Cheap smart light bulbs for E27 compared

When a cheap smart bulb is worth it

The starting point is not the product but the question of what the lamp should do. In a living room with a floor lamp, it is often about evening dimming and a scene for TV night. In a hallway a schedule is enough, in a bedroom a slow brightening in the morning. In a home office the colour temperature matters more. Once you know these jobs, you can state the requirements for the bulb clearly and do not have to buy a package of hub, switches and sensors that you never use.

A cheap Wi-Fi bulb simply replaces the existing light bulb in the E27 lamp holder. Dimming and colour changes happen in the lamp's electronics and are controlled by app, voice or schedule. This has a practical consequence: the wall switch must stay on, otherwise the bulb is cut off from the power and can no longer be reached. A conventional wall dimmer in the circuit does not go with it and can cause flickering or dropped connections. How to deal with this is explained on the page smart lamps and light switches.

Cheap here means entry level and mid-range, not bargain-bin. We deliberately give no daily prices, because they change constantly. You can see the current price band on the respective product page. The classification in this comparison follows the documents alone: manufacturer information, listing texts and what can be derived from them. We have not measured anything, and we did not have the lamps in hand.

A practical thought to close this section: start with one lamp in a place you use every day, and only expand once setup, app and voice control suit your routine. That keeps the purchase manageable, and you find out early whether schedules, scenes or colour changes matter to you at all. Many functions that feature prominently in the sales copy are only used regularly by some households.

Wi-Fi instead of a hub: what applies to cheap bulbs

According to the listing or manufacturer, all bulbs mentioned here connect directly to Wi-Fi. No additional device is needed as a hub. For a start with a few lamps, this is the simplest route. The limits lie elsewhere: each bulb logs on to the router individually, and most of these models work exclusively on the 2.4 GHz band. A pure 5 GHz network is not enough. So check before buying whether your router offers a separate 2.4 GHz network or broadcasts both bands under one name.

With a very large number of lamps, a hub system can be easier to keep track of. The topic of lamp limits on hubs is covered on the page Hue Bridge and lamp limit. For a start with a few bulbs the question is secondary, but it is worth asking when you later expand to a whole house.

Then there is standby consumption: a smart bulb stays connected to the network even when it is off. For the Tapo L535E the manufacturer states 0.4 watts of standby power. How this adds up over many lamps and a year is explained on the page standby consumption of smart lamps.

White only or colour as well: the Tapo range as an example

If you only need dimmable white light in several rooms, a bulb without a colour channel will do. According to the manufacturer's document, the Tapo L510E is a dimmable E27 Wi-Fi lamp without an additional hub, with app, schedules and Alexa and Google Assistant control. The listing gives 806 lumens as the typical brightness. There is no colour change. That is a clear boundary: the lamp suits you if you want to equip a hallway, kitchen or bathroom with plain, dimmable light and colour does not matter. In the bathroom, the IP rating of the luminaire matters as well, not that of the bulb, see IP rating in the bathroom.

The Tapo L530E adds multicolour light to the same system. The listing mentions no hub requirement, a 2.4 GHz network as a prerequisite and a power consumption of 8.7 watts. It is an alternative to the L510E if you also want accent colours in one lamp, for example for a shelf or a reading corner. For lumens and kelvin, the product page gives no documented values for this model, so we make no statements on them. Before buying, compare the light output in the current listing with the lamp you are replacing.

The Tapo L535E is the variant with Matter. According to the manufacturer it is an E27 A60 lamp with 1,055 lumens, 2,500 to 6,500 kelvin, 8.6 watts and Wi-Fi on the 2.4 GHz band. According to the listing, voice control works via Alexa, Siri or Google Assistant. Important: if you want to use Matter with a third-party platform, you need a hub from that platform, according to the listing. This does not apply to plain control through the Tapo app. The lamp suits you if you need more brightness in a larger room or your smart home is built on Matter.

More Wi-Fi bulbs compared: WiZ, Govee and Auxmir

According to the manufacturer, the WiZ Smart LED bulb Color and Tunable White (806 lumens) offers up to 806 lumens, app or voice control and a direct connection to the existing Wi-Fi. According to the listing, control runs via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and the app also shows energy consumption. The product page does not mention Apple HomeKit. According to the manufacturer, Apple Home is only available via Matter with a third-party hub, as documented on the page for the WiZ bulb with Matter. Note that the product family covers several power levels, so model and pack size must match exactly. If you want more brightness, the WiZ Smart LED A60 with 1,521 lumens in a 2-pack is a stronger variant of the same family.

For the Govee Smart LED bulb E27 RGBWW twin pack, the manufacturer documents 800 lumens, 9 watts, an E27 cap, RGBWW, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The source situation is mediocre: Govee has a product page for this bulb, but no data sheet, no energy label and no manual file, and the kelvin range and colour rendering index are not documented. The listing mentions Matter, Alexa, SmartThings and Google Assistant, while the manufacturer's EU page names fewer. Dimming is done via app, hub or wireless switch, not via a wall dimmer. If you want to equip two lamp holders at once and want colour, the set is an alternative to two single bulbs, provided you accept the open points.

Caution is advised with the Auxmir Smart LED bulb E27 twin pack. There is no manufacturer document for this lamp. The figures of 800 lumens and 10 watts, 2,700 to 6,500 kelvin and 16 million colours come from the seller alone and have not been checked against a primary source. According to our check, an energy efficiency class and an EPREL number are also missing from the offer. According to the listing, the connection runs first via Bluetooth and then over 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, without a hub. Anyone choosing this lamp is buying on the basis of seller claims. We therefore present it as an option with weak data, not as an equally well-documented alternative.

Table: the bulbs mentioned at a glance

The table contains only values that appear on the respective product page.

Light output alone says little. How many lumens a room needs depends on floor area and task, and the calculation is on the page how many lumens per room, while the conversion from watts to brightness is in the lumens-to-watts chart. For colour temperatures, see colour temperature and kelvin.

Which bulb suits whom

The following assignment is a classification by need, not a ranking. It rests exclusively on the documents mentioned above.

• Many lamps, no need for colour: the L510E suits, because it is described as dimmable white light without a hub.
• A touch of colour for a shelf or corner: the L530E is the alternative to the L510E with multicolour light.
• More brightness or Matter: the L535E with 1,055 lumens according to the manufacturer and Matter support.
• Apple home: not mentioned for the WiZ bulb, Apple Home only via Matter with a third-party hub.
• Two lamp holders, colour, small budget: the Govee set, with open questions on the data sheet and kelvin range.
• Only by seller claims: the Auxmir set, without a manufacturer document and without a documented efficiency class.

If you use lamps in a work area, you should pay attention to colour temperature and glare, see working in an eye-friendly way. Wake-up lights and daylight scenes can make the morning more pleasant, but they do not replace medical treatment. The same applies to light therapy: it belongs to devices designed for it and is not a job for a smart bulb, more on this on the page using a SAD lamp correctly.

Check before buying: checklist for getting started

A few checks help you avoid the most common disappointments. They apply to all models, regardless of manufacturer.

1. Cap and installation space: E27 is the large screw cap. Measure the shade opening and installation depth, because not every listing gives dimensions. Help with choosing the cap is offered by E27 or E14.
2. Network: a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network at the installation location is a must. A pure 5 GHz network is not enough.
3. Dimmer in the circuit: an existing wall dimmer should be bypassed or replaced.
4. Voice assistant: check whether your system is named in the listing and by the manufacturer. A mention in the sales copy does not mean full function on every platform.
5. Lamp: enclosed luminaires trap heat. Read the information on the maximum power of the luminaire.
6. Planning: you can work out how many lamps you will end up with using the lighting calculator.

An overview of all guides and products on this topic is offered by the category Smart lighting. Related pages: LED flickers and LED power consumption and costs.