It Only Takes One of You to Screw in These Smart Bulbs

nanoleaf essentials matter a19 smart bulb bright white and color 60 watt equivalent thread and bluetooth 3 pack
11 Best Smart Bulbs for a More Efficient HomePopular Mechanics; Nanoleaf


"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."

When old-time movies and TV shows imagined the future, smart homes were a common trope but they're now a widespread reality. The range of different gadgets that can make home life easier though the endless technology can that comes with “smart” tech can make anyone feel dumb. A simple upgrade that is less intimidating than speaker systems and security cameras is the smart bulb. Smart bulbs are a lighting solution that even the most tech un-savvy can embrace; they let you customize your home lighting, change the mood of a room, and save on your power bill. Before clicking the buy button on a smart bulb, know that not every bulb will be the ideal fit for your home. You’ll want to think about the type of light it offers, power consumption rate, smart home connection, and hub requirements.

The Best Smart Bulbs

What to Consider

Brightness and Hue

Some bulbs emit exclusively white light, but many models offer both white and colored lights that offer different hues. Make sure your bulbs can provide the light color of your choice before you purchase them. The brightness of a bulb is measured in lumens—the more lumens a bulb has, the brighter it will be and the average lumens for a bulb will be around 800. Those that are looking specifically for a task light or want to light up a reading corner should look for a higher number of lumens so you aren't straining your eyes. If you're relying on your smart bulb for more of a mood change than necessary lighting then you don't have to worry much about lumens.

Power Consumption, Smart Home Platform, and Hub

The power consumption of smart bulbs is usually pretty low, but it’s worth keeping in mind that the more bulbs you have, the more energy you’ll use. This is measured by how many watts you draw, so the fewer watts, the better. To give you a baseline, anywhere between 9 to 12 watts is fairly average.

Think about what smart home platform you want to use and if your bulb requires a control hub. Typically, your options for smart home platforms will be Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit. Some smart bulbs require you to use a separate hub to connect the bulbs and access all of their features. Without a hub, your bulbs will connect directly to your home Wi-Fi or your phone’s Bluetooth. If you want to light your entire home using smart bulbs, a hub is usually recommended.

How We Selected

To find the best smart bulbs on the market, we researched models that cater to a variety of needs from no-frills options to feature-packed techie one. We compared our pool of products with top picks from other reputable publications like Best Products, TechRadar, and PCMag to get an idea of what is frequently recommended and why, and then referenced online user reviews to ensure the performance of each bulb. We have premium bulbs, budget bulbs, outdoor bulbs, and more in our breakdown so you're sure to find the right smart bulb to customize the lighting anywhere in your home.

For more great ways to illuminate your home in style, check out our top picks for anywhere lamps, desk lights, work lights.

Wi-Fi Light Bulbs

For our best overall choice, we wanted to pick an option that could do it all at an affordable price. Enter: Kasa Smart Light Bulbs. For starters, they don’t require a hub, which makes them easy to implement for those new to the smart bulb game. They also work with Amazon Alexa and Google Home, two of the most common smart home platforms.

Their auto-white settings let you switch them between warm and cool lighting and the multicolor option lets you choose between 16 million color options. The smart app makes it easy to change your settings and monitor energy usage. Their impressive CV is rounded out with settings for dimming, daily scheduling features, lighting presets, and more. Reviewers love that you can control your smart light bulb via remote control or your voice.

<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TB6VXFL?tag=syn-yahoo-20&ascsubtag=%5Bartid%7C10060.g.38817975%5Bsrc%7Cyahoo-us" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Shop Now;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">Shop Now</a></p><p>Wi-Fi Light Bulbs</p><p>$18.99</p><p>amazon.com</p>

Shop Now

Wi-Fi Light Bulbs

$18.99

amazon.com

Color Changing Smart Light Bulbs

Our budget option is actually pretty similar to our best overall pick, with one choice caveat. Our best overall smart bulb pick gives you the option for different white options, whereas the LE Smart Light Bulb only comes with warm white lighting. If you’re someone who isn’t a fan of cool white lighting, this more affordable option might be more attractive to you anyway.

This model still offers dimming, 16 million color options, scheduling, timers, and more. No hub is required and it works perfectly with your Amazon Alexa or Google Home device. It is worth mentioning that these no-hub options, while convenient, do use Wi-Fi bandwidth on your home network.

Depending on your network speed or how many lights you install, this might not be an issue, but it’s worth considering. Reviewers love the vibrant colors but say it can be challenging to set up.

<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PY5ZFM7?tag=syn-yahoo-20&ascsubtag=%5Bartid%7C10060.g.38817975%5Bsrc%7Cyahoo-us" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Shop Now;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">Shop Now</a></p><p>Color Changing Smart Light Bulbs</p><p>$16.99</p><p>amazon.com</p>

Shop Now

Color Changing Smart Light Bulbs

$16.99

amazon.com

A19 Smart Bulb

These smart bulbs have simple controls through the Wyze app and can sync with Google assistant for voice controls. With 1,100 lumens, they have a higher range of brightness than other models and customers note the multicolor options are more vibrant than they've experienced with other products. Color and temperature controls on the app have a wide spectrum and you can save your favorite settings as presets.

Some customers mention having issues with setup but our editors didn't run into any issues when first using these bulbs.

<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WZ5THJ7?tag=syn-yahoo-20&ascsubtag=%5Bartid%7C10060.g.38817975%5Bsrc%7Cyahoo-us" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Shop Now;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">Shop Now</a></p><p>A19 Smart Bulb</p><p>$22.18</p><p>amazon.com</p>

Shop Now

A19 Smart Bulb

$22.18

amazon.com

Smart Light Bulbs

The Feit smart bulb doesn't require a hub and can be controlled through either your smart home or Feit app on your phone. Multiple people can share control of the bulbs to turn them on and off or dim, and they are compatible with the Google voice controls as well allowing you to go hands-free if you need the light. These smart bulbs can be used outdoors and set on a schedule to light up whenever you're out of town for peace of mind.

<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZWTMSBJ?tag=syn-yahoo-20&ascsubtag=%5Bartid%7C10060.g.38817975%5Bsrc%7Cyahoo-us" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Shop Now;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">Shop Now</a></p><p>Smart Light Bulbs</p><p>$25.03</p><p>amazon.com</p>

Shop Now

Smart Light Bulbs

$25.03

amazon.com

A19 Smart Bulb White and Color

Nanoleaf's smart bulb has a futuristic design and the striking shape is perfect exposed bulb light fixtures and lamps. Setup is easy thanks to the included app that gives you step-by-step instructions and serves as a simple control center. You can adjust the color and brightness and save customized lighting presets for just the right mood lighting. Another standout feature is the location-based circadian lighting which automatically tunes the bulbs to match the daylight patterns in your area.

The easy setup and hub-less connectivity give you the smart features of pricier models at a great price.

<p><a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=74968X1596630&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.homedepot.com%2Fp%2FNanoleaf-Essentials-Matter-A19-Smart-Bulb-Bright-White-and-Color-60-Watt-Equivalent-Thread-and-Bluetooth-3-Pack-NF080B03-3A19E%2F324195445&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.popularmechanics.com%2Fhome%2Fg38817975%2Fbest-smart-bulbs%2F" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Shop Now;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">Shop Now</a></p><p>A19 Smart Bulb White and Color</p><p>$49.99</p><p>homedepot.com</p>

Smart Bulb Starter Kit

Want everything you could possibly need to start using smart bulbs? Sometimes it’s nice to get everything you need in one convenient package—and with the Philips Hue Smart Bulb Starter Kit, you can. It comes with three white smart bulbs, a Philips Hue Hub, and a Smart Button. These particular bulbs emit only white light, but they let you switch between warm and cool lighting.

The included Hue Hub allows you to easily connect and control up to 50 bulbs without slowing your home Wi-Fi, and the Smart Button allows you to control your lights without a smart device. Although you can technically run these through Bluetooth on the Hue app, you’ll lose features like Apple HomeKit compatibility, full home range, light schedules, control when you’re away from home, and movie/music syncing.

<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XC2CXKK?tag=syn-yahoo-20&ascsubtag=%5Bartid%7C10060.g.38817975%5Bsrc%7Cyahoo-us" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Shop Now;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">Shop Now</a></p><p>Smart Bulb Starter Kit</p><p>$69.78</p><p>amazon.com</p>

Shop Now

Smart Bulb Starter Kit

$69.78

amazon.com

White and Color Ambiance Smart Bulbs

Our best overall pick above has just about everything you could need from a smart bulb, but if you’re eager to upgrade to a more premium option, you should go for the Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance Smart Bulbs. Although these are a bit of an investment, you get a more well-rounded bulb for the price. For one, they work with all major smart home platforms if you’re using a hub, which is highly recommended for this type of bulb.

With a hub, you can control your entire home lighting setup without sacrificing Wi-Fi bandwidth. You can also turn your lights on and off when you’re not home and sync your movies and music. And unlike our starter kit option above, these bulbs come with the option for 16 million color settings. You can even use these bulbs outdoors.

Online reviewers say they're the“best smart bulbs on the market,” and add that they work well for Halloween and Christmas decorations.

<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QV9XB87?tag=syn-yahoo-20&ascsubtag=%5Bartid%7C10060.g.38817975%5Bsrc%7Cyahoo-us" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Shop Now;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">Shop Now</a></p><p>White and Color Ambiance Smart Bulbs</p><p>$89.99</p><p>amazon.com</p>

Shop Now

White and Color Ambiance Smart Bulbs

$89.99

amazon.com

Smart Wi-Fi Light Bulbs

Love a rainbow of options? As with many of the multicolor options on our list, the Lumiman Smart Bulb allows you to pick from 16 million colors and customize your settings.

These multicolor bulbs are super affordable and they come with a rhythm mode. The rhythm mode lets you activate your bulbs to pulse to the beat of your music, giving them an extra feature that you would normally have to pay a premium for in other smart bulb models.

Plus, when the party's over, you can switch over to cool and warm lighting. Unlike some other models, this bulb doesn’t require a hub, making it easy to use.

<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DLSNNDS?tag=syn-yahoo-20&ascsubtag=%5Bartid%7C10060.g.38817975%5Bsrc%7Cyahoo-us" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Shop Now;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">Shop Now</a></p><p>Smart Wi-Fi Light Bulbs</p><p>$18.99</p><p>amazon.com</p>

Shop Now

Smart Wi-Fi Light Bulbs

$18.99

amazon.com

Smart Strip Lights

These strips are made for kids and game rooms, and also look great in closets and party rooms. Smart bulbs are great, but they don’t always offer you a ton of flexibility when it comes to placement. If you want to easily put lights under your counter, table, entertainment center, or any other flat surface, you’re going to want an LED light strip. With the Govee Smart Strip Lights, you’ll be able to connect your strip lights to Amazon Alexa or Google Home.

The lights come with the 16 million color options available on many smart bulb models, cool and warm light modes, timer settings, and more. This model even has music sync functionality, allowing you to change the lights' colors to keep pace with the rhythm of your favorite songs.

Keep in mind that these don’t connect to a hub, so if you already have a hub set up, you’ll have to use a separate app to control your light strip. Reviewers love how great these look and how easy they are to install.

<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N1CMGQQ?tag=syn-yahoo-20&ascsubtag=%5Bartid%7C10060.g.38817975%5Bsrc%7Cyahoo-us" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Shop Now;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">Shop Now</a></p><p>Smart Strip Lights</p><p>$25.00</p><p>amazon.com</p>

Shop Now

Smart Strip Lights

$25.00

amazon.com

Flood Light Smart Bulbs

If you have recessed lighting and are in need of flood-light-style smart bulbs, go for these bulbs from Sunco. These should fit perfectly in 5-inch or 6-inch recessed cans, allowing you to turn them into smart light fixtures. These affordable bulbs can change color or you can set them to warm or cool white lighting colors.

These lights don’t require a hub, so you can easily set them up in any home. That being said, if you are planning on using a lot of them, the lack of a hub will start to eat into your home Wi-Fi bandwidth. The remote control is a bonus, and the app is easy to use. Reviewers appreciate the setup, but wish the light were brighter.

<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0872JRMYS?tag=syn-yahoo-20&ascsubtag=%5Bartid%7C10060.g.38817975%5Bsrc%7Cyahoo-us" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Shop Now;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">Shop Now</a></p><p>Flood Light Smart Bulbs</p><p>$21.99</p><p>amazon.com</p>

Shop Now

Flood Light Smart Bulbs

$21.99

amazon.com

Filament Bulbs

If you love a little old-fashioned flavor with your new-fangled tech, check out this bright idea. You’ll be taking the Edison bulb into the modern era with these filament bulbs from Philips. These Philips Hue bulbs give you that retro look and feel, but you can control them with your smart home system.

If you already use Philips Hue bulbs in your house, these will easily integrate into your Hue hub. In fact, just like all Philips Hue products, use with a hub is recommended. Using a hub enables you to control up to 50 bulbs at once, get access to all of their features, and prevents your lights from sucking up bandwidth.

<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VRF9NWK?tag=syn-yahoo-20&ascsubtag=%5Bartid%7C10060.g.38817975%5Bsrc%7Cyahoo-us" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Shop Now;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">Shop Now</a></p><p>Filament Bulbs</p><p>$50.51</p><p>amazon.com</p>

Shop Now

Filament Bulbs

$50.51

amazon.com

You Might Also Like