One of the Black Caps' greatest limited-overs players, Guptill will replace Englishman Liam Livingstone at the Melbourne franchise.
The No 1 pick in the inaugural BBL draft, Livingstone cited workload pressure for withdrawing from the tournament earlier this week.
Guptill's signature is an important one for the struggling Renegades and the BBL with the competition desperate for big names more than ever.
The explosive right-hander will be available for 10 regular season games, starting with the Renegades' December 28 clash with the Sydney Sixers.
"Martin's record over a long period of time in the shortest form of the game for New Zealand and in domestic competitions around the world speaks for itself," Renegades James Rosengarten said.
"We know Martin will add a wealth of experience and knowledge to our playing group and look forward to seeing what he can produce in red."
Guptill is New Zealand's highest T20I run-scorer and the 35-year-old sits only behind Indian stars Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in world cricket.
After being one of the first names picked in NZ sides for a decade, Guptill was overlooked in favour of young gun Finn Allen for the recent T20 World Cup.
Guptill on Wednesday became the third New Zealand cricketer to forgo a central contract in order to join the T20 league circuit.
"This is a new challenge for me, and it will be nice to call Melbourne home for the summer. I'll be trying to make as many runs as I can to help drive the Renegades back up the ladder and push for team success."
Star West Indies allrounder Andre Russell has committed to the Renegades for the first four games of the tournament.
