Tech Talk

There are hundreds of smart light bulbs you can choose from when setting up your smart home, making it difficult to pick the best smart light bulbs for you. But if you're looking for great value and energy-saving lighting, you can't go wrong with Govee or Sengled. While Govee is a better fit for someone looking for a bulb or two to spice up their living room or someone who wants to install unique, colorful lighting to go with their home entertainment, Sengled offers more choice when it comes to traditional bulbs and integrating them into a smart home ecosystem.

Govee vs. Sengled: How do these brands compare?

Govee and Sengled might not be the first two names that pop into your head when you think about smart lighting, but they're excellent and reasonably affordable options that are certainly worth considering. Govee isn't the most traditional option in this space, as it has a limited variety of standard smart bulbs that it sells. But if you're looking for unique, colorful lighting, it offers everything from multicolored bulb string lights to immersion TV backlights. Govee bulbs connect either via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, so no hub is required.

Sengled, on the other hand, offers a wide variety of smart light bulbs at a great value. Its bulbs are actually considered some of the best cheap smart LED light bulbs, and they're cheaper yet comparable to what you would get with Philips Hue (albeit less sophisticated). Therefore, they're a better choice for you if you plan on setting up multiple rooms in your home with smart bulbs, in which case a hub is required to unlock all of Sengled's features. If you already own smart devices, it's also useful to note that Sengled has a few smart home partners such as Samsung SmartThings and IFTTT, making it easier to integrate other devices. Here's how else these brands compare.

Govee vs. Sengled: Exploring the Govee ecosystem

Govee's mission is to enable its customers to light up their spaces and experiences. It sells a range of unique lighting products that differentiate it from other brands, including lamps, lightstrips, TV backlights, outdoor string lights, night lights, car lights, and even wall lights like the Govee Glide wall lights. So if you're looking to illuminate your entertainment set up, backyard, or any space in your home with a multicolored twist, Govee's got your back.

When it comes to standard smart bulbs, Govee's collection is mainly made up of classic A19 color and dimmable warm white bulbs (2700K). These bulbs can connect either through Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, and some bulbs are even sold with a remote if that's something you're interested in. Keep in mind that if you want to use Alexa or Google Assistant voice control, you'll need to go with the Wi-Fi bulbs. To get started with two Wi-Fi color bulbs, you'll pay $19 from Amazon, which is a pretty decent deal.

Govee's strong suit is color, and its bulbs offer the choice of more than 16 million colors along with eight preset scene modes. You can upload a favorite photo in the Govee app to customize your lighting to apply those colors to your Wi-Fi bulbs. You can also create timers, schedules and set up a sunrise and sunset mode in your bedroom, as well as group lights together, so they're able to be turned on or off at once. Some Bluetooth bulbs even help you start a dance party by syncing your music to your lights with dynamic music mode.

Where Govee really shines is when it comes to non-traditional lighting, such as the Govee Lyra corner floor lamp, colorful and classic white string lights for your patio, or a Govee Immersion TV backlight. The TV backlight takes your TV's image, whether a movie or a game you're playing and changes individual LED colors to stretch the experience beyond your screen.

Govee vs. Sengled: Creating a smart home with Sengled

Sengled has an impressive collection of smart bulbs that come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Though its features aren't quite as sophisticated as Philips Hue smart bulbs, they're on the more affordable side without compensating quality. With Sengled smart bulbs, you have the option of connecting your bulbs to Wi-Fi or a hub that uses Zigbee. Compatible hubs include a Sengled hub or one from a third party such as Samsung SmartThings, Wink, Xfinity, or an Echo device with an integrated hub (Echo Plus or Echo Show (2nd Gen). All of this goes to say that you have some flexibility in picking the best route for you. And if you already own a hub and have existing smart devices, you'll face less of a hassle getting everything connected.

If you plan on investing in a few light bulbs, it's better to go with the hub route, so you don't overcrowd your Wi-Fi but also so you're able to connect up to 64 bulbs per hub as opposed to 10 per router. A hub also allows you to use plugs, switches, and sensors with your lights and offers a 300-foot range.

If you're just getting started setting up your smart lighting, Sengled has a starter kit that includes two color A19 bulbs and a hub for $50 on Amazon. These bulbs work with both Alexa and Google Assistant, so you can control your lights with voice commands and directly through the app. You'll be able to pick custom colors, adjust brightness and color temperature as well as set schedules, create timers, and even check how much energy you're saving.

Another cool perk with Sengled is that it has lightstrips and some outdoor lighting, including a floodlight with an integrated motion sensor. So when you come home late, and it's dark out, these lights will automatically turn on with bright, 1200 lumen light as soon as motion is detected. They can also trigger other smart bulbs to turn on, which is useful if you want to extend your smart home outdoors.

Govee vs. Sengled: Which one should you get?

If you're looking to build out your smart home and add smart bulbs to your setup, Sengled is the better choice. It has a stronger ecosystem with more third-party partners and offers much more variety in bulb types. Though having a hub may be frustrating, it allows you to add more bulbs to your home without overcrowding your Wi-Fi. This is the best pick if you're looking for a Philips Hue alternative without paying Hue prices.

Govee is for anyone who wants to try out smart lighting but isn't necessarily planning on transforming their entire home. Unfortunately, there's much less variety when it comes to bulb types. Where Govee stands out, however, is with non-traditional lighting such as lightstrips, immersion backlights, string lights, or even fun table lamps for the bedroom. With the ability to use Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to set up Govee lighting, installation is easy and inexpensive, and you'll have access to cool features like preset scenes, dynamic effects, and customization through the app.

Govee Wi-Fi LED Bulbs

Non-traditional

$19 at Amazon (2 Pack)

Light up your world

Introduce unique colorful lighting to your home with Govee's range of lightstrips, table lamps, smart bulbs, and even backlights for your TV.

Sengled Smart Light Bulb Starter Kit

Hue alternative

A bulb for every occasion

$46 at Amazon (2 Pack with Hub) $46 at Best Buy (2 Pack with Hub)

Set up your smart home with Sengled smart lights and choose from affordable bulbs ranging from soft white, tunable white to multicolor.