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May 13, 2023

8 Best LED Strip Lights of 2023, According to Home Experts

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We updated this article in February 2023 to ensure all products tested and vetted by the Good Housekeeping Institute Media & Tech Lab were in stock, available and reflected accurate pricing.

Investing in long-lasting and colorful smart lighting is one of the easiest ways to achieve the right ambiance when hosting a party or relaxing at home. But if you’re looking for a quick refresh without having to install smart light bulbs in every fixture, LED strip lights are an easy-to-install solution (in most cases, you simply secure them in place with simple peel-and-stick adhesive) that will add mood lighting to your walls and furniture. Not only can strip lights gently brighten up your stairway in the middle of the night, but they can accentuate your kitchen's design by casting ambient light from under or above cabinets. You can also use strip lights to illuminate up your home office, patio, living room, bedroom and more with a pretty glow.

At the Good Housekeeping Institute, our tech and home renovation experts test products ranging from smart home devices to smart outdoor lighting. While our Media & Tech Lab hasn't yet tested each strip light featured, we relied heavily on our testing experience in the lighting category as well as consumer reviews to select the best LED strip lights. Our pros vetted each pick for ease of installation, performance, durability and connectivity. These are the best LED strip lights in 2023 to light up the walls of your home, according to our experts.

After our picks, read on to learn how to find the best LED strip lights for your space and how we narrowed down our top picks.

Whether you’re looking to add some accent lighting to your kitchen, bedroom or workspace, this strip light from Govee couldn't be easier to install. All you have to do is download the Govee Home app and pair your strip lights via Bluetooth. From there you can choose among 64 various lighting scenes or create your own effects via Govee Light Studio.

While we haven't tested this pick in the Lab, our pros love that this light strip comes with segmented color control, meaning that you can set various colors to individual portions of the light strip and create a rainbow-like effect. You can also impress your party guests by syncing the strip lights to your music so the colors change with the beat! Just keep in mind that this model isn't compatible with Google Assistant or Alexa, but you can opt for a similar Wi-Fi-enabled Govee strip light should you need smart home compatibility.

For just over $25, you’ll get up to 50 feet of strip lights to decorate your living space or create the right ambiance for a special occasion. We love that these strips can be cut between every third LED, and they’re also extendable should you need more light. They’re equipped with 22 pre-programmed lighting modes as well as four music modes. Our pros haven't yet tested out the app, but we like that you don't have to depend on the app if you don't want to.

Perfect for living rooms, large bedrooms or spaces that need a lot of coverage, these strip lights include two rolls of 50-foot-long strips! Our pros like that you can change the color of your strip lights via an app on your phone (thanks to Bluetooth connectivity) or by using a remote the old fashioned way. Best of all, these have a music sync feature so you can synchronize your lighting with any music you’re listening to.

For those who already own Philips Hue smart lights throughout your home or are an avid Google Assistant or Alexa user, these strip lights will integrate flawlessly into your existing setup and smart home ecosystem. While they are more expensive than other strip lights featured, our pros love that these are flexible and can be bent to fit your staircase or even cut and extended to perfectly fit your bedroom walls. You have the choice between a single color (white) or gradient color strip light, both featuring temperatures from 2000 to 6500 K. These are also super bright at 1,700 lumens so they’ll offer enough light in your kitchen or office.

When you’re looking for strip lights for your patio, porch or garden, this IP67-rated pick can withstand rain, snow, dirt and other outdoor elements without risk of damage. Because they’re waterproof, these lights are even suitable for areas like the pool. While we haven't tested this model in the Lab, our experts like that these are dimmable and come in two color temperatures so you can find the right tone of white for your space.

Party-ready, these light strips are great for entertaining guests, kids and family members with multiple preset colors to choose from as well as custom colors you can pick in the app. The lights have built-in Bluetooth connectivity so they can be turned on and off or dimmed via an app as well as with a remote. We like that there's a music sync mode as well as other features like a timer function so you can set your strip lights to turn on or off when the sun sets every evening or when it's time for bed.

If you want to upgrade your home theater, these strip lights are suitable for 65- to 75-inch TVs and will cast a beautiful backlight glow from behind your TV in any shade you choose. Not only are these easy to install by connecting the lights directly to your TV's USB port and using tape to stick on the strip lights, but once set up they’ll help make the pictures and colors on your screen come alive with clarity. Though the colors won't sync in real-time to the movie or show you’re streaming like some other strip lights, our pros think they’re a great value option with positive consumer reviews.

These strip lights are unique as they’re ideal for greenhouses and growing indoor plants. They use less energy than other traditional greenhouse lights but provide high brightness to resemble natural light and promote plant growth. Our pros haven't tested these indoors yet, but we like that each strip can be turned on and off independently and that strips can be linked together. These strips are also offered in multiple shades of white, pink, pinkish white and yellow so you get the ideal light for your plants. To make installation extra easy, you can set them up with tape, clips or cable ties.

The experts at the Good Housekeeping Institute have years of experience testing home products such as smart plugs, smart light switches and more. To select the best LED strip lights, we vetted each pick for ease of installation, brightness, performance, durability and connectivity and consulted customer reviews. We considered the length of each strip light as well as whether it is modifiable. When applicable, we factored in IP ratings and any special features such as music or lighting modes. While we weren't able to test each model on our list, our picks are based on similar models or brands that have performed well in previous categorical tests, road tests we conducted in our homes and customer reviews.

✔️ Location: The first question you need to ask yourself before purchasing strip lights is where you want to install them. Do you want strip lights that illuminate the walls of your bedroom as you read before bed, or will you install strip lights along stairs, under kitchen cabinets, behind the TV or even outdoors? If you plan on using strip lights along stairs, opt for a model that is flexible and can be easily bent. If you need strip lights to cover walls in a sizeable space, make sure you purchase ones that can come in a long length or can be extended. Likewise, if you’re looking for strip lights for your TV, you should opt for shorter strips or ones that can be cut. If you plan on setting up your strip lights outside on your patio or along your front porch, double check whether they have an IP rating and come with a strong adhesive. Our pros recommend an IP rating of at least IP67 if you plan on leaving your lights exposed to rain, snow and other weather conditions as this ensures they are waterproof.

✔️ Operation and connectivity: Not all strip lights are made equal. While some have a physical on and off switch, others come with a remote to make changing colors and settings easy. If you prefer to operate your strip lights via an app on your smartphone, look for ones that have Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connectivity. Keep in mind that if you want to be able to operate your strip lights via a smart assistant like Google or Alexa, you’ll need to opt for Wi-Fi-enabled strip lights or ones that use a hub.

✔️ Color: Strip lights come in all sorts of colors. If you’re not looking for a colorful glow, you can opt for white strip lights in various temperatures ranging from 2,000 to 6,500K (Kelvin). Lower temperatures create a warmer, yellow-white while higher temperatures produce a cooler, bluish-white. If you want strip lights with millions of color options, look for lights that are RGB or RGBIC, the difference being that RGBIC strip lights enable you to individually control each segment on your strip lights to create a rainbow-like effect. Also, double check whether your lights are dimmable or feature dynamic lighting effects if you’re interested in those features.

✔️ Brightness: Strip lights vary in brightness. If you’re hoping to light up your bedroom or kitchen cabinets, look for strip lights with 500 lumens per foot so you have sufficient light. If you’re trying to create mood lighting, around 200 lumens per foot should suffice. Also make sure to check the strip light's LED density, which is often labeled as LEDs per foot. The more LEDs per foot, the more illumination you can expect to create, with 5050 LED chips being the brightest.

✔️ Size: If you’re installing strip lights in a large indoor or outdoor area, make sure you purchase strip lights that come in a suitable length, so you have enough to cover the area. Oftentimes strip lights are sold in two individual rolls. Always confirm whether they’re expandable or cuttable so you can adjust them to your liking.

✔️ Extra features: If you’re using your strip lights for entertainment, consider ones that feature a built-in mic so you can sync up the beat of your music to your lighting or ones that offer multiple dynamic color modes. If you’re looking for strip lights that turn on automatically, pick ones with motion sensors or ones that can be set to a timer. If you’d like smart home integration, choose strip lights that are Wi-Fi enabled and compatible with your favorite smart assistant.

LED strip lights are fairly easy to install and don't involve any complicated wiring. Most strip lights are plug and play, meaning once you've installed them all you have to do is plug them into an outlet and you're ready to go. The most complicated part of the process will be figuring out the layout, adjusting your strip lights to the right length and securing them to the wall, ceiling or other surface with the peel-and-stick backings; some users report having to apply additional adhesive to keep the strips from falling off. When you're ready to install your strip lights, always make sure the surface you're working on has been both cleaned and dried before application.

Media & Tech Reviews Analyst Olivia Lipski oversees product testing and covers everything in tech, smart home, audio and more. She continues to stay on top of the industry's latest innovations and helps readers make better buying decisions by testing and reviewing the best gadgets to hit the market. To pick the best LED strip lights, she worked closely with Rachel Rothman, Chief Technologist and Head Engineer at the Good Housekeeping Institute, and Dan DiClerico, Home Improvement and Outdoor Director.

Olivia (she/her) is a media and tech product reviews analyst at the Good Housekeeping Institute, covering tech, home, auto, health and more. She has more than five years of experience writing about tech trends and innovation and, prior to joining GH in 2021, was a writer for Android Central, Lifewire and other media outlets. Olivia is a graduate of George Washington University, with a bachelor's degree in journalism, political science and French, and she holds a master's degree in communications from Sciences Po Paris.

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