The 9 Best Smart Lamps of 2021

Best Overall: Philips Hue Go

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If this is your first venture into the world of smart lighting, the Philips Hue Go is a great place to start. Philips has become the de facto brand for smart lighting technology, but many of their devices have a price tag that reflects their premium reputation. The Hue Go, on the other hand, is usually priced between $75 and $100, making it one of the more affordable options in the Philips lineup without sacrificing any of the smart features that make these lights so much fun. Its portable design, versatility, and functionality as a standalone device make it our top choice. 

With its ultra-minimal half-sphere shape, the Hue Go is an understated but stylish addition to any room. It’s also powered by a rechargeable battery so you can move it wherever you want — even outside. Choose exactly the right shade of colored light (there are over 16 million options available), or simply set it to your preferred temperature of white light. You can control it using the Philips Hue app or the buttons on the device, but if you want to access smart features like voice control and smart home integration, it has to be connected to a Philips Hue Smart Hub.

Best Budget: HUGOAI Bedside Lamp

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Smart lamps can certainly be expensive, so if you’re in the market for a solid budget option, check out the Hugoai Bedside Lamp. It doesn’t have the brand name recognition of the other devices on this list, but it has a lot of the same smart features like remote control, dimming features, and millions of customizable colors. If you have Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, SmartLife, or IFTTT, this lamp will readily integrate into your existing smart home setup. 

This is a great option for a bedside lamp with a little extra ambiance, or for a kid's room or nursery. If you want a color-changing lamp to integrate into your smart home system — or if you just want a lamp that you can control from your phone — the Hugoai lets you enjoy those features without going all-in on an expensive smart lighting setup. It’s available in both black and white.

Best for the Bedroom: Casper Glow

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The term “sleep hygiene” is something of a buzzword these days, but we all know that looking at our phones and laptops before bed can mess with our natural sleep cycles. The Casper Glow bedside light is made by the popular mattress company and is designed to work with your body’s light response to make it easier to fall asleep and wake up in the morning. At night, it starts out bright enough for reading and slowly dims to a warm sunset orange to ease you into sleep. In the morning, it mimics a sunrise to gently wake you up, much like a wake-up light alarm clock. Our favorite part is the series of intuitive gesture controls, like twisting it to change the brightness or gently shaking it to turn on a very dim light when you need to get up in the middle of the night. Plus, its minimalist design looks great on any nightstand. 

Like the other lights on this list, the Casper Glow is app controlled so you can use your phone to set the wake-up light or pair it with other Glow lamps. Unfortunately it is not compatible with any other smart home systems, so you can’t integrate this with your Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.

Best for the Office: NAPATEK LED Desk Lamp

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If you aren’t in the market for mood lighting, then the “millions of colors” offered by other smart lamps seem like a wasted feature. For those who need functional task lighting, either for their desk or as a reading light by the bed, the Napatek LED desk lamp might be for you. This lamp puts functionality first, offering a streamlined bar design in a variety of metallic finishes and eye-safe white light for work and reading. Its array of 64 LEDs has three color temperatures and six levels of brightness so you can customize the light to your comfort. 

Like the other smart lamps on this list, the Napatek desk lamp is smart home compatible, meaning you can connect it to your Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa-enabled hub and control it with your voice. If you don’t have a smart home hub, you can still remotely control the lamp and set timers using the Napatek app. As an added bonus, this lamp has a wireless charger built into the stand along with a USB charging port, so you can easily power up any of your devices right from the lamp. The Napatek lamp with smart home compatibility is available in silver, space gray, and gold color options. 

Best for the Entertainment Center: Philips Bloom

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If you’re looking to use mood lighting as a design feature in your home, the Philips Bloom lamp is for you. Its spotlight design is perfect for creating splashes of color on your walls or, as per our recommendation, around your entertainment center. Put a Bloom lamp (or two, or three) behind your TV, audio, or gaming setup to create a stunning lit backdrop for all your favorite media. It’s compatible with all the major smart home systems — Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit — so no matter how deep you are into your own smart home setup, the Bloom can easily integrate. 

Like other Philips Hue smart lighting products, the Bloom lamp allows you to choose from millions of different colors. You can also set it to white light and use this lamp as a spotlight for artwork or architectural features. The one downside is the look of the actual device. Its pedestal design and white plastic body seems out of place displayed on a table somewhere, which is why we recommend tucking it into your entertainment center to get the full light effect without making it a focal point.

Best for the Kids’ Room: Marrado Bedside Lamp

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With its budget price tag and built-in Bluetooth speaker, this little table lamp from Marrado is a great option for a child’s room or nursery. Smart lights tend to be pretty expensive, so you may not want to leave a $200 lamp where it can easily be knocked around — for under $40, the Marrado has similar features to many of the lamps on this list except for the actual smart home integration and remote control. Bluetooth connection allows you to stream audio from your mobile device through a speaker in the lamp base.

This lamp is cordless and rechargeable, so there are no dangling wires. Plus, its LED lights are cool to the touch, provide ambient 360-degree light, and the adjustable brightness can be dimmed down to a nightlight. Kids will also love the color-changing capabilities and choosing which shade they want in their room.

Best Table Lamp: Philips Hue Beyond LED Smart Table Lamp

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Featuring a decidedly mod, all-white design, the Philips Hue Beyond LED Smart Table Lamp is one of the most eye-catching options on this list and perfect for people who want a combination of colorful mood lighting and functional task lighting. The two-tiered design supports both at once, meaning you can set the top tier to any of the millions of colors available for Hue bulbs, and then set the main light to warm white. This makes the Beyond lamp perfect for a desk, a nightstand, or as a conversation-starting accent lamp in any living space. You can also have the lamp display two different colors at once for dynamic mood lighting at your next party, and even sync it to your other devices so it changes colors with your music.  

Like other Philips smart lights, the Beyond LED Smart Table Lamp has to be connected to a Philips Hue Smart Hub if you want to use its more “intelligent” features. The Hub is compatible with the virtual assistant of your choice — Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, or Apple HomeKit — so you can control the Beyond lamp with your voice or through the Philips Hue app alongside your other smart home devices. The Philips Hue Beyond lamp is also available in a hanging pendant design and as a ceiling fixture.

Best Standalone Device: GE Lighting C Wi-Fi

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If you like the idea of smart lighting in your home but don’t actually have a smart home system yet, then the GE Lighting C lamp does double duty as a smart light and an Amazon Alexa hub. The lamp is Wi-Fi connected and has Alexa built in, so even if you do not have an Amazon Echo or other hub device, you can use this lamp as a virtual assistant. If you like having Alexa, then you can build out your smart home or smart lighting setup from there. 

The GE Lighting C lamp has many of the same features as the other smart lamps on this list, including custom color settings, timers, smart home integration, and even a wake-up light setting. The main difference is that you can use this lamp as a virtual assistant to voice-control it or ask it questions. The ring design is eye catching but quite large, so it may be harder to use it as a desk or bedside lamp depending on your space restrictions.