With reliable bulbs, comprehensive feature sets, and compatibility with virtually every smart home system, Philips Hue has established itself as the go-to choice among high-end smart lighting brands. More than just a standard smart light bulb, Philips Hue offers bulbs in every size, shape, and style you can imagine. However, while they’re easy to use and can do great things on their own, Philips Hue bulbs require a separate Hue Bridge to use more advanced features like scenes and away-from-home control.
The Hue Bridge is also certified with the Matter initiative, allowing you to connect whatever smart bulbs you want as long as you have the Hue Bridge. But, of course, so many Hue lighting choices can overload buyers, so we’ve rounded up the best Philips Hue smart lights and bulbs for your home.
Lighting up your space
If you’re just starting your smart lighting journey and Hue is your ecosystem, the Philips Hue Starter Kit provides the hardware and the value to take you from a dumb house to a smart home in a single purchase. However, if your smart home is already set up, or if you want to try one bulb for starters, the A19 E26 White and Color Bulb or the A19 Edison Vintage LED Bulb offer more than a standard bulb while improving your setup.
The Gradient Lightstrip is a sizable investment, especially once you try to rig it under cabinets or across multiple walls and need to buy extensions — but it’s hard to deny the class it brings to a room. Need a less costly alternative? Try the Hue Play Bar two-pack; it doesn’t support gradients but produces plenty of brightness.
We also tracked down a couple of excellent standalone Hue smart lamps to add dynamic, colored lighting to any room without permanent installation. The latest version of Hue Go Portable offers convenient battery power, while the Signe is one of the nicest floor lamps on the market. If you’re in the market for something a little more traditional yet still massively convenient, check out the Hue Go Portable Table Lamp. Its unassuming design hides a convenient, detachable charging base, making it perfect for temporarily turning any room up a notch.
Now, it’s not always just the inside of your home that may require additional lighting, so we’ve also included an outdoor lighting option to keep you from being left out in the dark. Philips makes outdoor lights in three colors, two of which are basically just small pathway lights. However, the Lily Base Kit is meant to shine bold and colorful light across a wide selection of your home’s exterior.
Making the most of Philips Hue smart lighting
It’s worth noting, again, that most Philips Hue bulbs work with or without a Hue Bridge, as they will turn on and emit the specified color. However, only ten bulbs can be set up with Bluetooth before you need a Bridge. More importantly, you’ll miss out on some neat and smart features without a connected Hue Bridge. For instance, setting up the hub gives you access to dimming, automation, and scene selection.
The Hue Bridge unlocks some of the features that make a smart home, well, smart. So, having some of the best smart lights for your smart home is worth the investment. Whether you do or don’t spring for advanced components like the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box (which lets you match your lighting to your TV or music), Philips Hue lighting is easy to use and easy to troubleshoot if something goes wrong.
