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Reviewed's mission is to help you buy the best stuff and get the most out of what you already own. Our team of product experts thoroughly vet every product we recommend to help you cut through the clutter and find what you need. Hardscape Lighting
The Govee M1 is a high-quality light strip that can be trimmed, dimmed, and packs in plenty of fun color options and features. Read More
Philips Hue is known for its high-quality luminance and vibrant colors, and these smart strip lights deliver on those fronts. Read More
This is the brightest LED strip light in our guide, with lots of fun in-app presets. It also works with Matter. Read More
The LIFX Lightstrip with Color Zones offers bright colors and plenty of customizable lightning effects. Read More
The Eve Smart Light Strip only works with Apple devices, offering full integration with Apple's Siri and HomeKit's adaptive lighting. Read More
Sometimes all it takes to completely transform your home is a fun new gadget. One of the most noticeable (and overlooked) upgrades for your space is adding smart LED light strips. It’s an affordable way to illuminate places like the underside of kitchen cabinets and add mood lighting along hallway baseboards.
The Govee M1 Smart LED Strip Light (available at Amazon for $99.99) is the best LED strip light you can buy thanks to the variety of customizable lighting features, ease of setup, and durability. For a Matter-enabled LED strip light that's one of the brightest you can buy, the Nanoleaf Essentials Matter Lightstrip (available at Amazon) is our pick. However, there are plenty of other intriguing choices too, each of which has something to offer.
The Govee M1 is the best smart strip light you can buy.
The Govee M1 is the best LED strip light you can buy.
Get ready to host the living room dance party of your dreams, thanks to the countless bright colors and patterns the Govee M1 LED Strip Light delivers. Its RGBIC technology allows for multiple hues to display simultaneously on a single strip, allowing you to customize its vivid colors with the touch of a button.
It’s easy to set up and adhere to almost any surface, a simple pair of scissors shortens the length of the strip with ease, and a QR code on the box will lead you straight to the app. The app offers everything from timers and brightness to themed color groupings and flashing patterns.
The Music DreamView feature even syncs your playlist with the lighting effects, giving a nightclub feel when you’re feeling energized or a subdued, dreamy ambiance when it’s time to settle down.
There are a couple downsides. The exposed tech look when the lights aren’t on is unappealing. And if you remove it someday, it may take some of your paint with it—but this could happen with any light strip.
The M1 also comes in a Manner-compatible version if you’re looking to expand the number of Matter smart home devices in your house.
Overall, Govee’s M1 light strip offers the best blend of value, smarts, customizations, and colors, making it the best you can buy.
Read our full review of the Govee M1 Smart LED Strip Light.
Works with Alexa and Google Assistant
May leave residue behind upon removal
Unattractive when not in use
The Philips Hue Bluetooth Lightstrip Plus is our pick for Best Upgrade.
Philips Hue makes the best smart bulbs, so we had high hopes for this light strip. We love that it works with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple HomeKit, Microsoft Cortana, SmartThings, and IFTTT. However, for remote access, you will need to purchase a Phillips Hue hub—an extra cost to consider—which is one reason we named this our Best Upgrade pick for best LED strip light.
You can skip the hub and opt for Bluetooth control only via the Philips Hue Bluetooth app for iOS and Android—just make sure you stay within range.
The Philips Hue Light Strip Plus puts out 1600 lumens, which does a fine job of illuminating dark spaces, but it's not as bright as others in our guide. In the Hue app, you can set the lights to one of 16 million colors or opt for one of the many awesome preset light settings. The app is incredibly easy to navigate and use.
One feature that impressed us is that cut segments can be reused and reconnected to other portions of the strip using the Philip Hue connector. This is not the case for most smart light strips.
You can sync them with your home entertainment system, which is a cool feature, but the Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box is required to make it work.
This light strip is sleek, easy to use, and full of awesome features, making it a great LED strip light if you're looking for a premium upgrade. It's also ideal for people who are already invested in Philips Hue lights or want to start using them for their smart lighting system, as Hue offers a wide range of smart lighting options.
Robust lighting effects and presets
Works with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri
Hub required to access best features
This Nanoleaf strip light is the brightest of any we've tested.
The Nanoleaf Essentials Matter Lightstrip is a trimmable and dimmable LED smart light with a maximum brightness of 2,200 lumens—the brightest in our guide. The color output is incredible, with a temperature range from 2700K to 6500K. The strip is thick and feels durably made for long-term use, and it also supports Matter, so you can use it across your preferred smart home ecosystem, like Amazon Echo, Google Home, or Apple HomeKit
While this LED strip light puts out incredibly vibrant shades of tunable whites and over 16 million colors, there are a few qualms to note. The cord connection between the strip and the controller tends to come apart. This shouldn’t be much of an issue once you get it into place, but it was a bit annoying during our setup.
Additionally, we think the Nanoleaf app is difficult to navigate and lacks certain features that others in our guide have. It’s also pretty hot to the touch after being on for more than 15 minutes when compared to other light strips from Kasa, Govee, and LIFX.
If you’re OK with a few quirks, this is a great pick for a bright strip light that displays the brightest, most amazing colors and works with Matter-enabled smart homes.
Very bright with rich colors
Gets hot to the touch
We fell in love with the LIFX Lightstrip with Color Zones for their incredibly simple set up, ease of use, and variety of awesome features.
The LIFX Lightstrip with Color Zones are RGBW LED strip lights that easily connect to Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit. Uniquely, it offers eight different color zones. Each zone can be set to a different color (from millions of options), allowing you to get creative with your custom lighting setup—something not every strip light offers.
At 1,400 lumens, these weren't the most radiant lights we tested, but we had no issues illuminating a dark room even at 30% brightness. On the downside, during our longterm testing, we've experienced issues with the strip randomly going offline and needing reconnection—which is one of the reasons it is no longer our No. 1 pick.
The strip light is available in two lengths: 40 inches and 80 inches. Additional 40-inch extension strips can be added for up to 33 feet, or you can cut the strip down to a smaller size.
The LIFX app is loaded with useful controls like scheduling and grouping, plus a bevy of fun lighting effects and preset color themes. The app can even make the lights dance to the beat of a song or the sound of a movie via your phone’s or tablet's microphone.
Works with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri
The Eve Light Strip is the best option for Apple HomeKit.
The Eve Light Strip is made for the Apple ecosystem, making it the best LED strip light for HomeKit that you can buy. The 1,800-lumen strip light offers a wide array of full-spectrum white and colors to choose from. While we had a nice and easy experience with the Eve strip, there are a few shortcomings.
This strip light isn’t as customizable as some others. It doesn't offer any fun lighting effects or presets—you're limited to single colors only.
The only smart home assistant it’s compatible with is Siri, which enables Apple users to change the color, adjust the brightness, and turn it on/off. You can do so remotely with any iOS device that functions as an Apple home hub, including an iPad, Apple TV, or Apple HomePod.
The Eve Energy app is also iOS-exclusive, and the strip supports Apple’s HomeKit Adaptive Lighting. This iOS feature that automatically adjusts the color temperature as the day goes on. All in all, Android users should avoid this light strip.
Like most strip lights, Eve's can be trimmed to a smaller size, or you can add a few of Eve’s extension strips up to 32.8 feet. We had issues with the adhesive backing, which tore off in a few spots during setup and made the lights hard to stick into place.
Overall, if you are living in an Apple smart home, this is a great pick for a smart strip light that works with Siri.
Supports Apple HomeKit's Adaptive Lighting
Not compatible with Android devices
No Google Assistant or Alexa support
The Kasa Smart Multicolor Light Strip makes it easy to create custom eye-catching light displays. Powered by the Kasa app, these lights are incredibly quick and easy to set up, and they have a bubble-like polyurethane coating that helps to protect the diodes.
The lights are easiest to install with two people—one person to hold the strip up and another to peel off the backing and place the strand—but the adhesive is strong and won’t be going anywhere until you remove it.
The strip itself has quite a bit of writing on it that makes it somewhat unattractive when the lights are off, so you may only want to use this option in concealed locations.
The Kasa Smart Multicolor Light Strip offers incredible functionality. The 16-foot strand has 50 customizable color zones that you can set to 16 million colors. Thanks to the strip’s built-in integrated circuit chip, the zones can be controlled separately, creating fun custom patterns.
The Kasa app comes programmed with color effects like rainbow and candy cane, but you can also create your designs through the color-painting function. The app even includes an energy-tracking tab to show you how much electricity the lights are using.
These Kasa lights are easy to sync up with Alexa, Google Assistant, or Samsung SmartThings—no hub needed. However, one downside of the KL420L5 is that it can’t be connected or spliced to increase the strand’s length, so you have a maximum length of 16.4 feet to work with.
Read our review of the Kasa Smart Multicolor Light Strip.
Works with Alexa and Google Assistant
The Govee Glide RGBIC Wall Light uses adhesive for installation and displays a lovely range of colors, but it's a bit of a different take on a light strip. Made from plastic, the 7-piece gadget snaps together to create a thick bar of light that's ideal for gaming and watching movies.
It uses Govee's RGBIC technology, enabling it to display multiple colors at the same time in a neat "flowing" effect.
While it took some elbow grease to lock the pieces into place, that small frustration was soon forgotten after watching the strip transform into an immersive lighting experience. Music sync mode can use any device with the Govee app or a built-in mic to listen for the nearby sound and create a reactive light show
The wall light connects over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. It also responds well to voice control with Alexa and Google Assistant to adjust the colors, brightness levels, scene modes, and power.
The wall light comes with six straight pieces and one angled corner piece. In total, it has 19 lighting segments that can display up to 57 vibrant colors at once.
One downside is the light's limited configuration options. The positioning of the power cord and the fact that you can’t connect multiple wall lights restrict your options.
Works with Alexa and Google Assistant
Great for gaming and watching movies
Can be hard to assemble
The Cync LED Light Strip is an improvement over the previous version, which required a smart bridge for features like smart assistant integration or remote access away from home.
Now, you can use hands-free voice control with Alexa or Google Assistant (but not Siri) to adjust the brightness to a certain percentage, change the color or scene, and power the lights on/off without needing additional devices.
The strip works with extenders for additional length. It’s on the lower end of the brightness scale at just 800 lumens, but it does a fine job of illuminating a dark room at full brightness.
We also like that the Cync app sends email account notifications if someone attempts to log into your account, which helps keep your account secure.
In the app, you can choose from a wheel full of colors, as well as white light settings like cool white, warm white, and sunset. Scenes and schedules are available in the app, but there are no preset lighting features, color zones, or home entertainment integrations.
Works with Alexa and Google Assistant
Email account verification for new logins
The Geeni Prisma Plus didn't give us any trouble during setup or installation. The light strip works with Alexa and Google. They’re also waterproof and can be used outdoors.
Like others, Geeni’s strip lights can be trimmed to size or combined with extender pieces. You can create schedules, choose colors, or dim the lights. You can also choose one of nine premade lighting scenes.
These lights are attractive, fairly bright, and feel well-made, but the humming noise coming from the power adapter each time we adjusted the color seemed to cheapen the product. Another thing we didn’t like was that the remote control lacked adhesive tape, leaving no easy way to attach it to the wall.
We were also unable to log into the Geeni app on both an iPhone and Android at the same time, which could create a problem for households with multiple users. However, the app does offer two-factor authentication to help secure your account.
Works with Google Assistant, Alexa, Microsoft Cortana
Noticeable "hum" sound when changing between light colors
The Wyze Light Strip doesn't have as many bells and whistles as other light strips in our guide, but, as we’ve come to expect from Wyze, it does have some cool features at a relatively low price point.
The LED strip light works with Alexa and Google Assistant, comes with 16 million color options (including RGB and tuneable whites), and can sync to the beat of a song or a movie playing nearby.
The digital setup and physical installation are painless and should only take a few minutes. With features like remote control and timers, the Wyze app makes it easy to manage the LED light strip from anywhere.
The app also includes fun, useful extras like Sleep Routines (to simulate sunrise/sunset for an easier wake-up), Vacation Mode (randomly turns lights on/off to give the appearance you’re home), and Sun Match (mimics the natural sunlight).
The RGB colors are vibrant and look great, but the “white” color gives off a noticeable blue hue compared to others. When using voice commands for Alexa or Google Assistant (there’s no Siri support), you can control the power, brightness, and colors.
However, you’ll need the Wyze app to activate any of the preset lighting scenes. Additionally, the Wyze Light Strip can only display one color at a time, instead of multiple colors simultaneously.
The strips are trimmable but cannot be extended. The strip is flexible and easy to work with for outlining your TV or lining baseboards.
Works with Alexa and Google Assistant
Hi, I’m Rachel Murphy, Reviewed’s home editor. I live in a home full of smart home devices like cameras, plugs, speakers, and an oven. During my tenure at Reviewed, I’ve tested smart plugs, smart water leak detectors, and other gadgets that can be controlled remotely or via smart assistants.
Testing in this guide was also completed by longtime freelance writer and reviewer Camryn Rabideau and Jill Schildhouse.
We put each light strip through a series of in-depth, hands-on tests to fully understand each one’s capabilities, features, and downsides. We also looked for important app security features like two-factor authentication and reviewed the amount and types of data the apps collect.
We set the lights up in a variety of indoor locations throughout my home, testing to see which ones work the best in low light, offer the best connectivity, and integrate with smart assistants for easy control. We also tested the companion apps on both iOS and Android devices to get a feel for their connectivity, ease of use, and features.
LED strips are a versatile lighting option that can be added almost anywhere inside your house. They are often seen in home theater setups, but the bendable, sticky lights are a quick and easy way to brighten up the dark spots in your home and add accent lighting. There are a few things to consider before you purchase LED strip lights.
When purchasing smart LED light strips for your home, you should check to see whether the light strip requires a hub. Unless you already have a compatible smart home hub, we’d recommend choosing a smart strip light that doesn’t require you to purchase another device.
It’s also important to select a strip light that easily integrates with your existing smart home environment. We tested models that work with Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant. However, not all of these strip lights are compatible with all three popular smart assistants.
While most of the lights we tested connect over Wi-Fi, some use only Bluetooth, and others can use either. We found Bluetooth connections to be unreliable and slow at times, so we’d recommend selecting a strip light that offers Wi-Fi.
The amount of light you’re getting from a bulb is measured in lumens—the more lumens, the more brightness. Many of the light strips we tested had adjustable brightness to best fit the space you’re using them. However, even one of the sets on the lower end of brightness, the Cync LED Light Strip, with 800 lumens, was capable of lighting a dark room.
The good majority of strip lights we tested can either be cut down or extended with additional light strip sections. However, not all of the lights are as customizable.
Think strategically about where you need extra lighting, then measure the area. During testing, we installed strip lights around TVs and mirrors, along baseboards and door trim, on bookcases and office desks, and under kitchen cabinets.
Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time. The product experts at Reviewed have all your shopping needs covered. Follow Reviewed on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or Flipboard for the latest deals, product reviews, and more.
Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.
The product experts at Reviewed have all your shopping needs covered. Follow Reviewed on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or Flipboard for the latest deals, product reviews, and more.
Camryn Rabideau is a full-time freelance writer and product tester with eight years of experience. She's been lucky enough to test hundreds of products firsthand, and her specialties include bedding and pet products, which often require help from her two dogs, three cats, and flock of rambunctious chickens.
Rachel Murphy is Reviewed's home editor. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Central Florida. Prior to joining the team, she worked as a freelance writer for publications like Insider and Mashable, and as an associate editorial producer for Good Morning America. Aside from smart home tech, her interests include food, travel, parenting, and home renovation. You can usually find her sipping on coffee at any time of the day.
Jill Schildhouse is a valued contributor to the Reviewed.com family of sites.
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