The Best Matter-Compatible Lamps To Light Up Your Life

No smart home is complete without proper lighting that you can control from the couch or from across the world. And while you may think to look for a smart bulb, plug, or switch when building the connected home of your dreams, you may benefit more from an all-in-one solution like a Matter-compatible lamp.

In this guide, we'll discuss what sets Matter-compatible lamps apart from other smart lighting solutions, and give you a few recommendations to help you on your smart home journey.

What is a Matter-Compatible Lamp?

A Matter-compatible lamp combines the best that the smart home has to offer with a household lighting essential. With Matter, a lamp can provide convenient controls through an app or voice assistant, dimming, and, in some cases, color-changing functionality. 

While it is true that you can make any light instantly smart with one of the best Matter-compatible plugs or Matter-compatible light bulbs, they have their share of downsides that make lamps worth considering. For example, most smart plugs do not support dimming and are often bulky, while light bulbs come in different shapes and sizes, making it hard to track down the exact fit for your needs.

Matter-compatible lamps overcome these challenges with purpose-built integrated LEDs that include standards right out of the box. Some lamps even include extras such as portability via rechargeable batteries or multi-color zones that go beyond what you get with a single-color bulb.

Whichever you choose for your lighting needs, you'll experience a similar pairing process with Matter. Typically, you'll only need to scan a QR code located on-device or on a hub, and after a few organizational steps, you'll be ready for smart home controls.

What Should You Look For in a Matter-Compatible Lamp?

With Matter providing a standard feature set and compatibility with every smart home assistant, you can turn your attention to other key areas. These should include budget, design, features, and platform.

• Budget: Your budget plays a big role when purchasing a smart lamp. Generally, the more you spend, the brighter the light, and a broader feature set.
• Design: Some lamps, like the Govee Floor Lamp 2 are better suited for spaces with modern decor. Others, like the Philips Hue Go Smart Table Lamp, take a more traditional approach allowing it to fit seamlessly in all spaces.
• Features: If entertainment is a top priority you'll want to look for a lamp with multi-zone or RGBIC color capabilities. If portability is on your list, you should look for smaller lamps that feature built-in handles.
• Platform: Matter provides standards like dimming and quick toggles for all lamps However, additional features like screen mirroring may only be available in the vendor's app which limits automation possibilities.

What Are The Top 5 Matter-Compatible Lamps?

Matter-compatible lamps are available from a wide variety of vendors and come in all shapes and sizes. To help make your buying process smoother, we've narrowed down all the available options to our top five.

Govee Floor Lamp 2

Following up on the success of the company’s popular Lyra Floor Lamp, the Govee Floor Lamp 2 is here with several huge additions. The first of which is Matter compatibility, which ensures that every smart home platform—including Apple Home—gets in on the colorful fun. Also new is an LED ring light on the base of the Floor Lamp 2. This new ring light works separately from the main LED strip, so you can use it as a path light or nightlight.

Govee has ramped up the maximum brightness levels, allowing it to reach up to 1,725 lumens. All of this adds up to a lamp that James Bruce recently hailed as being "an excellent addition to the Govee line" in our hands-on review.

Nanoleaf Umbra Cono Portable Smart Lamp

If you are looking for a Matter-compatible lamp that makes a statement, then the Nanoleaf Umbra Cono may be the one for you. Available in two distinct finishes—Gray and a burnt orange-like Sierra—the Cono forgoes the traditional lamp look and unsightly wires in favor of a modern industrial design.

The Nanoleaf Umbra Cono connects to your smart home via the latest and greatest networking technology - Thread. Having Thread onboard allows the lamp to offer up to four hours of wireless freedom while still offering speedy response times and excellent reliability when connected to a Thread Border Router.

Since the Cono focuses on form over function, the lamp is best suited as an accent piece as it only outputs an average brightness of 130 lumens. And, while the lamp supports up to 16 million colors and shades of white, it can only display one at a time.

Nanoleaf Umbra Cup Smart Lamp

Also from Nanoleaf, the Umbra Cup Smart Lamp combines smart lighting with a handy storage cup. Nanoleaf's cup lamp also provides something that often gets overlooked—physical on-device controls—making the whole package ideal for a desk.

Like the Cono, the Umbra Cup Smart Lamp features Matter over Thread connectivity. This combination means that you can be up and running with your new smart lamp in minutes—all it takes is a scan of the included pairing code in either the Nanoleaf app or through platforms like Apple Home, Alexa, or Google Home.

Once connected, you'll gain access to over 16 million colors which you can summon at any time. You'll also unlock full dimming capabilities allowing you to ramp up the brightness to the max which is around 320 lumens.

WiZ Mobile Portable Light

The WiZ Mobile Portable Light brings smart, colorful lighting to just about anywhere in your home. This lamp features a built-in carrying handle, rechargeable battery, and Wi-Fi, giving you the ability to roam freely around the house without hassling with wires or being limited by range.

While on the smaller side at just under 5 inches tall, WiZ's portable lamp is plenty capable with a peak brightness of 400 lumens and support for 16 million colors. WiZ's lamp also goes beyond its competitors with dual lighting zones allowing it to produce dynamic lighting effects.

The WiZ Mobile Portable Light has another trick up its sleeve—SpaceSense technology. SpaceSense allows the lamp to function as a motion sensor, enabling hands-free operation that automatically turns on and off your lighting when you have two or more WiZ lights in the same room.

Philips Hue Go Smart Portable Table Lamp

The Philips Hue Go Smart Portable Table Lamp goes where others cannot—to the great outdoors. That's right, the Hue Go works both indoors and out, thanks to an IP54 weather and dust resistance rating that protects it from dust and splashes.

The Hue Go sports other impressive specs such as an incredible 48-hour battery life, and 530 lumens maximum brightness. Of course, it also supports easy-to-use dimming controls, offers Hue's excellent color reproduction, and excellent reliability with Zigbee.

As with all Hue products, the major downside to the Hue Go is its cost. The lamp carries a stiff starting price of $160, and you'll also need a Hue Smart Bridge to connect to Matter—making it a $200-plus investment.

Brighten Up Your Space With a Matter-Compatible Lamp

Whether you need a lamp for the desk, the living room floor, or a table outside, there are Matter-compatible lamps for almost any need. And, with a simple scan-and-go onboarding process through Matter, you'll be on your way to dimming, toggling, and changing colors in no time.