LED bulbs are the way to go for a “smarter” smart home. While some bulbs and bulb kits may be a bit of an investment upfront, the cash you’ll save in the long run, combined with many of the great lighting features and added security your home will net, will make your lumens upgrade well worth it.
Whether you want to be able to match your lighting to your mood, use a “daylight” feature, or change colors on the fly, we found bulbs that serve your needs. If you need a multipack to transition from outdated light bulbs, we’ve got you covered. Read on for our favorite LED bulb options of the year.
Cree A19 Bulb
Best LED bulb
In recent years, Cree has established itself as one of the premier LED bulb manufacturers in the world, creating affordable, effective lighting solutions to replace the energy-sucking incandescent bulbs that plague our poor light sockets. Capable of emitting 815 lumens while consuming just 10 watts of energy, the hyper-efficient A19 standard bulb — rated at 25,000 hours of use — works with all dimming switches, meaning you won’t encounter annoying buzzing sounds or malfunctions when adjusting the brightness of the bulb. It’s also backed by a 10-year warranty and remains incredibly cost-effective.
The Daylight version is 5,000k — which gives off a cooler, bluer light — while the 2,700k “Soft White” is warmer and more yellow. Cree recently revamped its entire lineup of bulbs to improve its color rendering index; these bulbs including the Buy at Amazon score 85+ on a scale of 0 to 100, meaning they should more accurately reflect an object’s true colors compared to some lower-scoring LEDs.
Lifx A19 Led Light
Best color-changing LED bulb
The Lifx A19 LED Light is a color-changing LED bulb that doubles as a smart LED bulb, which makes it too convenient to overlook. The bulb, which Lifx fitted for standard E26/E27 sockets, emits an impressive 75 lumens per watt. It provides saturated and rich colors, and the accompanying mobile app for Android, iOS, and Windows 10 devices also allows users to choose from more than 16 million colors and hues via a simple color wheel.
The Buy at Amazon remains one of the few available smart bulbs capable of operating independently of any smart home ecosystem, as the bulb features built-in Wi-Fi. This means it doesn’t require a hub. Furthermore, it integrates with Nest, SmartThings, Google Home, and Alexa for voice control. The app also offers a slew of unique features such as the ability to group bulbs and change their settings simultaneously. The bulb lasts roughly 22 years, though we expect a shorter lifespan if you’re constantly playing with the settings.
Amazon Basics 24-Pack of LED Bulbs
Best multipack of LED bulbs
For about $1 per LED bulb, this multipack provides 24 soft white bulbs. Each bulb has a lifetime of roughly 10,000 hours, which means you can outfit your entire home with LEDs and you won’t have to change the bulbs out for years to come. The Buy at Amazon instantly provide 800 lumens of light, so you don’t have to wait for them to warm up. And, they only use 9 watts of energy, so they only cost $1.08 per year to operate (this is based on three hours per day usage at 11 cents per kWh). They come in soft white and daylight, so you can choose the right style and ambiance for your home.
Wyze Bulb
Best budget smart LED bulb
The Wyze white bulb is a solid budget option. Like Wyze’s other smart home products, the Wyze bulb requires a small setup process to connect the bulb to its app. Once you sync the bulb, you can easily adjust the brightness from your smartphone or tablet and even set weekly lighting schedules. There is no hub needed either. You simply need the $10 bulb to make your lights smart.
This unit also pairs with Alexa and Google Assistant to add a hands-free voice-activation lighting option for those so inclined. Then you can simply ask your digital assistant to dim the lights or turn them off entirely at the end of the night because manually flipping a light switch is so last century. The Buy at Amazon will dish out up to 800 lumens when set to full brightness.
Philips Hue Smart Home Starter Kit
Best LED smart home ecosystem
As connectivity with smart devices continues to improve, smart hubs keep producing new state-of-the-art features and functionalities, fueling the smart home technology craze. Most of these hubs utilize LED smart bulbs. If you’re looking for something different, you’ll want to check out Philips Hue for its innovative approach to home lighting. Their products allow optimal control of your home’s light and ambiance.
A standard E26 base fits the standard model, produces 800 lumens of light, and only requires 9.5 watts to function. The white bulb guarantees 25,000 hours of use. There’s even a setting where you can dim your lights to the perfect brightness when you pair them with the Dimmer Kit. Dimmer kits come with a bridge hub plus two or four white bulbs, depending on which kit you choose.
If that’s not enticing enough, the Phillips line of lighting systems also pairs with almost every smart bulb on the market, so you’ll have plenty of options to customize your lighting system. The bridge connects with spotlights and strips with up to 50 Hue lights simultaneously. The Phillips family product owner uses the appropriate mobile app to control the product. The Philips Hue Smart Home Kit isn’t the only reasonably-priced lighting system on the market, but it continues to be one of the highest-ranking smart home lighting products available. We chose it as the best home lighting system due to its functionality and ease of use.
