10 Best Smart Light Bulbs That Work With Alexa
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10 Best Alexa Light Bulbs
In this post we cover the 10 best smart light bulbs for Alexa and how you can get the most out of smart light bulbs that work with voice control and Alexa.
If you’re looking for a smart light bulb the options are almost endless but not all smart light bulbs that work with Alexa are created equal and picking the right smart light bulbs will make your smart lights easier to use and can help save you both energy and money.
What is a Smart Light Bulb?
Smart light bulbs allow you to control the light bulbs in your home through wifi. All you do is remove your old smart light bulb, screw in the new smart light bulb set it up through the manufacturer app on your phone through wifi and you’re ready to start controlling your smart light bulb though your phone. With smart phone control of your Alexa smart light bulb you can turn on and off your smart light bulb from your phone and with some smart light bulbs you can even change the color of the light or dim or brighten the light.
Alexa compatible light bulbs allow you to control your smart light bulbs with Alexa voice commands.
You can dim Alexa Smart Light Bulbs with your voice and adjust the brightness.
What can you do with Smart Light Bulbs that work with Alexa?
With standard smart light bulb configurations you can control your smart light bulb through your smart phone. Connecting your smart light bulb to Alexa opens up a whole new world of smart home and smart light bulb control in that it allows you to control your smart light bulbs using voice commands with Alexa.
You can control your smart light bulbs with voice commands by saying:
“Alexa, turn off lights”
“Alexa, turn on lights”
“Alexa, turn on living room”
“Alexa, set living room to 50%”
Adding Alexa voice control to your home is a true luxury and your smart home to the next level. I’ve lived with smart lighting control for 5 years and there’s nothing like laying in bed at the end of a long day and telling your house to turn off the lights with smart light bulbs for Alexa. To control your smart light bulbs with Alexa you will need an Alexa compatible device like the Echo Show, Echo Dot, Echo Spot, Echo or Sonos With Alexa Built In.
10 Best Smart Light Bulbs For Alexa
1. Best Smart Light Bulbs For Alexa: Phillips Hue Starter Kit (White & Color Ambiance)
These are the first smart light bulbs that I started my smart home with and they have worked reliability without any issues. I literarily plugged the hub into my router, setup the the light bulbs up on the Phillips Hue app and they flawlessly responded to the touch commands on my phone. Setting these light bulbs up with Alexa was a breeze. The Philips hue style smart light bulbs are probably the most popular smart light bulb that works with Alexa and they have earned. In my opinion they are one of the best smart light bulbs that works with Alexa because they are simple to use, they have a good app, they easily integrate with Alexa and can be integrated with dozens of other apps for smart home control.
This smart home light bulb kit includes everything you need to get started with smart light bulbs, and these smart light bulbs are capable of dimming, and allow you to pick any shade of 16 million different colors. If you are looking for an Alexa compatible smart bulb and want every feature possible these smart light bulbs are for you.
These smart light bulbs a require the Phillips hue smart home hub control which comes with the Kit and is compatible to control any style or type of Phillips Hue Smart Light Bulbs. If you have a newer version 2 Echo Show or Echo Plus device you can skip the smart home hub and the Echo Show & Echo Plus are both capable of controlling the smart bulbs directly and act as a hub. For those of you that are interested in the tech specs. The Phillips Hue light bulbs work on the zigbee home automation protocol, they are also stated to last up to 22 years so forget about needing to change your lightbulbs ever again if you install these in your home.
These smart light bulbs are unique in that they have full color control and dimming capability but don’t require a smart home hub like the Phillips Hue light bulbs. They typically are a little bit more expensive per light bulb but can make up for the cost because they don’t require you to purchase the smart home hub. LIFX smart light bulbs have been around a long time and have proven themselves to be high quality, reliable smart light bulbs that work with Alexa.
The LIFX light bulbs work on directly on home wifi networks to provide quick response times and easy setup. To setup the LIFX smart bulbs that work with Alexa you just download the app, screw in the light bulb and follow the instructions on the app. They offer simple installation that is as easy as screwing in a light bulb.
These smart light bulbs offer the same app and control as the multi-color Philips Hue smart light bulbs and will allow you to control your smart light bulbs with your phone or Alexa using voice commands. Even though these don’t support 16 million colors like the full spectrum Phillips Hue lights they are still reliable, functional and are typically at a much lower price point than the full color smart light bulbs.
In reality these smart light bulbs are more often what people choose over the full color smart light bulbs. Most people just don’t need full color smart light bulbs, while the idea of having 16 million colors of light to choose from might sound appealing, in reality you’re probably going to set your lights to pink, purple, green, blue or yellow to read a book or eat dinner.
My inner child purchased a 16 million color Philips Hue light bulb which I will admit I enjoyed for 15 minutes until my wife reminded me that I’m no longer in college, we don’t live in a dance club, I’m married and my choice in interior design used to consist of mounting sailing and outdoors memorabilia to walls as decoration. While I thought it was awesome and it looked like nice beach cottage or hunting lodge the reality was that I was wrong, the same applies to the 16 million color smart light bulbs, the concept is great but the reality is you probably don’t need them.
Now I’m not here to shoot down the dreamers among you so if you really want to get the 16 million color smart light bulbs do it, but be forewarned that your wife will probably think your nuts if you get a full house of color changing smart light bulbs. And if your in college, think you have a dance club in your basement or single and wan’t the “coolest” tech go right ahead and get that fancy light bulb!
The white smart light bulbs from Phillips Hue are more practical, easier to control and work flawlessly with Alexa. I have few of the smart white light bulbs in my closets combined with a Phillips Hue Remote that allow me to place the remote inside the closet just like a built in switch.
Combining the Smart Light Bulbs with the remote is a great way to add switched closet control of lighting if you have one of those old fashion pull strings or multiple lights inside a closet you want to control. We have a coat closet that had one of those old pull string light fixtures to turn on or off the light and the string always seemed to get tangled in coats and coat hangers so adding the Phillips Hue white light bulb with a Phillips Hue remote was a great solution to eliminate the pull string on the light fixture and looks a lot nicer. They also offer a Phillips Hue smart light bulb kit that includes the dimming remote so you can quickly upgrade any closet or pull string light fixture.
These LIFX smart light bulbs work in the same way as their full color LIFX counterparts but offer remote control in dimming in warm white. If you don’t want to purchase a control hub like the Phillips Hue Bulbs require these are a great way to get started with smart lighting. You can just buy one bulb with minimal investment to try out smart lighting that works with Alexa to see if you like using your voice to control your smart lighting.
If I was staring out and was going to get just one smart light bulb, I would start by putting one in a night stand or bed side lamp, assuming you have an Alexa in your bedroom it’s easy to control your smart lighting with Alexa voice commands before you go to bed or when you wake up. Every night I use my Alexa with smart lighting to turn on and off my night stand light without needing to get out of bed to turn on or off the lights. It feels like a true luxury every night before I go to bed and love it.
What I really like about the LIFX smart light bulbs that work with Alexa is the “warm” color of light that they put out. The “Warm White” color is closer to more traditional incandescent bulb colors and looks good in any home, some other colors of smart bulb are too blue and make you feel like you’re in a hospital waiting room or school. The LIFX smart light bulbs have dialed in the perfect shade of white for this smart light bulb that works on your wifi and provides an economical smart bulb option that’s easy to set up and get started with smart lighting.
We rank this light bulb higher than the other smart light bulbs that offer white light bulbs because of it’s high quality and because if you want it can be combined with other “color” LIFX light bulbs within your home to create scenes and controlled through the app. Both the Phillips Hue and LIFX light bulbs are accompanied by a full line of bulb sizes, light strips and light fixtures. This sets these two brands apart from the rest of the pack because they offer so much flexibility in the light bulbs that you can use in your fixtures that you will most likely be able to find the right smart light bulb that works with Alexa for even the strangest of light fixtures.
These smart light bulbs that work with Alexa share some similarities to the the LIFX light bulbs in that they work on wifi and don’t require a smart home hub to operate. They are a great entry point in to the smart light bulb market to test out if you like your light bulbs controlled with Alexa voice commands.
These Kasa Smart Wifi white bulbs do offer a unique feature that not all smart bulbs include, these smart light bulbs allow you to “tune” the shade of white to your liking so if you want “bright white” or “soft white” lighting or anything in between you can tune the smart light bulbs in the range of 2700K-5000K to provide Soft White to Daylight.
The smart light bulbs also allow dimming, app control and dozens of integrations with other connected devices and services.
Being able to tune your light bulbs means you will be able to get the exact shade of light you are looking for without compromise.
These smart light bulbs work on the TP-Link Casa app and if you choose to upgrade to smart light switches in the future will allow your existing smart bulbs to work on the same app as the smart light switches so everything is consolidated in one smart lighting app.
If you don’t know what shade of light bulb you want these smart light bulbs are perfect because they allow you to choose the shade right for you and your home decor.
TP-Link is a reliable name and they started in the wifi router business so they know how to make devices that work great on wifi, they are a good budget friendly option for getting started with smart lighting.
Sengled smart bulbs work with Alexa and offer one of the most budget friendly options for smart lighting on the market. They don’t include some of the same premium features and device integrations as the Phillips Hue or LIFX bulbs but they are very affordable.
The Sengled Smart Light Bulbs that work with Alexa require either a smart home hub that can be purchased as part of the Sengled Smart Light Bulb Kit or they can work with Smart Home Hubs like the Sengled Smart Lighting Hub, Wink or Smartthings. The smart light bulbs operate on with zigbee networking protocol and then connect to Alexa and wifi for smart control through the hub and app.
If you already have a smart home hub like Wink or Smarthings you can skip the kit and get the even more cost friendly individual smart bulbs for home control. If you have a lot of lights you want to convert to smart home and voice control these offer a no frills way to upgrade your home and add voice control with Alexa and remote app control of your smart home light bulbs.
Simple, easy, inexpensive, no hub, wireless Alexa voice control. That pretty much sums up the Eufy smart light bulbs that work with Alexa. They don’t offer the frills of the other smart light bulbs and the app interface is simpler with fewer integrations and less options for control but it works reliably and easily. Just download the app, screw these in and you’re ready to go. They are one of the most inexpensive smart light bulbs on the market and can be less than 1/2 the cost of other competing smart light bulbs.
They don’t require a smart home hub, and come in soft white 60W style light bulbs. They work and you can outfit an entire house with them on a budget for full Alexa control of your lighting if you wanted. As a smart light bulb for app control and control with Alexa they work flawlessly, but they are less of a name brand than other light bulbs on this list and have fewer built in integrations with other smart home devices if that is important to you.
The Kasa Smart Wifi light bulbs work with Alexa voice commands and offer easy no hub, wifi installation of smart light bulbs with full color capability. These smart light bulbs operate just like the white TP link smart light bulbs and will work on the same app as other white TP link smart light bulbs and TP link smart hardwired light switches and dimmers. This is ranked lower than the other smart color light bulbs that work with Alexa because it does not offer near as many color options as the Philips Hue Multi-Color light bulbs. It’s still a great smart light bulb but limited in color. If you wan’t 16 million different color options an hues the Philips Hue smart light bulbs are the best bet, but if you already have other TP Kasa Smart light bulbs and want to add a little pizzaz to a light fixture or two these will do the job and work great just like the white smart light bulbs that work with Alexa.
They also allow full functionality dimming, wifi app control, and don’t require the investment in a smart home hub. TP-Link is a great brand and long term internet of things heavy weight.
9. Best Smart Light Bulbs For Alexa: Sealight Edison Style Light Bulb
This smart light bulb that works with Alexa offers something most of the other smart light bulbs might lack….exceptional styling. Standard white light bulbs are great for can lights, lamp fixtures and other ceiling mounted light fixtures. However when it comes to suspended architectural light fixtures you need a light bulb that will look great, provide good ambient lighting and match the decor.
The Sealight smart lights have just that in mind and offer stylish Edison Style smart light bulbs purpose built for architectural light fixtures where the light is designed to be exposed or semi exposed. These smart light bulbs put out a warm glow, and just the right amount of light for designer light fixtures.
These smart light bulbs that work with Alexa offer dimming functionality, timer settings and full wifi control from your phone. They don’t require a smart hub and work on the smart life app which is one of the most common and reliable smart home device apps that millions of smart connected products work on.
If you are looking for just the right smart light bulb for your designer light fixture these smart light bulbs are perfect for setting the tone and providing smart voice control with Alexa.
These smart light bulbs that work with Alexa aren’t light bulbs at all but light strips, so why are they on this list? Well the Philips Hue smart light strips deserve and honorable mention because they are a great product but they also serve a wide variety of speciality applications that aren’t possible with the other smart light bulbs we have listed.
These smart light strips will work with Alexa and work with the Philips Hue app just like all of the other Philips Hue smart bulbs and offer 16 million different colors.
But what is most impressive about the Philips Hue Light Strips that work with Alexa is how they can be used. They are great for adding accent lighting below a cabinet either at hidden at the base of a cabinet or underneath an upper cabinet to illuminate your work surface.
These make great accent lighting for soffits, recessed lighting or in home theaters. I think that multi-colored lighting fits in best for accent lights, where it’s not the main source of light but will catch your eye at night or when the light is dim. This is where the Philips Hue Smart Light strips excel, they are small, easy to install and have a low profile so they can be hidden where you want some additional accent lighting in locations like a home bar.
They have peel and stick adhesive which allows them to be placed virtually anywhere you can think of and plug into a standard wall socket. The light strips can be connected together with multiple light strips to form one longer continuous run of lighting if needed. The standard kit comes in 80” sections but can be extended to 30FT.
Alexa Light Bulbs Summary:
Adding Alexa compatible light bulbs is a great way to increase the functionality of your home and is as easy as screwing in a light bulb. My personal favorite Alexa light bulb is the Phillips Hue Smart Light Bulbs because they can be paired with the Phillips Hue Light Switch remotes to provide that built in feel with the smart light bulbs.
There are a ton of ways that you can use lights that work with Alexa in your home. But I think my favorite is having smart lighting in my bedside lamps so that I can turn on an off the lights in by bedroom with just my voice using Alexa. At the end of a long a day there is nothing like telling Alexa to turn off the lights when you get into bed.
Another use that I love for light bulbs that work with Alexa is using them for your exterior light fixtures. I think this because you can set schedules for your exterior light fixtures so you can turn them on and off at sunset and sunrise. You don’t need to worry about leaving the smart light bulbs on and it’s an easy way to make sure they turn on at night.
Light Bulbs For Alexa Other Tips, Tricks & Special Features:
How To Connect Smart Light Bulbs To Alexa
Below we provide the standard procedure to connect Alexa compatible light bulbs to Alexa so you can control them with your voice.
Setting Up Alexa Smart Light Bulbs
Setup and install the smart light bulb on the manufacturer provided app per the instructions
Open the Alexa App
Click on the menu on the upper left corner of the Alexa app. Select the “Skills & Games Menu”
Enter the manufacturer of smart light bulb in the search bar at the top of the Alexa skills and games section.
Click on the correct skill and click enable.
Enter your username and password information for the smart light bulb app that you just set up. Follow instructions and click the discover devices button when you are done.
Using Light Bulbs That Work With Alexa In Schedules
Not only can you set up Alexa smart light bulbs so that they can be controlled by your phone or with Alexa voice commands but once they are set up on Alexa you can create scenes, set timers and add them to rooms. Below is an example of how you can setup Alexa smart light bulbs in a schedule to automatically turn on at a set time.
In the example below we used a Philips Hue light bulb connected to Alexa to create a schedule for the smart light bulb.
Philips Hue Smart Light Bulbs are among some of the best light bulbs for Alexa. The Screen shot shows setting up a schedule in the Alexa app with a Philips Hue Smart Light Bulb.
Best Alexa Light Bulbs No Hub
Some Alexa smart light bulbs like the Philips Hue bulbs require a smart home hub to work. But there are also smart light bulbs compatible with Alexa that don’t require a hub and directly connect to your wifi network. We’ve included a list of smart light bulbs that don’t require a hub below.
List of light bulbs that work with Alexa without a Hub:
