X
CNET logo Why You Can Trust CNET

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Reviews ethics statement

The complete guide to Philips Hue: LED bulbs, smart features and lots of colors

From fancy, multicolor fixtures to surprisingly affordable white-light LED bulbs, here's everything you need to know to get started with the biggest name in smart lights.

Ry Crist Senior Editor / Reviews - Labs
Originally hailing from Troy, Ohio, Ry Crist is a writer, a text-based adventure connoisseur, a lover of terrible movies and an enthusiastic yet mediocre cook. A CNET editor since 2013, Ry's beats include smart home tech, lighting, appliances, broadband and home networking.
Expertise Smart home technology and wireless connectivity Credentials
  • 10 years product testing experience with the CNET Home team
Ry Crist
20 min read
philips-hue-2-product-photos-14.jpg
Tyler Lizenby/CNET

Thinking about smartening up the lights in your home? Philips Hue is one of the first names you should consider. 

Among all of today's smart lighting platforms, Hue is the most well-established, the most well-developed and the most well-connected, too. It doesn't matter if you're an Alexa user, an Apple HomeKit fan, an IFTTT nerd, a Razer gamer, a Google Home devotee, a Logitech Harmony connoisseur, a Nest aficionado or about a bajillion other examples I could list -- Philips Hue's lights work with all of it.

If you barely understand what any of that last sentence means, don't worry: Philips Hue is a great pick for smart lighting newbies, too. And hey, maybe that's why you're here. You want to know more about the platform before you buy in -- especially because a lot of these lights don't come cheap.

Read more: Philips Hue's new Bluetooth bulbs don't need the Hue Bridge at all

Well, we're here to help, with everything you need to know about Philips Hue in one place: What it is, how it works, how to put it to use in your home, which bulbs to buy first -- and yep, which ones are overpriced duds, too. And please note that I've included links to Amazon where appropriate, as well as a few of our top picks here at, well, the top -- CNET may get a share of revenue from purchases made through those links. Gotta keep the lights on, right?

Read more: The best LED light bulb for every room in your house in 2020  

Philips

The most important thing to know if you've decided to invest in Philips Hue's ecosystem is that you'll need the Hue Bridge plugged into your router in order to take full control of your lights (it's the square-shaped hub in the middle there). The newest Hue bulbs can use Bluetooth to pair directly with your phone without need for a Hue Bridge, but you'll miss out on most all of Hue's advanced features and integrations.

You can buy that Hue Bridge on its own, but the best way to get it is to buy a starter kit that packages it with a couple of bulbs -- and the best value among those starter kits is the Philips Hue White starter kit. The newest version comes with three white-light bulbs and a wall-mountable smart button that you can program to control them for $99. It's a great way to test the platform out and learn the basics of automating your lights with the Hue app, and you can build upon it over time, adding new lights to your system whenever the ones you want go on sale. And since it includes the Hue Bridge, you'll be able to connect your bulbs with whatever third-party platforms and services you like.

Read Philips Hue White Starter Kit review.

Chris Monroe/CNET

Maybe it's controversial to pick Hue's light bars over the classic Hue bulbs, but if color-changing bulbs are all you want, you've got options from other brands that cost less. And besides, the Hue Play fixtures are perfect to hide behind a monitor or to mount beneath a shelf or on the back of a TV -- sneaky smart places for color-changing accent light, and places where bulbs can't traditionally go. They're also handy if you have even a casual interest in photography -- a nice kick of color can really help that Instagram shot stand out.

If you're interested in the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, which syncs the colors with whatever's on your TV screen, then these lights come with some extra entertainment appeal. I also love that you can power up to three of them with a single plug, but I wish that they unplugged for battery-powered portability. And yeah, I wish that they cost slightly less, too -- but waiting for a sale is par for the course with Philips Hue at this point.

Just make sure you buy a base kit that includes the lights and the power supply. A base kit that includes one light bar will cost you $70, while a two-pack costs $130. One you've got the power supply, you can add a second or third light as a standalone extension for $60.

Read full review.

For $50, the Philips Hue Tap is a wireless four-button remote that can control your Philips Hue lights. The coolest thing about it is that it powers itself whenever you press a button, so you'll never need to recharge it or replace its batteries.

Like the rest of the Hue lineup, the Tap also works with Apple HomeKit, which means that you can use it to trigger HomeKit-compatible gadgets from other brands, too. We've been using one to control the lights at the CNET Smart Apartment for a few years now, and it's never failed us. Seriously, what's not to like about this thing?

Read full review.

All right, so what is Philips Hue?

Philips Hue is a line of smart LED light bulbs and fixtures. Each one communicates wirelessly with the Hue Bridge, a little modem-looking thing that you keep plugged into your home's router. That connection to the cloud lets you control Hue's lights from your phone, with a voice command via Siri, Alexa or the Google Assistant, or by automating them to turn on and off at specific times or when other devices trigger them.

Many of Philips Hue's bulbs and fixtures can change colors upon request (hence the "Hue" branding), but some are just basic bulbs that put out plain ol' white light and nothing else. Prices range from $15 a piece for bulbs like those to $250 for a 58-inch tall Philips Hue Signe color-changing floor lamp (spoiler alert: that's one of the overpriced duds you can definitely skip).

How do I use these lights?

To get started with Philips Hue, you plug in the Hue Bridge and connect it to your router via an Ethernet cable. Then you'll screw in your Hue bulbs or turn on your Hue fixtures. Download the Philips Hue app to your Android or iOS device and open it up -- it'll walk you through the rest of the setup process.

Once you've paired your lights with the app, you sort them by room and give each one a unique name. The app (and if you're using them, the Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant voice controls) will let you control entire rooms at once by saying, for example, "turn on the living room." You can control individual lights, too, which is where naming everything is important. "Turn on the desk lamp" is a lot less clunky than, say, "turn on Hue White Ambiance Bulb 4"

The Hue app comes with a number of preset "scenes" that, when activated, will automatically change all of the lights in the room. Along with basic scenes for normal, soft white and daylight-toned white light, there are multicolor scenes that will randomly apply colors from a preselected palette across all of a room's lights. For instance, a Spring Blossom-themed scene will randomly assign shades of pink, red and white across your lights, while a Northern Lights-themed scene will go live with shades of green and blue. You can make and save your own scenes in the Hue app, too, which lets you return to a custom mix of colors that you like with a single tap or voice command.

philips-hue-white-ambience-product-photos-2.jpg

The Hue Bridge plugs into your router and sends Zigbee commands to your Hue lights. Unless you've got an Amazon Echo Plus, you can't use Hue bulbs and fixtures without it.

Tyler Lizenby/CNET

And how does Philips Hue work?

In a word? Zigbee.

...Oh, right, I should probably be a little more specific. Zigbee is a wireless communication technology like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. You can think of it as a language that lets smart lights talk to each other and to their control hub. All of Hue's bulbs and fixtures have their own built-in Zigbee radios, as does the Hue Bridge, which you keep plugged into your router. Its job is to act like a Zigbee-to-Wi-Fi translator for your home network and your lights.

For instance, you send a signal to your router whenever you turn a Hue bulb on using the app. From there, the Hue Bridge translates that command into a Zigbee signal and sends it out to the bulb. All of this happens in a fraction of a second, and since the connection to your router keeps your Hue Bridge connected to the cloud, it means you can control your lights from anywhere in the world where your phone can connect to the internet.

One quick note: You'll need the square-shaped, second-gen Hue Bridge pictured above for all of that. The circular, first-gen Hue Bridge is no longer supported.

Wait, does Zigbee cost anything?

Nope, you don't need a Zigbee provider or a Zigbee subscription or anything like that. Zigbee isn't like Wi-Fi in that sense. It's more like Bluetooth. It's a local wireless network for your home -- specifically for your smart home gadgets. Once you plug the Hue Bridge into your router, screw in a Hue bulb, and pair the two together via the Hue app, the two will start using Zigbee to communicate like two kids playing with walkie-talkies. You don't have to sign up for Zigbee service or pay a monthly Zigbee bill or anything like that.

Are those Zigbee signals secure?

Yes. Since Zigbee is a local network, none of Hue's bulbs connect directly to the cloud, and all of their Zigbee transmissions back and forth to each other and to the Hue Bridge follow standard encryption practices, which the Philips Hue team has been developing and refining with regular firmware updates for several years now.

Speaking of the Hue Bridge, you have to connect it directly to your router with an Ethernet cable. While that's a little less convenient than hubs that connect to the router wirelessly, the Hue team tells us that this approach ensures that your home's Wi-Fi credentials are never transmitted wirelessly, which would make it easier for someone to intercept them. Hue also requires you to tap the button on the top of Bridge during the initial pairing process and during setup for most third-party connections, which is an excellent common-sense means of keeping someone from taking over your system from outside of your home. On top of that, each Hue Bridge has a unique verification key, which means that if one were to be compromised, the hacker couldn't use it as a way to take over any others.

Connecting anything to the internet comes with risks, obviously, but Philips Hue has a long, solid track record of keeping its platform secure and addressing vulnerabilities whenever they pop up, which is what you want from a smart home brand. There's no reason to think that connecting your lights to the internet poses any more risk than connecting, say, your laptop, your phone or your TV. As always, just be sure to keep your Wi-Fi network protected with a strong password. Better yet, make a habit of updating that password every now and then.

philips-hue-floodlight-1

Hue's newest bulbs add in Bluetooth to let you try them out without need for a Hue Bridge. Other than that, they're the same bulbs as before. The only new one is this $20 Hue White floodlight.

Chris Monroe/CNET

What about the new Bluetooth bulbs? Can I skip the Hue Bridge?

philips-hue-bluetooth-bulb-packaging
Enlarge Image
philips-hue-bluetooth-bulb-packaging

The new Philips Hue bulbs with Bluetooth are currently rolling out at retail. If you want them, look for packaging with the little Bluetooth icon in the upper right corner.

Ry Crist/CNET

Hue's newest bulbs are the same basic thing as before, but they now include Bluetooth radios in addition to the Zigbee receivers. That lets you pair them directly with your phone without need for a Hue Bridge.

To do so, you'll need to use a separate, Bluetooth-based version of the Hue app on your Android or iOS device. It's a much more basic experience than what you'll get if you use the full-fledged Hue app powered by the Hue Bridge. You can still turn your lights on and off from your phone, dim them up and down, and group them according to room, but you won't be able to control them from beyond Bluetooth range without a hub, and you won't be able to take advantage of advanced features like wake-up fades or Hue Entertainment (more on both in the next section). You also won't be able to sync them up with most outside services, including Apple HomeKit and IFTTT.

You can, however, connect them directly with current-gen Amazon Echo speakers and with Google Home speakers and Google Nest smart displays. Once you do, you'll control them via the Alexa or Google Home apps, and turn them on and off using Alexa and Google Assistant commands.

That makes them pretty appealing for people who just want smart bulbs that their voice assistant of choice can control, and who aren't interested in plugging a hub into their router to unlock any advanced features (and you can always add a Hue Bridge later if you decide you want it). For most, I think the Hue Bridge is worth it from the start -- especially since you can typically get it packaged in one of Hue's starter kits for very little additional expense.

What else can these lights do?

On a basic level, smart lights like the ones from Philips Hue let you control and dim your lights using your phone, using voice commands or using automations that you set up in the Hue app or with a compatible third-party automation service like IFTTT

The Hue Entertainment feature lets you sync your color-changing Hue lights with whatever's playing on your computer screen.

Ry Crist/CNET

Basic automations like those let you do things like schedule your lights to turn on automatically in the morning or at sunset, or even more creative use cases, like lights that blink whenever you receive an email from an important contact. You could also connect your lights with a motion sensor, then program them to turn on automatically whenever someone enters the room.

Other, more advanced features include automatic Google Assistant wake-up lighting that can slowly fade your bedroom lights up during the thirty minutes prior to your morning Google Assistant alarm. Another recent feature called Hue Entertainment lets you set your lights to mimic the color of whatever's playing on your computer screen in real time. Connect that computer to your living room TV for a color-coordinated movie night with the kids -- that is, if you don't find the feature too distracting.

Philips Hue parent company Signify expanded on Hue Entertainment in 2019 by introducing the Hue Play HDMI Sync Box, which costs $230 and supports voice control via Alexa, Siri or the Google Assistant. With multiple HDMI jacks, you plug all of your media streamers, set top boxes and gaming consoles into it, and then connect it to your TV. From there, it reads the incoming video signals, which lets your Hue Bridge match the color of your lights to whatever's on your TV screen. That brings all sorts of new content under Hue Entertainment's control.

What does Philips Hue work with?

Like I said before, it works with quite a lot. Most notable are the voice assistants -- in fact, Hue was the first smart lighting platform to hit the trifecta and sync up with Alexa, Siri and the Google Assistant (and hey, Hue works with Cortana, too). Make the connection, and you'll be able to turn your bulbs on and off, dim them up and down or trigger your scenes by asking your assistant of choice to do it.

On the Alexa front, Philips Hue also offers direct compatibility between its lights and the Amazon Echo Plus, an Alexa smart speaker with its own, built-in Zigbee radio. That means that Echo Plus owners don't need the Hue Bridge if they want to pair Hue bulbs with Alexa -- though they'll only be able to control those Hue lights in the Alexa app and by using Alexa voice commands. If they want to use the Hue app or any of Hue's other integrations, they'll still need the Hue Bridge plugged into their router.

img-0257

Keep an eye out for new "Friends of Hue" smart switches -- when paired with Hue bulbs, your automations and voice controls will continue to work even then the switch is off.

Ry Crist/CNET

You can also add Philips Hue bulbs and fixtures to a whole lot of other smart home platforms, including Wink, Samsung SmartThings and security-minded automation systems like Comcast Xfinity Home and Vivint. Just know that for all of them, you'll still need the Hue Bridge.

Speaking of the Hue Bridge, it also supports third-party Zigbee lights that aren't made by Philips. That includes inexpensive smart bulbs from names like Cree and Sylvania that cost a few bucks less than Hue's white light bulbs at retail. Just make sure that those smart bulbs send their signals using the Zigbee wireless protocol.

Something else to watch for: A growing number of smart light switches designed to connect with Hue's light bulbs, making it so your automations and voice controls will continue to work even when things are off at the wall (with a regular light switch, cutting the power makes it so your bulbs can't receive signals from the Hue Bridge). We've already tested one such smart switch from RunLessWire, and came away impressed. Another, the Lutron Aurora, simply acts like a dimmer dial that covers the old switch, locking it into the on position.

philips-hue-white-and-color-ambiance-led-lamp

Philips Hue's color-changing light bulbs cost $50 each, but you'll often find them on sale for a little less.

Chris Monroe/CNET

OK, so tell me about those bulbs. What are my options?

You've got lots! Hue sells both color-changing and white-light bulbs in a variety of shapes and sizes. They include:

  • Philips Hue White LED: A pretty standard, soft white, dimmable LED smart bulb that costs $15 each. The newest versions include radios for both Zigbee and Bluetooth, which gives you basic control of the bulbs on your phone without need for the Hue Bridge. A starter kit with three bulbs, a smart button, and the Hue Bridge costs $99. Earlier versions are still available without the button for a little less.
  • Philips Hue White Ambiance LED: Slightly more advanced -- adds in the ability to change the white light color temperature from a yellowy, candle-like glow up to bluish-white daylight tones. Still no colors, though. After recent price cuts, White Ambiance bulbs, which are available both as regular, A-shaped bulbs and as BR30 floodlights, now cost $25 each or two for $45. Meanwhile, a starter kit with three bulbs, a smart button and the Hue Bridge costs $120. And again, the newest versions of the bulbs include Bluetooth.
  • Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance LED: Also available with Bluetooth now, Hue's flagship smart bulb does white light at any color temperature you like, plus the full spectrum of colors. They cost $50 each but go on sale frequently. A three-bulb starter kit that includes a smart button and the Hue Bridge costs $180.
  • Philips Hue BR30 Floodlight LED: Hue bulbs in a floodlight form that's better suited for overhead lighting that shines down in one direction. New Hue White floodlights cost $20 each, while White Ambiance versions cost $25 a piece, with two-packs available for $45. White and Color versions that add in the RGB spectrum cost $50 each. All are now available with Bluetooth in addition to Zigbee.
  • Philips Hue GU10 Spotlight LED: Hue spotlight bulbs designed to replace specialty halogen bulbs with dual-pronged bases. A bit niche, and priced the same as the floodlights: $30 for a single White Ambiance bulb, $50 for a White Ambiance 2-pack, $50 for a single White and Color Ambiance bulb. A White and Color Ambiance bulb with a more traditional screw-in base is also available for $50 each.
  • Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance Smart Bulb Candle: The name is clunky as hell, but this is just Philips Hue's color-changing candelabra LED. Each one costs $50, which is too expensive given that you'll almost certainly need to buy at least a couple of them to light up a room.
  • Philips Hue Vintage-Style LEDs: Available in a variety of shapes and designs and starting at $25 a bulb, Hue's newest lights are classic-looking clear-glass bulbs with twisty, decorative filaments inside. Those filaments are actually comprised of thin strips of LEDs, so you're getting an old-school design with new-school efficiency and smarts.
  • Philips Hue White Outdoor PAR38 Floodlight LED: Available in a two-pack for $50, this is a weather-rated Philips Hue floodlight you can use outdoors. It doesn't change colors or color temperatures, but it's rugged enough to stand up to the rain.

Philips Hue announced a ton of new smart lights this summer

See all photos

Geez, that's a lot. And what about the fixtures?

There's a lot of those, too (and even more of them if you're shopping in Europe). Among the most notable:

  • Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus: The second-gen version of the brand's color-changing, stick-up light strips. They can go behind TVs, beneath countertops and cabinets or anywhere else you'd like via the included adhesive backing. A single 80-inch strip costs $80, with 40-inch extensions selling for $25. You can also get the Hue Bridge for free when you buy two lightstrips.
  • Philips Hue Go: It looks like a cereal bowl of color-changing light, and it has a built-in rechargeable battery so you can unplug it and take it wherever you like. Weird, but weirdly likable, and a good pick for kids because it has a physical button on it for quick, easy color changes. They cost $80 each.
  • Philips Hue Beyond: Fancy, lamp-style fixtures with built-in color-changing LEDs. Available as a $200 table lamp, a $300 ceiling lamp, or a $350 hanging pendant-style lamp.
  • Philips Hue Wellner: A weird-looking product with a weird name. It's basically a white plastic blob of a table lamp that puts out white light at any color temperature you like. It costs $100.
  • Philips Hue White Outdoor Fixtures: Dedicated porch lights that you can mount outside your home. Each comes with its own Hue White bulb, but I'd like them better if they had built-in motion sensors. There's the classic, lantern-style Inara fixture for $50, a more modern-looking Lucca fixture for $60 and an over-the-garage-style Ludere fixture that comes with two of Hue's outdoor PAR38 LEDs for $130.
  • Philips Hue Outdoor Lightstrip: A rubbery, weatherproof version of Hue's color-changing light strip. Not nearly as easy to mount as the indoor strips, and also a bit costlier at $90 each.
  • Philips Hue Lily Outdoor Spotlights: Outdoor spotlights that you stake into the ground to light up your garden or your home's exterior. Unlike the mountable fixtures mentioned above, these are fully color-changeable. A base kit with three lights and the power supply costs $280, while a single light extension kit sells for $80.
  • Philips Hue Calla Outdoor Pathlights: You stake these color-changing lights into the ground like the Lily spotlights, but they're omnidirectional pathlights that look a bit like little lighthouses. A single light starter kit costs $130.
  • Philips Hue Signe: Probably my least favorite Hue fixture, the Signe is basically a vertical stick that casts color-changing light in a single direction. You're supposed to aim it at your wall as an accent light, but it casts a narrow pool of color and it doesn't have a physical on-off button. At $160 for a 25-inch table lamp and $250 for a 58-inch floor lamp version, it's much too expensive to recommend.
  • Philips Hue Play: A black or white plastic bar of color-changing light that you can stand up behind your computer or mount to the back of your TV. A pretty good pick for Hue Entertainment, which syncs the color of your Hue lights with what's playing on your screen. One point of note: You need a special plug that comes in the starter kit. Each plug can support up to three lights, which can help keep your power strip from getting overcrowded. A starter kit with the plug and one light costs $70, while a starter kit with two lights costs $130. Additional lights without the plug cost $60 each.
philips-hue-outdoor-sensor

Available for $50, the Philips Hue Outdoor Sensor tracks motion, temperature and ambient light.

Chris Monroe/CNET

Man, OK. Is that it?

Nope! Philips Hue sells accessories for its system, too. These include:

  • Philips Hue Tap: Probably my favorite Philips Hue accessory, the Hue Tap is a $50 wireless remote for your Philips Hue lights. It doesn't use any batteries -- instead, the clever design harvests the kinetic energy of each button press, which is just enough juice to send out a low-power Zigbee signal to the Hue Bridge.
  • Philips Hue Smart Dimmer Switch: A wireless remote that can pair with up to 10 Hue lights at once for quick dimming controls. You can also mount it to the wall with the included base plate. It's not self-powering like the Tap is, but it's well-priced at $25.
  • Philips Hue Smart Button: Available for $20, Hue's smart button offers quick, physical controls for whatever Hue lights you pair it with in the Hue app. Along with mounting it to the wall, you can program it to turn the lights on to different color and brightness settings spending on what time of day it is.
  • Philips Hue Motion Sensor: For $40, a wireless Zigbee motion sensor that can trigger your Hue lights automatically whenever you enter the room.
  • Philips Hue Outdoor Sensor: For $50, a mountable, weather-proofed version of the Philips Hue Motion Sensor that also tracks temperature and ambient light.
  • Click Smart Switch: A "Friends of Hue" partner accessory from a company called RunLessWire (and formerly known as the "Illumra"), the Click is a four-button Zigbee smart switch that pairs with your bulbs to turn things on and off, dim thing up and down or trigger scenes. What's really cool about it is that it uses the same energy-harvesting trick as the Hue Tap, so it powers itself with each button press. That means you can install without needing to wire anything in. It costs $60.
  • Lutron Aurora: Available now for preorder at $40 each, the Lutron Aurora is another noteworthy Friends of Hue accessory that offers control over your Hue lights at the light switch itself. Instead of replacing your old light switch, the Aurora is a smart, battery-powered Zigbee dimmer knob that snaps over the light switch, locking it into the on position and preventing your kids and houseguests from cutting the power to your lights and rendering their voice controls, automations and app controls inoperable. From there, just tap it to turn whatever bulbs are paired to it on or off, or twist it to dim them up and down.

Cut to the chase. Which Philips Hue products are worth it?

Of all of these, I think most people will get the most value with a Philips Hue White starter kit, which includes the essential Hue Bridge and a couple of Hue White bulbs to get you going, complete with a smart button. It's enough to get your feet wet, and since it comes with the Hue Bridge included, you can build upon it, gradually expanding your setup, light by light.

The smart way to do this is to figure out which products appeal to you the most and then wait for a sale. You shouldn't have to wait long -- Philips Hue products are frequently marked down at major retailers like Amazon, Best Buy and Home Depot. Good deals on days like Black Friday and Prime Day are pretty much a given at this point, too.

To each their own, but I tend to think color-changing bulbs are a bit frivolous in lamps and overhead lights you typically use as primary light sources for shared spaces (seriously, how often are you really going to want to be able to bathe your entire living room in purple?) Instead, I find that lights like these are best suited as accents that you aim at your walls wherever they might benefit from a pop of color. 

That's why I tend to like the Philips Hue Play light bars and the kid-friendly, battery-powered Philips Hue Go fixture a little bit better than the bulbs. At $60 and $80 per light respectively, they're each a little expensive, but they fit the bill as colorful accent lights for high-tech homes. Same goes for the Philips Hue Lightstrip -- though I wish that it was capable of putting out more than one color at once, like the Lifx Z Lightstrip is.


Philips Hue offers some solid accessories for its system, too. First among these in my mind is the self-powering Philips Hue Tap remote. With no need for batteries, it's a great little gadget at $50, and a nice Apple HomeKit accessory, too. 

I was also recently impressed when I tested out Philips Hue's Outdoor Sensor, which, like the Tap, costs $50. Mount it outside your home if you want your Hue lights to turn on automatically as you're fumbling for your keys at the front door after a long day at work. I like it for indoor use, too -- even more so than the standard Philips Hue Motion Sensor. Why? For $10 more, the Outdoor Sensor adds in sensors for temperature and ambient light.


Philips Hue, Lifx, GE, Ring and more: Lots of new smart lights coming in 2019

See all photos

What Philips Hue alternatives should I consider?

You've got plenty of options when it comes to color-changing lights, so it's smart to shop around. Just keep in mind that no other competitor has a smart lighting platform that's as steady or well-developed as Philips Hue.

Read more: The best color-changing smart bulbs that cost less than Philips Hue

smart-color-changing-rgb-led-light-bulb-color-grid-philips-hue-lifx-c-by-ge-sylvania-smart-plus-sengled
Enlarge Image
smart-color-changing-rgb-led-light-bulb-color-grid-philips-hue-lifx-c-by-ge-sylvania-smart-plus-sengled

Available for $35, the Lifx Mini is brighter and bolder-looking than Philips Hue's White and Color LED.

Chris Monroe/CNET
philips-hue-cyan-setting
Enlarge Image
philips-hue-cyan-setting

That weird, greenish cyan setting for the Hue bulb in that grid above seems to be a unique issue when controlling it with Alexa. Here's how the Hue bulb's cyan setting looks when you're using the Hue app, Siri or the Google Assistant.

Ry Crist/CNET

The closest is probably Lifx, a smart lighting startup out of Australia that caught fire in the crowdfunding scene several years ago. Lifx offers terrific app controls, it works with a great range of third parties, including Alexa, Siri, IFTTT and the Google Assistant, and it's done a good job of building out a wide product lineup. Lifx products communicate using Wi-Fi, not Zigbee, so they don't require a hub -- you can just buy a single color-changing Lifx Mini LED for $35, screw it in, pair it with the app and go.

Lifx also offers color-changing LED light panels called Lifx Tiles that you can stick to your walls, similar to the likable Nanoleaf Canvas Light Panels. Philips Hue doesn't offer anything like that for your walls.

If you just want a cheap color-changing bulb for your next party or for a game room, then a Philips Hue starter kit is probably overkill. You'd be better off with Wi-Fi alternatives that don't need a hub. 

Low-cost color-changing bulbs from names like Eufy (Anker's smart home brand) and Kasa (TP-Link's smart home brand) will do the job just fine, complete with Alexa and Google Assistant compatibility. For a hub-free color-changer that works with Apple HomeKit, consider the Sylvania Smart Plus LED, which costs $45 at full price, but often goes on sale (as of writing this in April of 2019, it's marked down to $23 a piece on Amazon).

Recently, GE Lighting jumped into the color-changing category with RGB smart bulbs of its own. Those are worth keeping an eye out for, too -- especially if you're a Google Assistant user, since GE bulbs are "Made for Google" products. And, while Philips Hue offers a full lineup of its own outdoor lights, you might consider waiting for Ring's upcoming outdoor lighting lineup, which looks to have a good variety of fixtures with their own built-in motion sensors.