Best Surge Protectors and Power Strips to Protect Your Tech

If I had to plug one strip into my own desk and forget about it, this would be it. The Anker 351 hits the sweet spot the brief is chasing: a genuinely useful 2,100 joules of surge protection paired with a modern USB loadout that includes a fast USB-C port. That combination — real protection and real charging — is exactly what most rivals fail to deliver together.

You get 12 AC outlets alongside two USB-A ports and one USB-C port, which is more than enough to run a full workstation and still top up a phone and a pair of earbuds. The USB-C port outputs 20W using Anker's Power IQ 3.0 (9V/2.22A, 5V/3A or 12V/1.67A), and USB-A tops out at 5V/3A with 2.4A max per port. In testing, that 20W USB-C port charged an iPhone 13 to 53% in just 30 minutes, which is the kind of speed that makes you stop reaching for a separate charger.

Behind the outlets sits Anker's 8-point protection system, which layers surge protection with fire resistance and temperature control — the belt-and-braces engineering you want when you're leaving a strip powered around the clock. It survived months powering CNN Underscored's entire TV testing room, running a television, a PlayStation 5, a Blu-ray player, several USB-C chargers and direct USB-C cables without complaint, and it holds a 4.8-star average across thousands of Amazon reviews.

When protection is the priority and you don't need USB charging built in, the Belkin 12-Outlet Pivot-Plug is the strip I'd point storm-anxious readers towards. Its 4,320-joule rating is the highest in this guide, giving you an enormous reserve to soak up years of spikes — ideal for a home cinema or an expensive PC that you'd rather not gamble on.

The real party trick is the rotating outlet design. Eight of the 12 outlets pivot to make room for those maddening oversized AC adapter blocks that normally hog two sockets each, whilst four stationary outlets handle standard plugs. That means you can actually use all 12 outlets in the real world, rather than losing half of them to bulky wall-warts. An 8-foot cable gives you proper reach too.

Belkin also throws in protection you rarely see anymore: 1-in-2-out RJ11 telephone or fax line protection and coaxial cable protection, so a surge coming down your phone or aerial line gets stopped as well. It's backed by a $300,000 connected-equipment warranty and a 2-year product warranty. The one caveat, and it's the big one for this brief, is that there are no USB ports at all — this is a pure protection play.

Some setups simply have too much stuff. A dual-monitor battlestation with peripherals, a server cupboard, a photographer's editing bay, or a workshop bench can chew through outlets alarmingly fast. For those, the SUPERDANNY 22-Outlet is the answer — a genuine outlet monster with 22 grounded three-prong AC sockets and six USB charging ports (five USB-A and one USB-C).

Protection lands at 2,100 joules, matching the Anker, and it uses a three-level complementary surge circuit combining TVS, MOV and GDT components — a more sophisticated arrangement than the single-MOV approach in budget strips. There's 8-fold safety engineering including a fire-retardant casing and overload protection, and the 6.5ft heavy-duty extension cord is rated to deliver 1875W/15A, so it won't buckle under a heavy load.

The USB ports use built-in smart charging to deliver up to 5V/2.4A per port. A clear indicator system tells you exactly what's going on: green for grounded, red for surge protection active, and yellow to warn of a wiring fault. Ten anti-slip feet on the underside keep the whole thing planted on a desk or bench without scratching the surface — a thoughtful touch on a strip this large.

This is the Belkin for people who want serious protection and at least some USB charging without stepping up to a specialist strip. It pairs a hefty 3,996 joules of protection — the second-highest here — with a smart outlet layout designed around real-world clutter.

Of its 12 AC outlets, six are standard and six are Belkin's Blockspace outlets, spaced and shaped specifically to swallow oversized printer and charger plugs without blocking their neighbours. If you've ever fought a printer's brick-sized adapter for two sockets at once, you'll appreciate this immediately. Two USB ports handle 2.1A combined for phones and smaller gear.

You get a 6-foot cord with a low-profile 3-prong angle plug that sits flush against the skirting board, plus the same reassuring Belkin warranty package: a 2-year product warranty and a $300,000 connected-equipment warranty. It's the natural pick if the Pivot-Plug's lack of USB put you off but you still want that Belkin-grade protection.

Stepping down from the flagship models, the SUPERDANNY 12-in-1 is the sensible middle ground for a home office or living-room media unit that doesn't need extreme joule headroom. It's rated at 1,050 joules — enough for everyday spike protection on moderately valued gear — and keeps things transparent with dedicated "Protected" and "Grounded" LED indicators so you always know it's doing its job.

It's a tidy, unfussy strip that covers the essentials without the bulk or expense of the 4,000-joule Belkins. If you're kitting out a spare room, a child's study desk or a kitchen worktop with a few appliances, this hits the practical sweet spot.

The TESSAN is the one I'd recommend to anyone short on space who still wants USB charging on the strip itself. It carries 8 AC outlets and 3 USB ports with 900 joules of surge protection — a modest but useful rating for a phone charger, a lamp, a monitor and a laptop brick.

What sets it apart is flexibility of placement. It has mounting holes so you can screw it to a wall or under a desk, plus anti-slip rubber feet for countertop and desktop use. That makes it a natural fit for a kitchen worktop, a bedside cluster of chargers, or a wall-mounted spot behind a monitor where you want cables kept off the floor.

Rounding out the list is the YISHU, the strip for tight budgets and low-stakes gear. It offers 8 widely spaced outlets and 4 USB ports, with 600 joules of surge defence alongside overload, short-circuit and over-voltage safeguards. That's the lowest protection here, so I'd reserve it for lamps, fans and phone chargers rather than your prized console.

Still, the fundamentals are sound: it's ETL, FCC and RoHS certified with flame-retardant materials, the outlets are spaced generously enough to fit adapters side by side, and a flat 45-degree plug on a 6-foot cord tucks neatly behind furniture. For a secondary strip in a bedroom or a starter setup, it does exactly what it should for the money.