Two facts about the box settle most of this
Everything else in this category is preference. Two things are not: whether a neutral conductor is present at the switch, and what kind of load the switch feeds.
The specification sheets are blunt about the first. Leviton’s DN15S and DN6HD list Line, Load and Ground as the required connections and state that a neutral is not needed. The ZW15S sheet states the opposite: a neutral wire is required for installation. Lutron splits the same way — the PD-6WCL dimmer and PD-5WS-DV switch are described as simple two-wire installations, while the PD-6ANS is a neutral-wire switch.
What you can do beforehand is narrow the shortlist so that the answer, whichever way it goes, does not send you back to the store.
Minimum load is not published for every model here
Lutron publishes both ends of the incandescent/halogen range for every Caseta model here, and an LED minimum of 1 bulb on the PD-6WCL, PD-10NXD and PD-6ANS. On the PD-5WS-DV, LED and fluorescent carry a 5 A maximum with a LUT-MLC load corrector and no published minimum. The PD-6WCL dims from 1 LED bulb or 25 W incandescent/halogen. The PD-5WS-DV switches from 25 W incandescent/halogen and 0.4 A on a general-purpose fan. The PD-6ANS starts at 10 W incandescent, 1 bulb on LED, and 0.1 A on a fan — the lowest published fan minimum here, and one of only two fan minimums published at all.
The PD-10NXD lists a 10 W incandescent/halogen minimum with a neutral connected and 25 W without one. Check your fixture wattage against the published minimum.
Leviton does list an “Off Means Off” feature on the DN15S, described as ensuring low-wattage LED bulbs fully turn off.
The PD-5WS-DV carries the most specific condition in the set: LED, fluorescent and ELV loads require a LUT-MLC load corrector “to ensure proper operation, especially at lower wattages”, and the status LED flashes or glows solid red when one is needed. Plan on sourcing and housing that extra part before you commit to this switch on an LED circuit. The neutral-wire PD-6ANS, by contrast, publishes an LED rating of 1 bulb minimum to 6 A with no corrector listed in its load table. That is the clearest single illustration of what a neutral actually buys you in this line.
Dimming without a neutral is not a compromise you have to accept
Three dimmers here, and their published LED ceilings differ enough to matter. The Leviton DN6HD lists 300 W LED/CFL, the highest LED figure of the three; the Lutron PD-10NXD lists 250 W LED alongside 1000 W incandescent/halogen, the highest incandescent figure of the three; the PD-6WCL lists the lowest LED ceiling of the three. Only the DN6HD publishes an MLV rating that does not depend on a neutral: 600 VA. The PD-10NXD supports MLV too, but requires a neutral to do it.
Note that the Caseta load maxima are stated for non-ganged installation. If you are filling a four-gang box, that qualifier applies to every Lutron figure quoted above.
The switches are simpler. The PD-6ANS, PD-5WS-DV, DN15S and ZW15S are on/off only, none of them dim, and no amount of app configuration changes that. The DN15S and ZW15S publish identical load tables; they differ in wiring requirement, protocol, hub, and how each adds a second location.
The bridge is a second decision, and the brands treat it differently
This is the cost the product page does not surface, and the two Leviton lines answer it in opposite ways.
All four wired Caseta devices operate locally and with Pico remotes without a hub. Lutron App control requires a Smart Hub or Smart Hub PRO. The PD-6ANS sheet gives the standalone limit as up to 10 Pico or motion sensor devices, and up to 75 wireless devices per hub system.
Leviton’s no-neutral DN15S and DN6HD require the MLWSB Decora Smart Wi-Fi Bridge before app control, scenes, schedules, voice assistants, or the Anywhere companions do anything. Until the bridge is in place, they are manual switches. One bridge covers up to 25 no-neutral dimmers and switches, so the requirement is per household, not per switch. The DN15S adds a detail worth having: its pre-set schedules live inside the device and keep running during a temporary internet outage.
The ZW15S also needs a hub, but not a Leviton one. If you already run a Z-Wave controller, that is a genuinely different proposition from adding a vendor’s bridge.
Protocol also sets range. Caseta is rated at 60 ft line-of-sight and 30 ft through walls to a hub or Pico. The Leviton devices list 50 ft — Wi-Fi to the bridge on the no-neutral models, Z-Wave to a hub or repeater on the ZW15S. The Aurora is Zigbee mesh, where Lutron notes range depends on network density and that mounting near metal can reduce it.
Adding a second location without opening another wall
The DN15S pairs with up to 3 wire-free DAWSC companions, and the DN6HD with up to 3 companions in either style, DAWDC dimmer or DAWSC switch, mounted on a wall surface or in an existing box. The catch is consistent with the rest of Leviton’s no-neutral line: those companions pair through the bridge, so the wire-free 3-way is not available until the bridge is bought.
Fit inside the box, which nobody checks first
The four Caseta models share a footprint: 1-gang U.S. wallbox, 3-1/2 in (89 mm) depth recommended and 2-1/4 in (57 mm) minimum, with a 4-11/16 in (119 mm) by 2-15/16 in (75 mm) faceplate and 1-1/8 in (30 mm) depth. The PD-5WS-DV ships without derating fins, so ganging it does not involve breaking any off, unlike the neutral-wire switches in the same family.
Leviton’s DN15S and DN6HD are listed at 1.3 in installed depth with wire leads. The ZW15S is 1.30 in installed with 0.25 in of additional protrusion, on a 3.28 in by 2.74 in wallbox footprint. The Aurora sits outside all of this at 1.5 in (38 mm) across and 0.7 in (18 mm) deep, over the toggle rather than in the box.
Operating environment is worth a glance if the switch is going somewhere unconditioned. All three Leviton models are rated 32 F to 104 F (0 C to 40 C). The PD-10NXD is rated -4 F to 104 F (-20 C to 40 C) as standard, with the -10ND variant reaching 158 F (70 C) at reduced load capacity.
When the simplest route is genuinely enough
If the fixture already holds compatible Zigbee bulbs, the Aurora ends the neutral question rather than working around it. It attaches over most common toggle switches, dims up to 12 connected bulbs per remote with no bridge involved, and runs on one CR2032 cell rated for 3 years at 8 button presses per day. Up to 6 of them can control the same lights standalone, which is a 3-way solution that costs no wiring anywhere.
Where it stops is equally clear. It only controls bulbs on Lutron’s published compatibility list, so it cannot switch a ceiling fan, a hardwired fixture, or ordinary LEDs already installed. And Hue app or voice integration needs the square-shape V2 bridge; the round V1 is not supported.
