The 4 Best Smart LED Light Bulbs of 2024 | Reviews by Wirecutter

Oct 16, 2024

By Megan Wollerton

Following a new round of testing, we still recommend our current picks, and we have added the U-tec Bright A19 1100LM as as the best option for big homes.

Smart LED bulbs provide a near-instant way to transform the feel of a room. Screw in a smart bulb (or several) and pair it with an app, and in an instant your TV room has the vibe of a home theater or your dining room a sense of candle-like warmth. And this is possible without ever having to buy and install a dimmer switch.

They also excel at making life more convenient. You can easily create Schedules so that bulbs inside and outside your home go off as needed. Or have them light automatically when someone arrives home and turn off when everyone leaves.

After a new round of testing, the WiZ 60W A19 Color LED continues to be the best smart bulb. It delivered strong lux readings at a variety of light levels (more on this later) and has a wide color temperature range, and its app offers the best set of built-in Scenes and smart-home integrations—all at a great price.

This affordable bulb was a standout in testing and easy to set up, and it includes a collection of fun and useful modes and Scenes.

While this bulb works with all of the major smart-home platforms, its solid Apple Home support will be particularly appealing to Apple users.

This dependable smart bulb has a great app and was the top performer at low light levels, but it doesn’t offer as many third-party integrations as WiZ, Meross, or U-tec.

This bulb is brighter than many we tested and uses mesh Wi-Fi to create links among all the bulbs in your home.

LEDs come in a variety of base sizes and bulb shapes. Many may not be suitable outdoors, in humid locations, or in enclosed fixtures.

LED bulb brightness is measured in lumens. For 40-, 60-, 75-, or 100-watt incandescent lights, look for a bulb that outputs 450, 800, 1,100, or 1,600 lumens, respectively.

In addition to changing colors, you can tweak the tone—the temperature—of white light from warm and cozy to cooler and more energizing.

Most bulbs connect to Wi-Fi, so they only work if in range of your home’s router. Some models use mesh Wi-Fi or Zigbee wireless, which should provide better range.

This affordable bulb was a standout in testing and easy to set up, and it includes a collection of fun and useful modes and Scenes.

Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri Shortcuts, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings

The WiZ 60W A19 Color LED Smart Bulb impressed us with its easy setup, wide array of Scenes, and affordable price. It also scored a high lux rating—a measure of how effectively a bulb’s light spreads. This model also has a wider color temperature range than most of the other smart bulbs we tested. And in addition to standard options like on/off control and scheduling, this clever LED bulb offers a circadian-rhythm mode that automatically switches the white light color temperature throughout the day based on your sleep and wake schedule.

Advertisement

While this bulb works with all of the major smart-home platforms, its solid Apple Home support will be particularly appealing to Apple users.

Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings

The Meross MSL120 Smart Wi-Fi LED Bulb delivered especially consistent lux measurements between the top and side of the bulb, while other bulbs tend to have notably worse light performance on the sides compared with the top. This means its light performance doesn’t suffer at any angle and, as a result, should suit pretty much any light fixture design. It responded quickly when testing it with smart-home automations as well. The Meross is also the only pick that directly supports Apple Home control. That lets you skip the Meross app entirely to control your lights using the Home app, or with a Siri command on your phone or HomePod Mini.

This dependable smart bulb has a great app and was the top performer at low light levels, but it doesn’t offer as many third-party integrations as WiZ, Meross, or U-tec.

Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home

The RCA Smart Wi-Fi A19 LED Bulb stands out for its exceptional light output, especially at the lowest light levels. All LEDs lose illuminance, or lux, as they dim, but this connected bulb outdid our other picks by maintaining strong results even at just 10% brightness. Its app was pleasantly uncluttered, making it easy to turn the bulb on and off, change the brightness—or handle any other adjustments without having to search around for the right screen. It also has a nice selection of features, ranging from basic scheduling and a timer to Scenes and music syncing.

This bulb is brighter than many we tested and uses mesh Wi-Fi to create links among all the bulbs in your home.

Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings

The U-tec Bright A19 1100LM outpaced the other bulbs we tested with its ability to evenly blanket an area with light, particularly at full brightness (the tech term for that measurement is lux). Its mesh Wi-Fi technology, which uses each additional bulb to form a web-like connection among devices, also helped maintain a steady connection for the bulbs farthest from the router. If your smart lighting plans include installing multiple bulbs throughout your home, a model like this with a mesh Wi-Fi setup is an especially strong choice. The U Home app has frustrating home screen controls, but the issues aren’t a dealbreaker. It’s also an expensive bulb, but its standout performance and unique mesh connection offer significant value.

Advertisement

I have more than 14 years of experience writing about technology. For a decade I covered smart-home gadgets at CNET. Some of my Wirecutter guides include smart garage door opener controllers, smart window shades and blinds, and smart hose timers.

For this guide:

I either return or donate every product I test. I may hold onto some devices for additional time, when warranted, due to long-term testing or anticipated software updates.

Smart bulbs are a great option for anyone who wants fast, inexpensive, and easy installation and control of the lights in their home. The connectivity packed into a smart bulb sets it apart from regular LEDs by adding the ability to check on the status of, and make changes to, your lights from your phone, with smart app controls or with a smart speaker or smart display.

Smart LEDs can adjust from a warm, soothing white light when you’re settling down for the evening to a cool, task-oriented light when you need to focus and get something done.

In addition to being able to adjust their white light color temperature between warm and cool, many smart bulbs also have color-changing capabilities so that you can add a little flare for festive occasions or, you know, make your room purple just because.

Through years of testing we’ve learned that smart lighting options in general, and smart bulbs in particular, appeal to many who have accessibility or mobility limitations, by making it especially easy to automate, schedule, or remotely control lighting. That may mean turning on or off lights while sitting in a chair across the room or having them set to go on or off at specific times of the day without requiring input.

You might want to add multiple smart bulbs throughout your home and automate them via advanced features like Scenes or Routines—or even use them alongside other types of connected devices, like a smart lock or a smart garage door opener controller.

Just like any other bulb, the physical installation is simple: Just remove any existing bulb and replace it in seconds with a smart LED. As long as the bulb goes into a compatible fixture with the correct maximum wattage and has the same base size and bulb shape as the old bulb you’re replacing (in this guide we focus on the standard E26 base size and A19 bulb shape), it should work exactly the same.

Download the bulb’s companion app to be led through the setup instructions and in minutes you’ll be operating the light from your phone, setting custom schedules based on your daily routine and saying to your smart speaker: “Turn off the living room lamp.”

Smart bulbs and plugs can do so much more than just turn on and off with an app. Here are a few easy tips to get the most out of smart lighting.

Advertisement

In order to be considered for testing, the smart LED bulb candidates must:

In addition to the above criteria, we prioritized bulbs that offered:

In testing we looked for models that provided:

To test each bulb’s smart capabilities and overall reliability, I started with basic app features like on/off control and scheduling. I then tried out any advanced options, like Scenes, Vacation Mode, and music syncing, when available. I also experimented with voice commands using Alexa via an Amazon Echo Dot with clock, Google Assistant on a Google Nest Hub Max, and Siri on my iPhone 14 Pro Max.

For a further reliability test, I set up a Routine in the Alexa app. Every time the door to the backyard (outfitted with an Aqara Door and Window Sensor) opened, whatever smart bulb I was testing at the moment in an outdoor light fixture turned green. This is a version of a signal we already use with our neighbors behind us to let them know our dogs are outside and vice versa. (Our dogs bark wildly at each other, and this helps spare our other nearby neighbors from their spirited conversations.)

Lighting companies today typically advertise lumens, or the maximum potential brightness of a given bulb. Lux, however, is a measure of illuminance, or how much of that light actually projects onto any surface in its immediate vicinity at a given level of brightness compared with other LEDs at the same brightness. We think lux is the better indicator of real-world performance.

I measured the performance of each LED in lux using a digital light meter. I set each bulb to its coolest white light color temperature, used a measuring tape to consistently hold the meter 12 inches away from the bulb, and took the average of three measurements on the top and side of each bulb at 100%, 50%, and 10% brightness.

This affordable bulb was a standout in testing and easy to set up, and it includes a collection of fun and useful modes and Scenes.

Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri Shortcuts, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings

The WiZ 60W A19 Color LED Smart Bulb is the best smart bulb, thanks to its great lux performance, simple app setup, wide color temperature range, and large selection of Scenes. This bulb is also one of the more affordable models we tested.

It connects easily over Wi-Fi in the WiZ app, and in about a minute or two you can start turning your light on and off, adjusting the white light color temperature, changing the light to any one of the “16 million colors” WiZ says it supports, creating Schedules, and trying out more advanced features like custom effects and automations.

Note that although WiZ is owned by Philips Hue, the WiZ app operates separately from the larger Zigbee-enabled Philips Hue app and ecosystem.

It’s a great way to keep things simple. Despite being our top pick, the WiZ bulb isn’t overly complex. It’s a totally great option if you want to stick with the plain-and-simple basics: on/off light control, brightness adjustments, changes to bulb color (or temperature) depending on what you’re doing, custom schedules to fit your daily routine, and the ability to share app access with family, friends, visitors, or caregivers.

But you can still go all-in if you want. The WiZ 60W A19 Color LED Smart Bulb also has a great collection of additional options. You can create custom Scenes or choose from a selection of preset themes, like Relax and TV Time, that are activity-centric. There are also 19 preset “dynamic effects,” such as Ocean, Sunset, and Jungle, that cycle through colors in a thematic way. The Jungle effect, for instance, cycles among various shades of green and yellow—it’s a nice effect as it subtly shifts from one color to the next.

You can deeply customize the app to your habits. For example, a circadian-rhythm mode changes the light throughout the day according to your particular wake and sleep schedule. Another feature, SpaceSense, is supposed to automatically adjust your lights to your preferred setting when you walk into a room via the WiZ bulb’s built-in motion-sensing technology. (It didn’t always change settings when I was in close proximity to a bulb, though, and felt more like a beta feature as a result.)

You get Siri Shortcuts but not Apple Home. While this bulb has a lot of smart-home functionality, it relies on the more pared-down Shortcuts app rather than the Apple Home app. You can still use Siri to control your WiZ bulb with Shortcuts, but you won’t be able to use any of the advanced automations you can only find in the Home app.

For more details, read WiZ’s privacy statement.

Advertisement

While this bulb works with all of the major smart-home platforms, its solid Apple Home support will be particularly appealing to Apple users.

Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings

The Meross MSL120 Smart Wi-Fi LED Bulb offers impressively consistent lux readings across the entire bulb (measuring from both the front and sides of the bulb). It also responds quickly and reliably to commands and also to automations.

Major smart-home apps work, but Meross pushes you to use Apple Home. Even if you begin the setup process in the Meross app, the app prompts iPhone owners to scan the code on the bulb to add it to the Apple Home app. Scanning that code ended up being the only fiddly part of setup, because in order to access the code when the bulb is screwed into a lamp with a shade, we had to unscrew it and then quickly scan it, then screw it back in and turn it on (another editor couldn’t scan the bulb at all and had to input it manually; he later found the code is also on a sticker in the included instructions).

The Home app will identify the bulb and ask you to designate a location for it, like “Living Room,” or, in my case, “Backyard.” Then you can control it from the Home app or with a Siri command without ever having to open the Meross app again, if you so choose.

Quick responses to custom smart-home automations. The Meross bulb responded the fastest to the testing Routine I created in the Alexa app, using an Aqara Door and Window Sensor and each smart LED. When the door to my backyard was opened, the Meross bulb would turn on glowing green lightning fast (and my neighbors knew to take precautions as the hounds were loose)—and there was no lag time or misfires.

Consistent light from all angles. Some bulbs have a notable difference in light performance between the top and side of the bulb at the same brightness. The Meross bulb returned the closest readings of any of our picks from both directions, meaning you’ll get comparable light quality no matter the fixture you use or the light angle.

The app is clunky. While the Meross app isn’t difficult to use, it is quirky enough that we think some users will find it off-putting—parts of it feel a bit like a beta version of a social media platform.

For instance, after using the app I am sometimes awarded a few “coins” via a pop-up alert. The coins are designed to encourage app use—you get 100 coins for creating an account, another 30 if you post in the forum, and 300 if your post gets over 500 likes. But we haven’t found any explanation of what you can do with these coins or if there’s a way to opt out of the program, other than a little “Coming soon…” note on each screen.

Fortunately, all of the key features to control the bulb are easy enough to find, if you can get past the coins. Also, if you connect it through the Apple Home app, you never have to use the Meross one.

For more details, read Meross’s privacy statement.

This dependable smart bulb has a great app and was the top performer at low light levels, but it doesn’t offer as many third-party integrations as WiZ, Meross, or U-tec.

Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home

The RCA Smart Wi-Fi A19 LED Bulb had the best lux performance when dimmed to low light levels of any model we tested. The RCA Smart Home app used for setup and control is especially clear and intuitive. It provides a useful roster of features like scheduling, a timer, Scenes, a Do Not Disturb Mode, and music syncing. (I wasn’t sure of the appeal of having my lights change colors in rhythm to Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” but I did it!)

Low light levels are superb. The RCA emits light that maintains a high lux level at every level of brightness—even when it was dimmed down to 10%, it earned a higher lux score than any of our other picks.

In practice this means that even at night when you’ve dimmed the lights, it never feels muddy and hard to see. So you can continue to read without eye strain or have the ability to locate the remote control that got wedged between the sofa cushions.

The app simply works. The RCA app isn’t particularly sleek, but its interface is blissfully clear, with controls that are easy to find and just as simple to use. On one uncluttered screen, you can view the current status of your bulb, adjust its brightness, turn it on and off and change either the color temperature or the color. Three additional tabs hold RCA’s lineup of 34 existing Scenes, its music syncing feature that changes your bulb’s color to the rhythm of whatever music you’re playing on your phone, and additional options like scheduling, a timer, and a Do Not Disturb Mode.

It has limited smart-home integrations. This bulb only supports Amazon Alexa and Google Home. If one (or both) of those is plenty for your smart-home plans, this won’t be an issue. If, however, you’d prefer to use Apple Home or Samsung SmartThings with this LED, you’re out of luck.

For more details, read RCA’s privacy statement.

Advertisement

This bulb is brighter than many we tested and uses mesh Wi-Fi to create links among all the bulbs in your home.

Compatible with: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings

The U-tec Bright A19 1100LM offers better lux performance, meaning more usable light, at 100% brightness than any of the other models I’ve tested. It’s the first bulb I’ve tested that makes use of Wi-Fi–based mesh technology, which means that each bulb acts as a wireless relay to other bulbs, which should ensure bulbs stay connected—a great option if you have a particularly spacious home or spotty Wi-Fi. The Bright is a bit more expensive than our other picks, and I found the app to be less intuitive to use as well. But it’s still a good choice for anyone who requires extra brightness or wants the assurance of mesh wireless.

It beats the competition at 100% brightness. The U-tec bulb has strong lux performance at all brightness levels, and it scored the best out of all of the other bulbs we’ve tested at maximum brightness (including other 1,100-lumen options that didn’t make this list). That means more of the bulb’s 100% brightness reached the light meter I was holding 12 inches away than any other bulb with the same specs at the same brightness and measurement distance.

For day-to-day purposes, the U-tec bulb at full brightness will illuminate whatever is in its path—a notebook, your cat, a really juicy cheeseburger—better than the competition at the same level of brightness. I set up four of these bulbs at home: one in the living room, two in the office, and one in a bedroom. I especially noticed a difference in how well I could read my notebook in the office at various levels of brightness compared with the other standard LED bulb I was using before.

It fills Wi-Fi dead spots. I installed four U-tec bulbs in my home. The living room bulb was 5 feet from the router, the two office bulbs were roughly 15 and 17 feet away, and the bedroom bulb was about 25 feet away and also had more obstacles between it and the router. Though the farthest bulb was in a spot that would normally struggle to maintain a consistently strong Wi-Fi connection, the mesh tech kicked in, and it worked seamlessly throughout testing. The connection was stable, and there wasn’t any other performance wonkiness that would typically have occurred in that room. If your dream smart lighting setup includes multiple bulbs in various corners of your home, mesh Wi-Fi tech could prove extremely handy.

The app needs work. The U Home app’s main screen displays all of your devices at a glance. It tells you whether your lights are on or off and allows for basic on/off control. But there’s also a very finicky dimming function that I found frustrating-to-impossible to use because you have to slide your finger past the on/off button, and it’s difficult to place your finger correctly for it to respond and not accidentally turn the light off. Instead, you have to click on the device to open the larger control screen for any reasonable access to dimming your lights. The app is also a little convoluted in general. Basic features are hidden behind multiple screens and selections. I also wish the scheduling function offered a built-in sunrise/sunset option.

It’s expensive. While pricing varies depending on sales, this bulb’s $18 list price as of this writing is $7 higher than our top pick, the WiZ 60W A19 Color LED. If the specific features of this U-tec model appeal to you, it’s well worth the cost. If not, consider a more affordable alternative.

For more details, read U-tec’s privacy statement.

While the following models didn’t make it onto our list of favorites, they’re decent bulbs that may be a good option for some buyers.

If you prefer Bluetooth when you’re home: The Govee Wi-Fi+ Bluetooth RGBWW Smart LED Bulb (H6008) relies on Bluetooth when you’re within range and Wi-Fi when you aren’t. However, its app is cluttered and difficult to use.

If you want a scalable Zigbee-powered LED ecosystem: The Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance A19 Starter Kit is an excellent choice if you prefer Zigbee over Wi-Fi and plan to add more products from the lighting platform’s large selection. That said, the starter kit is expensive, and additional standalone bulbs cost a shocking $55 a pop. These pricey LEDs also didn’t perform as well as our winners.

Advertisement

We don’t recommend the following bulbs we tested for reasons that may include performance, features, or price.

The Tapo app with the TP-Link Tapo L535E Multicolor Smart Light Bulb was simple to use, but the LED scored low lux readings, to the extent that we tested the bulb a second time to make sure the numbers were correct.

The Amazon Basics Smart A19 LED Light Bulb was easy to set up and use in the Alexa app, however it performed poorly in our light meter tests.

The GE Cync Dynamic Effects Smart Bulb offers a nice range of features, but it costs more than our picks despite weaker performance, and we found its app trickier to use.

The Nanoleaf Matter Essentials A19 Smart Bulb boasts a cool design, but its glitchy Matter setup gave me nothing but trouble from the beginning.

Previous authors of this guide have tested a number of smart bulbs, which we either dismissed or no longer recommend compared with the value and performance of our current picks (some may simply be discontinued).

Those tested include:

This article was edited by Jon Chase and Grant Clauser.

Megan Wollerton

Megan Wollerton is a product tester and an award-winning feature writer. Previously she spent a decade at CNET reviewing all manner of gear and writing long stories about nature. Before that, she blogged for NBC's Syfy Channel. When she isn’t overusing the em dash, Megan is either spending time outside or tracking down the best desserts in a 100-mile radius.

by Rachel Cericola

A smart dimmer works like a regular switch but makes it easy to put lights on a schedule, automate them with other devices, and control them remotely.

by Rachel Cericola

Outdoor lighting enhances home security. Smart lighting makes it versatile and attractive. Here are our picks for smart bulbs, path lights, and fixtures.

by Rachel Cericola

There’s more to smart lighting than basic bulbs and wall switches. These design-centric smart lights are easy to install and will enhance your living space.

by Rachel Cericola

Smart lighting is arguably the easiest smart-home gear to install and use, yet has the power to transform your home—inside and out.

Advertisement