How the adapter checker works
Choose the country your plugs come from and the country you are going to. The adapter checker then answers three questions from the same data as our country pages: do your plugs fit the sockets there, is the mains voltage in the same range, and is the frequency the same. It covers all 19,182 ordered pairs of the 139 countries.
Step by step
Open the checker from the home page or at /adapter-checker/. The first list is where you travel from, the second where you travel to. Every change redraws the answer at once; the round button between the lists swaps them. The address bar keeps both countries, so a result can be bookmarked or sent on.
The answer has four parts. A headline gives the overall result. A drawing shows your plug, the adapter type if one is needed, and the sockets at the destination. Three rows compare plugs, voltage and frequency. Underneath, each of your plug types is listed with the socket types it fits.
Both lists work from the keyboard: Tab moves between them and the arrow keys change the country. The answer area is announced to screen readers when it changes.
Every country page also links to the checker with that country filled in, under the home-region picker.
The rules it applies
Your plugs. The checker takes the plug types used in the country you travel from. Type E and Type F count as the E/F hybrid plug, the same rule as our continental Europe profile. A Chinese trip therefore starts from Types A, C and I, a German one from C and E/F.
Plug fit. Each plug is matched against the socket types used at the destination, using the fit table on the checker page. “All fit” means every one of your plug types goes into at least one socket type there; “Some fit” means only some do; “None fit” means an adapter to one of the destination’s types is needed for every plug.
Voltage. Values within 10 V of each other count as the same. Two values in the same range (100–127 V or 220–240 V) count as the same range. Values in different ranges are flagged, and so is Brazil, which uses both.
Frequency. Compared directly, 50 Hz or 60 Hz. Japan, which uses both, shows as varying by area.
Worked examples
Eight trips, each one link away in the checker:
| Trip | Plugs | Voltage | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States → United Kingdom | None fit (sockets: G) | Different range | Different |
| Germany → France | All fit | Same | Same |
| Japan → United States | All fit | Same range | Varies by area |
| United States → Thailand | All fit | Different range | Different |
| China → Germany | Some fit (sockets: C/F) | Same | Same |
| Germany → Aruba | All fit | Different range | Different |
| United Kingdom → Brazil | None fit (sockets: C/N) | Varies by area | Different |
| India → South Africa | Some fit (sockets: C/M/N) | Same | Same |
Germany to France fits because the E/F hybrid goes into a Type E socket. China to Germany is “Some fit”: the Chinese Type C plug fits, but Types A and I do not. Germany to Aruba fits, yet Aruba supplies 127 V.
What all pairs look like
Running every ordered pair through the same rules gives this picture. Plug and voltage results are counted separately, so each half adds up to 19,182.
| Result | Pairs | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Plugs: all fit | 5,006 | 26.1 % |
| Plugs: some fit | 5,109 | 26.6 % |
| Plugs: none fit | 9,067 | 47.3 % |
| Voltage: same | 13,142 | 68.5 % |
| Voltage: same range | 660 | 3.4 % |
| Voltage: different range | 5,104 | 26.6 % |
| Voltage: varies by area | 276 | 1.4 % |
Taken together, 4,818 pairs (25.1 %) need nothing at all: the plugs fit and the voltage range matches. Another 8,984 need an adapter only, and in 5,380 the voltage differs or varies.
What it does not tell you
The checker works with nominal values, the figure a supply is designed around. It cannot see which plug a particular device has; it assumes the plug types used in your home country. It does not say whether a device will work on a different supply, because that depends on the device. Check your device’s input rating label: it states the voltage and frequency the device accepts.
Where a country lists several socket types, the checker treats all of them as available. A single building may have only one of them, so “Some fit” is worth reading plug by plug.
It also covers 139 countries, not every territory. If a country is missing from the lists, it is not in our data yet; the method page explains how countries are included.
Sources
- Wikidata (CC0): electrical plug type (P2853), mains voltage (P2884) and frequency, retrieved 28 October 2026, checked against national and technical sources
- Wikipedia, Mains electricity by country (CC BY-SA 4.0): cross-check of plug types, voltage and frequency, facts only
- PlugAtlas sources and method, including the socket fit rules