The best smart light bulb for 2024

Connectivity: Bluetooth or hub | White or coloration? Each | App options: Gentle schedules and automations, house and away modes, syncing with motion pictures and music | Good house compatibility: Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri/HomeKit | Expandability: Consists of outside lighting

In the event you’ve executed any analysis into sensible lights, you’ve most likely come throughout Philips Hue bulbs. The vary is in style for a wide range of causes, and we agree they’re the most effective sensible mild bulbs you will get due to their broad compatibility, straightforward to make use of cellular app and their expandability. Significantly, if you already know you wish to outfit a couple of room in your house with these IoT gadgets, Philips Hue is the best way to go.

The very first thing that’s necessary to find out about Hue bulbs is that they’re now Bluetooth enabled. Meaning you should buy a number of to check out first, then simply broaden your system with a hub whenever you wish to add extra lights to your private home. Beforehand, the hub was required for any and all lights, however now it’s a lot simpler to dip your toe into the vary earlier than totally taking the plunge.

Like all the different sensible lights we examined, you solely must screw in a Philips Hue bulb, flip in your mild, and observe the directions within the cellular app to begin utilizing it. Even in the event you solely have the lights in a single room to begin, we nonetheless suggest grouping them into their very own “room” within the Hue app so you may simply management the whole house’s atmosphere without delay.

Hue’s White + Color bulbs present a spread of heat to chill whites and hundreds of thousands of colours to experiment with in your sensible house. Colours are wealthy and vibrant, and Philips’ pre-programmed scenes, comparable to Energize, Brilliant and Chill out, allow you to rapidly emulate your outdated “dumb” lights with completely different heat ranges of white mild. You’ll be able to decide from quite a lot of coloration scenes within the app, too, nevertheless it’s additionally straightforward to create your individual coloration temperature. So in the event you’ve at all times wished to flood your workplace with a rainbow of vibrant colours whilst you’re live-streaming on Twitch, yow will discover the exact presets you need, save them after which flip them on with just some faucets within the app.

The Hue app is fairly straightforward to make use of, and the bulbs help voice instructions from Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Assistant. Meaning you don’t even should open the app to regulate your lights; you may merely use voice management and say “Alexa, flip off the bed room lights” and solely the lights in that designated room will extinguish. You’ll have the ability to add as much as 10 bulbs to your system utilizing Bluetooth alone – at which level you’ll have so as to add a Philips Hue hub into the combination to help as much as 50 lights. The hub additionally permits issues like HomeKit connectivity, mild schedules and automations, house and away modes and syncing with motion pictures and music.

Arguably probably the most helpful of these options is automations, which helps you to set on/off schedules in your lights, together with robotically turning the lights off whenever you depart the home. It’s comprehensible why Philips would make these few options unique to these with Hue hubs – including a hub into the combination makes the system extra dependable, permitting you to do extra with rising numbers of linked lights, plus it can encourage many to spend money on a hub and extra Hue bulbs over time. We like Hue’s hub not just for its reliability, but in addition as a result of it permits finer and extra versatile management over your gadgets. So in the event you’re on trip and wish to flip in your front room lights to see what’s happening, you are able to do that.

Expandability goes past the variety of lights you’ve in your sensible house: It additionally contains a number of sensible bulbs you may set up outdoors, too. The Hue vary has a ton of indoor and outside mild bulbs to select from, together with recessed lights, outside pedestal and flood lights, mild strips and extra. It’s one of many few ranges accessible in the present day that offers you a ton of choices to make each bulb out and in of your private home sensible, which is necessary to think about if you already know you wish to go all in on the sensible mild entrance.

However that brings us to the largest draw back of Philips Hue, which is the value. Hue bulbs are on the costly facet, with a two-pack of White + Colour Ambiance bulbs costing $80. In the event you’re on the lookout for low cost bulbs to check out sensible lighting, a few of our different prime picks beneath, just like the Kasa sensible mild bulb, will probably be higher selections since most of them have decrease costs per bulb. Nevertheless, if sensible lighting is one thing you wish to spend money on going ahead, we suggest going with certainly one of Philips’ Hue starter kits: the White + Color Ambiance starter kit, together with three bulbs, a hub and a sensible button, is available in at $180, which is cheaper than in the event you had been to purchase all of these parts individually.

Connectivity: Wi-Fi solely | White or coloration? Each | App options: Group by room, pre-made scenes or presets (together with “spooky” and strobe lights), scheduling | Good house compatibility: Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri/HomeKit | Expandability: Not as many choices as Philips Hue

Total, LIFX’s coloration sensible lights are much like Hue’s White + Ambiance bulbs in that they’re straightforward to arrange, they provide placing, saturated colours and work with three main platforms: Alexa, Google Assistant and HomeKit. However the primary distinction is the LIFX bulbs are Wi-Fi solely, so you may’t join them to a hub even in the event you wished to, and a few are barely dearer than Hue gadgets. The Color A19 bulb, which helps 1100 lumens, usually prices $50, however there’s an 800-lumen equivalent that’s a bit cheaper, coming in at $35 per bulb.

LIFX’s cellular app can be undoubtedly the slickest we examined. Whereas that won’t imply a lot to you, it’s value mentioning as a result of cellular apps are the best way most individuals work together with their sensible lights each day. The homepage options all the room teams in your family, together with the names of the lights in every room. You’ll be able to simply flip a complete room, or a selected mild, on with only a faucet, and do the identical for all the lights in your sensible house.

LIFX lights help scheduling, so you may program lights to give you the results you want so that you not often (if ever) have to regulate them manually, plus there are a plethora of scenes and results to select from. Whereas all the coloration lights we tried had pre-made scenes or presets able to go within the app, Philips Hue and LIFX clearly had probably the most out of all of them. Personally, I discovered LIFX’s scenes and extra results to be a bit extra enjoyable and fascinating than Hue’s. You’ll be able to decide from scenes like “spooky” or “pastel” and use results like “strobe” if you wish to make your front room really feel a bit extra like a nightclub. Whereas most individuals most likely gained’t use these area of interest scenes and results frequently, they’re nice perks to have whenever you’re entertaining or simply wish to set the appropriate vibe in your subsequent film evening or game-streaming session.

LIFX has a number of products in its ecosystem, from normal A19 bulbs to lightstrips to candles. It has switches, too, so you may bodily management your sensible lights if you want. However Philips Hue has all of these choices too and extra, together with not simply switches, however standalone ground lamps, outside spotlights, downlights, mild bars and movement sensors. You’ll have extra choices with Hue if you wish to convert all your house’s lights to sensible ones, and have a number of methods to regulate them, too.

Connectivity: Wi-Fi | White or coloration? Colour | App options: Presets, lighting schedules, grouping by room, vitality utilization meter | Good house compatibility: Alexa, Google Assistant | Expandability: Limitless, however there’s no hub choice

TP-Hyperlink’s Kasa model is understood for its strong but reasonably priced sensible house gadgets and its sensible lights are not any completely different. We examined out the Wi-Fi-only multicolor smart light bulbs and located them straightforward to put in and use, they usually present a bunch of options at an reasonably priced worth; a four-pack of multicolor bulbs will solely set you again $40.

In addition to having a easy set up course of, Kasa’s multicolor sensible lights stayed reliably linked the entire time we examined them and the companion cellular app is straightforward and clear. The entire predominant capabilities for every mild reside in that bulb’s devoted web page within the app, permitting you to alter brightness, white ranges, coloration, schedules and extra with out navigating by way of a bunch of various menus. Altering colours is sort of instantaneous, and the sunshine adjustments as you drag your finger throughout the colour wheel within the app. Enhancing the 4 presets you’re in a position to save takes just a few faucets, as does grouping a number of bulbs into rooms and creating lighting schedules. For the latter, in the event you do set on/off schedules, the app will present you the following step in that schedule (i.e., off at 8:35pm) subsequent to every particular person mild.

There’s additionally a helpful “utilization” part in every mild’s web page that exhibits you the bulb’s vitality use over time, plus an estimate of how a lot vitality you’re saving by utilizing a sensible mild as an alternative of a daily one. That is one thing that may be enjoyable to look at over many weeks and months of utilizing these bulbs, particularly if conserving vitality is among the predominant causes you invested in sensible lights within the first place.

TP-Hyperlink claims you may join “limitless” sensible gadgets to its cellular app, which technically means you may have as many Kasa sensible lights in your house as you’d like. We solely examined a number of collectively, so we are able to’t say for positive how dozens of linked gadgets would have an effect on app velocity and lightweight response time. These are Wi-Fi-only bulbs, which implies connecting them to a Zigbee hub isn’t an choice, so preserve that in thoughts earlier than deciding to spend money on a house-full of those devices. It’s additionally value noting that these lights aren’t appropriate with Apple’s HomeKit, though you may management them utilizing Alexa and Google Assistant instructions.

Connectivity: Wi-Fi | White or coloration? White | App options: Presets, lighting schedules, grouping by room, vitality utilization meter | Good house compatibility: Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri/HomeKit | Expandability: Limitless, however there’s no hub choice

Possibly you don’t wish to hassle with coloured lights. If that’s the case, LIFX’s White E26 is your greatest wager. You get all the non-color options within the cellular app that we defined above, together with schedules and digital assistant controls, however in a extra primary LED mild bulb that solely prices $10.

My greatest gripe is that it doesn’t span the cool-to-warm temperature vary that different white bulbs do. Somewhat, you’re caught with only one shade of white: 2700K, which is on the hotter facet. This makes the LIFX bulb higher for intimate settings like a bed room or a front room, however because it’s not overly heat, it might work in a house workplace, too. It’s additionally dimmable, so you may management its brightness.

When you have a selected use case in thoughts in your sensible lights that doesn’t contain a rainbow of colours, then a LIFX bulb will greater than suffice. They’d work effectively in a toddler’s room, as an illustration, permitting you to set wake-up and sleep schedules that steadily activate and off the lights, or in a house workplace the place you simply desire a bit extra management over your lights with out additional frills.

Connectivity: Wi-Fi | White or coloration? Colour | App options: Grouping, schedules and automations | Good house compatibility: Alexa, Google Assistant | Expandability: Choice to buy a hub

Sengled’s Smart Light Bulbs deserve a shout as a result of they’re primarily extra reasonably priced variations of the most effective bulbs talked about right here, simply with a number of compromises. Key amongst these is that their colours are much less nuanced than most others we examined and the cellular app is much less polished.

That mentioned, you’re nonetheless getting hundreds of thousands of colours out of Sengled’s sensible lights and the app is straightforward to make use of. It additionally supplies all the options you’d need from a sensible mild bulb, together with grouping, schedules and automations. The truth that the Sengled cellular app isn’t as slick as Hue’s or LIFX’s may very well work in its favor with newbies – the fundamental controls and labels will probably be very straightforward for sensible house novices to know.

The bulbs we examined had been Wi-Fi-based, so they don’t require a hub. Nevertheless, Sengled has a bunch of different sensible lights that work through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or hub connectivity. A pack of 4 Wi-Fi color bulbs will set you again $30, whereas a set of six Zigbee hub-based lights prices solely $100. Total, Sengled’s gadgets are rather more reasonably priced than Hue’s, making them a very good finances choice no matter whether or not you wish to persist with Wi-Fi or spend money on a sensible house hub like Sengled’s own or a sensible machine like Amazon’s Echo with a built-in hub.

Connectivity: Bluetooth, Hue Bridge | White or coloration? Each | App options: As much as three colours without delay, “candle” and “hearth” results | Good house compatibility: Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri/HomeKit | Expandability: Choice to buy a hub

Philips’ Signe table lamp is a slick method so as to add a wash of coloration into your front room, or a extra controllable mild supply in your desk. The practically two-foot tall lamp could be custom-made with as much as three colours of sunshine without delay, plus it helps a full array of cool and heat hues as effectively. Shine it in the direction of a wall to set the temper with coloured lights throughout your sport evening, or use it to offer your self enough lighting throughout your subsequent Zoom assembly – you may make it as enjoyable or as sensible as you want. It additionally helps results like “candle” and “hearth,” each of which produce transferring mild that emulates flickering flames. We additionally respect that the Signe lamp is a very standalone machine, like most of Philips’ new Hue bulbs: you don’t want a Hue bridge to make use of it. However in case you have one, you’ll have the ability to do issues like management the lamp whenever you’re away from house.

The Signe lamp is a splurge, although, coming in at over $200. It’s definitely value it in the event you want only one highly effective mild supply, however a extra reasonably priced various can be the Philips Hue Go portable table lamp. It too helps hundreds of thousands of colours and a full spectrum of heat and funky mild, nevertheless it runs on a chargeable battery and can be utilized wirelessly. Relying on the setting you select, you’ll rise up to 18 hours of steady use, making it a very good choice if you would like a controllable mild that may go anyplace you want it with out fuss.

Connectivity: Wi-Fi | White or coloration? Colour | App options: “Results lab” with pre-made and customizable scenes | Good house compatibility: Alexa, Google Assistant | Expandability: Works effectively with different merchandise

Gentle strips can convey illumination to hard-to-reach locations, or give a complete new vibe to your front room or workplace. The most recent mild strip from Govee, the M1 RGBIC model, will get tremendous vivid and helps a variety of colours. It’s Wi-Fi-connected however requires no central hub, so even in case you have different sensible lights all through your private home, this one will slot in simply. One strip measures practically 16.5 ft lengthy and it’s divided into 15 segments which you can management individually from throughout the Govee app.

We’ll get into the app options, nevertheless it’s value noting the place the M1 sits within the sensible mild strip house. There are numerous completely different lengths on the market and you may even discover some two-packs that can cowl up to 100 feet. The 16.4-foot size is fairly frequent in single packs, though yow will discover some that run up to 33 feet long. You’ll be able to anticipate to pay $25 to $50 for a primary, multi-color, 16.4-foot mild strip and the value will go up from there relying on what number of segments the strip has, the colour vary it helps, if it’s Wi-Fi-connected and different further options. Govee’s M1 Gentle Strip is on the upper finish of the spectrum, coming in at $110 for 16.4 ft of sunshine, nevertheless it nonetheless prices lower than arguably its greatest competitor: Philips’ Hue Gentle Strips, which are available in at $80 per 6-foot strip.

I used to be impressed by not solely the colour spectrum the M1 Gentle Strip helps, but in addition how vivid it’s. This strip will get virtually blinding, and I often had it working at simply 75 % of its full brightness. When you can’t management every particular person mild on the strip, you may customise all 15 segments within the Govee app.

The sheer variety of choices and results Govee supplies is exceptional: the “results lab” offers you pre-made primary colours, scenes that mimic sunrises, starry nights, completely different sorts of films like thrillers and dramas, gaming genres and extra. On prime of that, you may make your individual customized scenes (and select to share them with others in Govee’s Discover web page) in addition to your favourite colours and hues which you can save for frequent use. The strip’s coloration is saturated and vibrant – mix that with the general brightness and it was simply in a position to give my workplace a horny, ambient glow when positioned across the periphery of my sofa.

Except for the upper price ticket, my solely different criticism in regards to the M1 mild strip is definitely Govee’s cellular app. It’s a bit chaotic and takes some getting used to, so it may not be your best option for anybody that desires one thing primary. Nevertheless, I used to be in a position to get the cling of all of the controls, after which some, after a few half hour. And you may at all times default to utilizing Alexa or Google Assistant voice instructions to regulate your mild strip in the event you choose, or you may set automations within the app that may deal with all of your most used controls.