Mashable Readers’ Choice Awards: The best smart light brands

table of contents

In case you missed it, we surveyed our readers about the smart home tech they use and love. The results are in and your favorite smart home brands have been revealed. Smart lights are some of the most affordable and accessible smart home gadgets due to their low entry pricing and ease of use. They can be controlled through your smartphone or smart home assistant, giving you some versatility in how you integrate them into your home. Check out our full survey results, or keep reading to learn about our readers’ favorite smart lights.

Your favorite smart lights

Readers narrowed their favorite smart lights down to just two brands: TP-Link (Kasa) and Philips Hue. Kasa won in most categories, including overall satisfaction, where it got a rating of 8.6 out of 10 (compared to Philips Hue’s 8.1). Click on the arrows in the chart below or use the dropdown menus to see how each brand performed in different categories.

Editor’s note: TP-Link is under investigation for security vulnerabilities With its routers and predatory pricing,

cost and installment

Smart light bulbs are one of the more accessible smart home devices due to their relatively low cost. However, when comparing smart lights, you’ll find a clear divide between premium-priced brands and more budget-friendly brands in this product category. It’s clear from our survey responses that Philips Hue and Kasa are at different ends of the price spectrum. Philips was given a much lower 6.4 rating, while readers gave CASA an 8.7 rating.

“The only reason I’m not ‘highly likely’ to recommend Philips Hue is because they’re relatively expensive compared to other brands,” one respondent wrote.

One Kasa user commented, “I already had another brand and found them very disappointing. I was glad to find these worked as well as I liked at a lower price.”

using smart bulbs

Kasa and Philips Hue both scored favorably in ease of use, reliability, and integration with smart assistants.

One respondent said of their Philips Hue lights, “For the most part, they work pretty well. We control them by voice, primarily through Alexa.”

Many survey respondents mentioned integrating their smart lights with Alexa or Google Assistant. From a Kasa user: “I have a bunch of these bulbs throughout the interior and exterior of the house. The exterior bulbs had issues, but after upgrading to the mesh router, I haven’t had any issues. I can turn them on and off for specific times, like sunset/sunrise, and they have the ability to change colors. They integrate into my Google Home system with no issues.”

Not enough respondents rated their TP-Link (Casa) bulbs to generate scores based on bulb lifespan, preset color themes, or routines and automation, but Philips Hue received high marks in all of these areas.

likely to recommend

Mashable readers equally recommend TP-Link (Kasa) and Philips Hue, each getting a score of 8.1 out of 10.