The best smart LED light bulbs for 2025

Connectivity: Bluetooth or hub | White or shade? Each | App options: Gentle schedules and automations, house and away modes, syncing with films and music | Sensible house compatibility: Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri/HomeKit | Expandability: Consists of out of doors lighting

Should you’ve completed any analysis into good lights, you’ve in all probability come throughout Philips Hue bulbs. The vary is standard for a wide range of causes, and we agree they’re one of the best good mild bulbs you will get because of their extensive compatibility, straightforward to make use of cellular app and their expandability. Notably, if you understand you need to outfit a couple of room in your house with these IoT units, Philips Hue is the best way to go.

The very first thing that’s essential to learn about Hue bulbs is that they’re now Bluetooth enabled. Meaning you should purchase just a few to check out first, then simply increase your system with a hub once you need to add extra lights to your property. 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 absolutely taking the plunge.

Like the entire different good lights we examined, you solely must screw in a Philips Hue bulb, flip in your mild, and comply with the directions within the cellular app to start out utilizing it. Even if you happen to solely have the lights in a single room to start out, we nonetheless suggest grouping them into their very own “room” within the Hue app so you may simply management your entire house’s atmosphere directly.

Hue’s White + Coloration bulbs present a variety of heat to chill whites and hundreds of thousands of colours to experiment with in your good house. Colours are wealthy and vibrant, and Philips’ pre-programmed scenes, comparable to Energize, Shiny and Chill out, allow you to rapidly emulate your previous “dumb” lights with totally different heat ranges of white mild. You’ll be able to choose from various shade scenes within the app, too, but it surely’s additionally straightforward to create your individual shade temperature. So if you happen to’ve at all times wished to flood your workplace with a rainbow of vibrant colours whilst you’re live-streaming on Twitch, you will discover the exact presets you need, save them after which flip them on with only a few faucets within the app.

The Hue app is fairly straightforward to make use of, and the bulbs assist voice instructions from Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Assistant. Meaning you don’t even need to open the app to manage 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 assist as much as 50 lights. The hub additionally permits issues like HomeKit connectivity, mild schedules and automations, house and away modes and syncing with films and music.

Arguably probably the most helpful of these options is automations, which helps you to set on/off schedules on your lights, together with mechanically turning the lights off once you go away 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 growing numbers of linked lights, plus it’ll 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 additionally as a result of it permits finer and extra versatile management over your units. So if you happen to’re on trip and need to flip in your front room lights to see what’s occurring, you are able to do that.

Expandability goes past the variety of lights you may have in your good house: It additionally contains a number of good bulbs you may set up outdoors, too. The Hue vary has a ton of indoor and out of doors mild bulbs to select from, together with recessed lights, out of doors pedestal and flood lights, mild strips and extra. It’s one of many few ranges obtainable as we speak that offers you a ton of choices to make each bulb out and in of your property good, which is essential to contemplate if you understand you need to go all in on the good 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 + Coloration Ambiance bulbs costing $100. Should you’re searching for low-cost bulbs to check out good lighting, a few of our different high picks under, just like the Kasa good mild bulb, will probably be higher decisions since most of them have decrease costs per bulb. Nonetheless, if good lighting is one thing you need to spend money on going ahead, we suggest going with certainly one of Philips’ Hue starter kits: the White + Coloration Ambiance starter package, together with three bulbs, a hub and a sensible button, is available in at $210, which is cheaper than if you happen to had been to purchase all of these parts individually.

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

Total, LIFX’s shade good 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 if you happen to wished to, and a few are barely dearer than Hue units. The Coloration A19 bulb, which helps 1100 lumens, usually prices $50, however there’s an 800-lumen equal that’s a bit cheaper, coming in at $35 per bulb.

LIFX’s cellular app can also 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 good lights each day. The homepage options the entire 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 the entire lights in your good house.

LIFX lights assist scheduling, so you may program lights to be just right for you so that you hardly ever (if ever) have to manage them manually, plus there are a plethora of scenes and results to select from. Whereas the entire shade 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 interesting than Hue’s. You’ll be able to choose 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 in all probability gained’t use these area of interest scenes and results regularly, they’re nice perks to have once you’re entertaining or simply need to set the best vibe on your subsequent film night time or game-streaming session.

LIFX has various merchandise in its ecosystem, from customary A19 bulbs to lightstrips to candles. It has switches, too, so you may bodily management your good lights if you want. However Philips Hue has all of these choices too and extra, together with not simply switches, however standalone flooring lamps, out of doors 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 good ones, and have a number of methods to manage them, too.

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

TP-Hyperlink’s Kasa model is understood for its stable but reasonably priced good house units and its good lights are not any totally different. We examined out the Wi-Fi-only multicolor good mild 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, making them one of the best price range bulbs you will get proper now.

Apart from having a easy set up course of, Kasa’s multicolor good lights stayed reliably linked the entire time we examined them and the companion cellular app is straightforward and clear. All the predominant features for every mild dwell in that bulb’s devoted web page within the app, permitting you to vary brightness, white ranges, shade, schedules and extra with out navigating via a bunch of various menus. Altering colours is sort of instantaneous, and the sunshine modifications as you drag your finger throughout the colour wheel within the app. Modifying 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, if you happen to do set on/off schedules, the app will present you the subsequent 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 reveals you the bulb’s vitality use over time, plus an estimate of how a lot vitality you’re saving through the use of a sensible mild as an alternative of a daily one. That is one thing that may be enjoyable to watch over many weeks and months of utilizing these bulbs, particularly if conserving vitality is without doubt one of the predominant causes you invested in good lights within the first place.

TP-Hyperlink claims you may join “limitless” good units to its cellular app, which technically means you may have as many Kasa good lights in your house as you’d like. We solely examined just a few collectively, so we are able to’t say for certain how dozens of linked units would have an effect on app velocity and light-weight response time. These are Wi-Fi-only bulbs, which suggests connecting them to a Zigbee hub isn’t an choice, so maintain 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 suitable with Apple’s HomeKit, though you may management them utilizing Alexa and Google Assistant instructions.

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

Sengled’s Sensible Gentle Bulbs deserve a shout as a result of they’re primarily extra reasonably priced variations of one of the best bulbs talked about right here, simply with just a few 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 good lights and the app is simple to make use of. It additionally supplies the entire 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 good house novices to know.

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

Connectivity: Wi-Fi | White or shade? Coloration | App options: “Results lab” with pre-made and customizable scenes | Sensible house compatibility: Alexa, Google Assistant | Expandability: Works nicely with different merchandise

Gentle strips can deliver 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 Strip Gentle 2 Professional, will get tremendous brilliant and helps a variety of colours. It’s Wi-Fi-connected however requires no central hub, so even if in case you have different good lights all through your property, this one will slot in simply. One strip measures practically 16.4 toes lengthy and it’s divided into a number of segments which you could management individually from throughout the Govee app.

I used to be impressed by not solely the colour spectrum this mild strip helps, but additionally how brilliant it’s. This strip will get nearly blinding, and I often had it working at simply 75 % of its full brightness. Whilst you can’t management every particular person mild on the strip, you may customise all segments within the Govee app.

The sheer variety of choices and results Govee supplies is outstanding: the “results lab” provides you pre-made primary colours, scenes that mimic sunrises, starry nights, totally different sorts of films like thrillers and dramas, gaming genres and extra. On high of that, you can also 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 could save for frequent use. The strip’s shade 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 about this mild strip is definitely Govee’s cellular app. It’s a bit chaotic and takes some getting used to, so it won’t be the only option for anybody that desires one thing primary. Nonetheless, I used to be in a position to get the cling of all of the controls, after which some, after a couple of half hour. And you may at all times default to utilizing Alexa or Google Assistant voice instructions to manage your mild strip if you happen to want, or you may set automations within the app that may handle all of your most used controls.

Connectivity: Bluetooth, Hue Bridge | White or shade? Each | App options: As much as three colours directly, “candle” and “hearth” results | Sensible house compatibility: Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri/HomeKit | Expandability: Choice to buy a hub

Philips’ Signe desk lamp is a slick approach so as to add a wash of shade into your front room, or a extra controllable mild supply in your desk. The practically two-foot tall lamp will be personalized with as much as three colours of sunshine directly, plus it helps a full array of cool and heat hues as nicely. Shine it in direction of a wall to set the temper with coloured lights throughout your recreation night time, or use it to present your self ample lighting throughout your subsequent Zoom assembly – you can also 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 system, like most of Philips’ new Hue bulbs: you don’t want a Hue bridge to make use of it. However if in case you have one, you’ll have the ability to do issues like management the lamp once you’re away from house.

The Signe lamp is a splurge, although, coming in at over $200. It’s actually value it if you happen to want only one highly effective mild supply, however a extra reasonably priced various can be the Philips Hue Go moveable desk lamp. It too helps hundreds of thousands of colours and a full spectrum of heat and funky mild, but it surely 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 superb choice if you need a controllable mild that may go wherever you want it with out fuss.

The brand new Govee Ground Lamp Professional packs a whole lot of options right into a svelte five-foot bar mild. Not solely can it glow in hundreds of thousands of colours and permits you to customise it by section if you want, but it surely additionally has a built-in Bluetooth speaker in its base. The speaker will get fairly loud, and the lights can dynamically change to match the rhythm and circulate of the music it is enjoying (and light-weight can react to exterior audio as nicely, if you happen to don’t need to use the speaker). And once you’re not having a complete rager in your house workplace, you may program the ground lamp to your most popular temperature of white mild. I used to be impressed by how brilliant the lamp was in a position to get (max 2,100 lumens) and I respect the bodily distant management that comes with it, which made it straightforward to manually flip the factor on and off once I didn’t have my telephone on me. Setup and set up was fairly straightforward, too, and despite the fact that the Govee cellular app is as chaotic as ever, most individuals will have the ability to familiarize themselves with it comparatively rapidly. The Ground Lamp Professional’s $220 price ticket appears truthful for the whole bundle, and it may very well be a superb single-device answer for many who have a small house they need to revamp with multicolored lights.

LIFX’s Luna Sensible Gentle is a quaint and compact good lamp that may sit on a nightstand or desk, or be mounted on a wall nearly like a sconce. With a max brightness of 1,000 lumens, it will possibly actually illuminate an area with white or coloured mild, or with any of the enjoyable, prefab themes obtainable within the LIFX app. I at all times default to utilizing the LIFX app with the corporate’s merchandise because it’s very straightforward to make use of, however the Luna lamp has onboard buttons to show it on, off and regulate the brightness. Should you plan on utilizing this in your bed room particularly, this might com in helpful rather a lot once you simply don’t need to choose up your telephone to show the sunshine off.

Along with themes, or premade shade scenes for issues like Valentine’s Day and Oktoberfest, there are lighting results (“FX” within the app) you may make use of to additional set the temper. I like “clouds,” which mimics the look of a brilliant, sunny day with child blue and white mild, and “flame,” which turns the sunshine a burnt orange shade with motion and glints to mimics a comfy fireplace. Not solely are the coloured mild choices vibrant and enjoyable, however LIFX additionally makes it fairly straightforward to customise themes and results to your liking.