Nothing quite beats the convenience and cool factor of controlling parts of your home without lifting a finger, and Philips Hue is often the first name most people think of when it comes to smart home lighting. The company offers a lineup of white and multicolored bulbs, among other light products, which you can automate for any number of uses.
Unfortunately, getting fully into the Hue game can come at a steep price that might scare off most. Luckily, there’s a ton of worthwhile smart bulbs these days, so we’ve rounded up some great alternatives below. All are compatible with Alexa– and Google Assistant-powered devices you may already own.
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Lifx Mini Color
Lifx offers arguably the best like-for-like capability to Philips’ top multicolor bulb offering. It’s right on par in terms of brightness output and its color range, and the bulb’s standard size means it’ll fit comfortably in most lighting fixtures. You don’t even need a hub or a bridge to access Lifx’s full feature set.
It’s an impressively customizable light, too. The app lets you choose instantly from 16 million colors or simply focus on adjusting to your preferred white color temperature. The customizable schedules — which allow you to turn the lights on and off, change their color, and adjust brightness — are also really handy.
Kasa Smart Light Bulb, Multicolor
Despite costing less, this bulb from Kasa Smart packs the most essential smart light features, and the plug-and-play setup lets you skip a smart hub and connect directly to your home’s Wi-Fi via Kasa Smart’s app. Grouping, scheduling, and voice control are also standard, and at less than half the price of similar bulbs from Philips and Lifx.
Moreover, the Kasa Smart Light Bulb sports one of the biggest color temperature ranges we came across for a white color setting. This allows you to dial in exactly how cool or warm the bulb is. It also plays a big part in the neat Auto White feature, which can match the pattern of natural light from dawn to dusk. It sports a standard form factor, but its unique look might give you good reason to put it on display in fixtures that show it off.
Sengled Smart Wi-Fi LED Soft White A19 Bulb
If you’re looking for something that functions more like a traditional light bulb, this option from Sengled is a great choice. At 800 lumens, the maximum output is equivalent to the 60 watts of energy that you’d get from a typical incandescent bulb. Easy Wi-Fi pairing for remote or voice control, plus the energy savings of LEDs, make these well worth the investment.
They’re also dimmable, so you can still set them to your preferred level of brightness. We think the soft white version is preferable for most situations, but Sengled also offers the bulb in a daylight temperature, which would be ideal for bathrooms and kitchen areas.
Ring A19 Smart LED Bulb
Sometimes getting all your home’s connected devices to work cohesively can be a tall order. Automating your lights based on your security system’s various modes is a perfect example. It’s possible with tools like the popular IFTTT service, but nothing really beats the Ring Smart Bulb’s tight integration with your existing Ring Alarm system.
You will need the Ring Bridge to connect your Ring lights and control them from the company’s app; however, once they are linked, you can set bulbs to react automatically to detected motion from any sensors or cameras within your Ring Alarm ecosystem. It’s a useful solution if you want your home to seem occupied when you’re away.
Geeni LUX Edison
This Geeni bulb is the perfect option for maintaining an industrial look and feel while automating your home. The clear glass shows off LEDs meant to mimic the structure and warmth of filaments in a classic Edison-style bulb. A big advantage is that these won’t give off as much heat as their actual counterparts.
Best of all, these bulbs don’t need a specialized hub or bridge to work. Just connect them to your home Wi-Fi using the Geeni app. Once connected, you’ll be able to easily issue voice commands via Alexa, Google Assistant, or Microsoft’s Cortana. The app also allows you to schedule, dim, and group the Lux Edison bulbs to your liking.
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