Our first iPad drew up to 2.1 amps from a single port, and plugging a second iPad into the other port halved the current flowing to each device.

This means that your phone or tablet might charge more slowly than it would with its own charger or one of our favorite multiport USB chargers, especially if both ports are occupied. That isn’t optimal, but it is par for the course for this type of device.

It’ll likely last for years. Over the past several years, three Wirecutter editors have taken the Tripp Lite Protect It 3-Outlet Surge Protector on dozens of trips. After extensive use, the foldable plug of one unit got stuck in the “out” position, but otherwise the power strip has been trouble-free.

Advertisement

This is the only portable option we tested with reliable surge protection. The 18-inch cord adds a little extra bulk but gives you more flexibility than models that plug directly into an outlet.

If you want robust surge protection on the go, or if you prefer a power strip with a cord instead of one that sits flush against a wall outlet, the Tripp Lite Protect It 3-Outlet Travel-Size Surge Protector is the model to get.

Its surge protection is far better than that of most units of this size. When we hit this model with repeated 5,000-volt surges, it let only an average of 447 volts through to the outlets. That’s close to the performance of our favorite home surge protectors, which let between 368 and 444 volts through in the same test.

Its protection is designed to last. Not only does this model provide better protection for each individual surge, but it also should handle more surges before wearing out. The protection circuitry inside is rated to take a cumulative 1,050 joules, or about twice the rating of our top pick.

It has a cord. Since this power strip has an 18-inch cord, it’s easy to plug into a standard wall plate without blocking the second outlet as other units typically do.

And because it has a right-angle wall plug, it can easily fit behind furniture—a bonus if you’re often plugging into obstructed outlets in hotel rooms, hostels, or short-term rentals.

It has three adequately spaced outlets. With two outlets on the front face and a third on the back, this model allows you to plug in at least one large power brick without blocking the other outlets.

It has two USB ports, but they’re not as powerful as we’d like. Similar to our other picks, this model includes two USB ports that supply up to 2.1 amps, and you can use each of them to charge a single device at full power or share them between two devices.

Most modern phones and tablets can fast-charge at more than 2 amps, so if you’re charging multiple devices simultaneously, you’re better off with a dedicated USB charger.

If you want more outlets and ports, plus a long cord, and you don’t mind a slightly bulkier unit: Get the Anker A9183. It has eight outlets, which is more than any of our picks, as well as plenty of USB ports to charge additional devices (one USB-C port and two USB-A ports).

The Anker A9183 has a cord that’s as long as any we encountered in our tests (5 feet) and comes with a hook-and-loop fastener to keep it neatly coiled in your luggage. Also, the cord and plug is flat—just a few millimeters thick—so you can wind the cord around the body of the unit to pack it up even smaller.

This model, however, is among the heaviest we tested, weighing about a pound (16.4 ounces), but it’s still about as sleek and compact as any of our picks.

The surge protection is also lackluster—letting through 742 volts in our testing—but no worse than that of some of our picks. In short, we wouldn’t make this power strip a permanent fixture at home, but it’ll do for short-term use.

Anker’s 18-month warranty falls slightly short of the coverage on our picks, but it should still give you plenty of time to confirm that your unit is working properly.

Advertisement

This is not a comprehensive list of models we’ve tested. We have removed discontinued models and those that no longer meet our criteria.

The RND Power Solutions Wall Power Station is bulkier than our top pick, and its outlets are too close together.

The CyberPower P405UC has four outlets, two USB-A ports, and (unlike any of our picks) a fast-charging USB-C port. Its 5-foot, fabric-sheathed cord is longer than that of our corded pick, but it has a shorter warranty and is heavier and clunkier.

The GE 33654 has a longer cord (3 feet) and one more outlet (four) than our pick with a cord, and it weighs about the same as that model. However, it provides less surge protection, and its blocky shape makes it less convenient to stow in a suitcase.

The Bestek MRJ201GU-EU-P, Ceptics World Power Plug Adapter Set (PK8-WS), Ceptics World Travel Adapter Kit (WPS-2B+), and Ceptics World Travel Adapter Kit (WPS-5B) come with several adapters and/or other accessories, but none of them demonstrated any surge protection whatsoever in our testing.

The Greatness Line GR-8 Power Travel Charging Station has four outlets and four USB-A ports. Plus, it comes with eight adapters, so you can use it in many countries outside of North America. However, it has no listed warranty, the company’s customer support is reachable only via onsite form, and in our testing this model emitted a loud pop when 5,000 volts passed through it—and we could hear internal components rattling around afterward.

The Mogics Power Bagel (MPB-AB) has a retractable cord as well as an innovative design that allows you to pack up the international adapters inside the body of the unit. However, in our testing it didn’t provide any surge protection at all.

This article was edited by Ben Keough and Erica Ogg.

Sarah Witman

I research and test a wide variety of batteries, including some that are smaller than a Tootsie Roll (for tiny gadgets such as a stylus or penlight) or bigger than an overweight English bulldog (to keep vital electronics running during a power outage or camping trip). To test chargers, I’ve spent countless hours waiting for the batteries in my phone, laptop, and other household appliances to die—just so I could recharge them. Outside of my usual coverage areas, I’ve reported on the best wooden pencils, mousetraps, massage chairs, and scented candles for Wirecutter.

by Sarah Witman

Tripp Lite’s Protect It 12-Outlet Surge Protector TLP1208SAT absorbs thousands of volts so they won’t fry your gear, and it helpfully lets you know when its protection wears out.

by Sarah Witman

We tested leading UPS models and found that the CyberPower CP900AVR is the best option to keep essential gear running for up to four hours during a blackout.

by Sarah Witman

by Sarah Witman

The Allpowers SP012 Solar Panel 100W is the best choice for charging a phone and other essential devices in the great outdoors.

Advertisement