Using the best grow lights for indoor plants can help your greenery thrive during any season and with any amount of sunlight.
Getting the light right for your plants is important for photosynthesis, healthy growth, flowering, fruiting, germination and more!
The best grow light for indoor plants is the GE Grow Light BR30. This effective grow bulb is designed to be used in your regular lamp. The soft white light gives your plants the full spectrum access they need to thrive and will look normal in your living room.
The best grow light option specifically for herbs and vegetables is AeroGarden’s Harvest Elite with Gourmet Herb Seed Pod Kit. It comes with all of the features you might need to successfully grow your own produce indoors. But if aesthetics is the key factor behind your grow light decision, Modern Sprout’s Smart Landscape Growframe is for you.
Check out my top 7 grow lights here:
- Best overall: GE Grow Light BR30
- Best budget-friendly: APLANT Clip on Grow Light
- Best large capacity: Spider Farmer SF4000 LED Grow Light
- Best adjustable spectrum: Lxyoug LED Full Spectrum Plant Light
- Best kit: AeroGarden Harvest Elite with Gourmet Herb Seed Pod Kit
- Best wall mounted: Modern Sprout Smart Landscape Growframe
- Best hanging: Osunby 250 LED Full Spectrum Indoor Plant Light
Keep reading to find out all the details about the best grow lights.
Product Reviews
Best Overall: GE Grow Light BR30
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The GE Grow Light BR30 is easy to use and reasonably priced!
This grow bulb fits in most lamps, helping you to transform your regular living room lighting into an effective grow zone for your houseplants.
These bulbs give off a soft and natural-looking white light that won’t make your cozy space feel like a dazzlingly bright industrial greenhouse.
The only downside to this grow light option is that the bulbs don’t live very long. But the reasonable price point and fact that you don’t need to buy a specialist lamp are great counterpoints.
Key Features:
- For: Great for seeds, vegetables and herbs especially
- Type: Bulb
- Wattage: 9 watts
- Energy efficient: Yes (LED)
- Light color: Soft white light
- Dimmable: No
- Adjustable spectrum: No (but offers a balanced light spectrum as standard)
- Timer: No
- Size: 4.06 x 5.94 inches
- Installation: Will fit in most lamps
Who is it for:
The GE Grow Light is a great option for anyone who wants to simply transform their regular lamp into a houseplant grow light. It’s unobtrusive and gives off a pleasant soft white glow.
Best Budget-Friendly: APLANT Clip on Grow Light
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The APLANT Clip on Grow Light is great for providing small to medium houseplants with full spectrum warm white light.
Its strong, no-slip clip allows you to clamp the light onto your desk, shelf or plant stand with ease. It’s also very lightweight so it’s perfect for moving around between different houseplants and rooms.
Easily target your houseplants that need a little extra light by adjusting the flexible 12.9 inch arm. The 360° tilt feature helps you really direct the light where it is needed.
Key Features:
- For: Great for most small to medium low light plants
- Type: Clip on
- Wattage: 6 watts
- Energy efficient: Yes (LED)
- Light color: Full spectrum warm white light
- Dimmable: No
- Adjustable spectrum: No
- Timer: No
- Size: 17.3 inches tall
- Installation: Plug in and clip to your desk or shelf
Who is it for:
The APLANT Clip on Grow Light is ideal for anyone with a small space, small plants and a small budget. It’s very compact, meaning it won’t take over your space.
Best Large Capacity: Spider Farmer SF4000 LED Grow Light
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Got a very large and expanding plant collection? The Spider Farmer SF4000 LED Grow Light is for you!
This grow light covers a huge area of 5 feet x 5 feet . It is ideal for larger plants and vast houseplant collections. It can also be used in greenhouses in the winter season to give your plants a little light boost as it is waterproof and has a protective covering to prevent damage.
This grow light offers full spectrum lighting and – importantly for a larger grow light – even light distribution.
Despite its large coverage area, it is not much more complicated to install than the smaller grow lights.
Key Features:
- For: Covering large areas of plants
- Type: Hanging
- Wattage: 450 watts
- Energy efficient: Yes (LED lights)
- Light color: Full spectrum lighting (white, blue, red and IR)
- Dimmable: Yes, from 10% – 100%
- Adjustable spectrum: Yes
- Timer: Information not provided
- Size: 5 x 5 feet light coverage
- Installation: Plug and play!
Who is it for:
Anyone with a very large houseplant collection, or taller plants, will like this option. It’s also great for greenhouses in the winter as it has great waterproofing and protective covering.
Best Adjustable Spectrum: Lxyoug LED Full Spectrum Plant Light
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The Lxyoug LED Full Spectrum Plant Light has plenty of features that will help make plant care a breeze.
This plant light has adjustable heads, making it easy to target multiple plants. It’s fully adjustable size and ability to reach up to 60 inch high makes it great for plants of most sizes.
The timer and auto turn on feature allows you to manage when and for how long you want your grow light turned on. The 4, 8 and 12 hours modes are really helpful for saving electricity without having to remember to turn the light off manually. The remote control allows for easy programming.
Another great feature is the three lighting spectrum modes. These spectrum modes are aimed at different growth stages. The warm white light option simulates natural sunlight. The red and blue option is to promote photosynthesis, rooting, germination, blooming and fruiting. Or the red, blue and white can be selected to focus on full spectrum growth.
Key Features:
- For: Tall enough for most different sized plants and can cover multiple plants
- Type: Stand
- Wattage: 8 watts
- Energy efficient: Yes (LED)
- Light color: Three lighting spectrum modes: red, blue and warm white; red and blue; warm white
- Dimmable: Brightness adjustable from 10% – 100% brightness
- Adjustable spectrum: Yes
- Timer: Yes (4, 8 and 12 hours)
- Size: 15 inch – 60 inch height
- Installation: Position the tripod, adjust the height and position of the light heads, then plug it in
Who is it for:
This is the ideal grow light for anyone who likes lots of techy features, from timers to spectrum modes.
Its 60 inch adaptable height makes it great for most sized plants and its adjustable heads can help you target multiple plants.
Best Kit: AeroGarden Harvest Elite with Gourmet Herb Seed Pod Kit
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This Harvest Elite Herb Seed Pod Kit from AeroGarden is great for growing herbs and vegetables.
The full spectrum lighting and high performance LEDs can really give your indoor edibles a boost.
The grow pod comes with an LCD control panel to help you tweak the pod environment to suit your greens. Customizable light-on times, vacation mode and watering reminders are just some of the great features offered by this grow pod.
The sleek finish and color options (light green, white, black or stainless steel) give this grow pod an expensive kitchen appliance look that will complement your kitchen nicely.
The pod kit comes with six different herb seeds to grow in water to get you started!
Key Features:
- For: Herbs and veggies!
- Type: Grow pod and light
- Wattage: 20 watts
- Energy efficient: Yes (and very minimal running cost)
- Light color: Full spectrum lighting
- Dimmable: No (though light-on times can be programmed)
- Adjustable spectrum: Multiple adjustable features to target the needs of each plant
- Timer: Yes (light-on timer and vacation mode)
- Size: 11 x 4.61 x 15 inches
- Installation: Plug in, fill with water and add your indoor edibles
Who is it for:
Herb-growers will love this grow light pod. It can create the perfect little desk garden or sit proudly in your kitchen as you whip up some culinary delights. The full spectrum lighting offered is ideal for herbs and veggies!
Best Wall Mounted: Modern Sprout Smart Landscape Growframe
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This aesthetically-pleasing Growframe from Modern Sprout is as beautiful as it is practical.
The wall-mounted steel frame is sturdy and water tight. With multiple color options, including emerald, black, white and mustard, you are sure to find a Growframe to suit your decor.
The Growframe is also super smart. Connecting to the Modern Sprout app will allow you to access the manual on/off switch, timer, customizable programming and even pairing recommendations for partial shade, partial sun and full sun plants.
Key Features:
- For: Good for vegetables, fruiting and flowering plants
- Type: Wall mounted
- Wattage: 7 watts
- Energy efficient: Yes (LED)
- Light color: Natural white light
- Dimmable: Information not provided
- Adjustable spectrum: Yes (customizable programming to target the needs of different plants)
- Timer: Yes (8, 12 and 16 hours)
- Size: 20.8 x 17 x 5.5 inches or 32.1 x 11.5 x 5.25 inches
- Installation: Mount onto a wall and plug it in
Who is it for:
This wall-mounted option is the most aesthetically-pleasing grow light solution. It’s also got loads of features for the tech-minded.
There are different size options available, but the Growframe is most suited to smaller houseplants.
Best Hanging: Osunby 250 LED Full Spectrum Indoor Plant Light
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The Osunby 250 LED Full Spectrum Indoor Plant Light is the best hanging grow light option.
It provides a coverage of 4 feet by 4 feet, which will cover small to medium houseplants.
The Osunby Plant Light is best for seedlings and germination, but can also help small vegetables and flowering plants too.
It offers full spectrum light to promote all round health and growth. It also has several spectrum light balance options to choose between to particular target your plant’s needs.
Key Features:
- For: Best for seedlings and germination
- Type: Hanging
- Wattage: 50 watts
- Energy efficient: Yes (LED)
- Light color: Full spectrum (6 bands, including 660nm red, 630nm, blue 460nm, white 6500K, UV LEDs 390nm and IR LEDs 730nm)
- Dimmable: No
- Adjustable spectrum: Yes
- Timer: Yes
- Size: 13 x 13 x 1.2 inches
- Installation: Hang with the aluminum hanger and plug in
Who is it for:
This grow light is best for seedling and small houseplants. Its full spectrum lighting is good for encouraging germination.
Grow Light Buying Guide
5 Useful Tips for Choosing the Best Grow Light For Your Plants
#1 Wattage
The wattage measures how much energy a bulb consumes when it is in use.
As you might want to keep your plant grow light on for several hours each day, picking a good wattage can help you save energy and money.
But wattage is also important for meeting your plant’s specific needs too. Here is a handy breakdown to help you choose the right wattage for your plant:
| Wattage | Ideal for |
| Up to 15 watts | Shady roomsLow light houseplants, like calathea, pothos, philodendron, peace lily, snake plant and English ivy |
| 15 – 20 watts | Rooms with an east or west facing windowMedium light plants, like rubber plant, fiddle leaf fig, spider plant, asparagus fern, jade plant |
| Over 20 watts | High light plants, like poinsettia, cactus, succulents, orchid and citrus |
#2 Spectrum
Grow lights often appear to be white, but the light is actually made up of multiple colors, or a full spectrum.
Most grow lights offer full spectrum lights to help the all round health and growth of your plant. But the best grow lights also allow you to choose to focus on a specific type of light to help a plant’s particular need.
Here is a useful breakdown to help you choose the right spectrum light balance for your plant:
| Spectrum | Benefits | Ideal for |
| Blue | Helps chlorophyll (which helps growth)Good for germinationPromotes healthy root development | Seedlings |
| White | Replicates natural sunlight | Seedlings, herbs, most houseplants |
| Red | Regulates plant growthHelps the production of fruit and flowers | Flowering and fruiting plants |
For the best results, choose a grow light that lets you adjust the spectrum light balance to meet your plant’s needs. This is especially useful if you plan to move your grow light between houseplants that have different requirements.
#3 Size
Think about the size of your plant (or plants) that you want the light to cover.
Some grow lights are best suited to small plants, but there are also options that offer a large coverage which can be good for taller plants or covering multiple plants,
Top tip: Group plants together that have similar light needs for the best results.
#4 Bulb Type
The most effective type of bulb for houseplant grow lights are usually LEDs. The bulb type to most avoid is an incandescent bulb.
Here is a breakdown to help you figure out the pros and cons of each bulb type:
| Bulbs | LED | Halogen | Fluorescent | Incandescent |
| Pros | Meets all plant light needsMost efficientLasts x5 longer | Brighter | Compact version available | Meets the light needs of English Ivy (but not many others) |
| Cons | None! | Lacks blue light for healthy growthGets hot ( leaf damage) | Expensive due to short lifespanContains mercury | Limited blue light Expensive to runGets hot (leaf damage) |
#5 Ease of Use
Setting up your grow light should be a walk in the park – if you pick the right type!
For the easiest setup, choose a grow bulb that will work in your existing lamp. This way, you don’t need to buy a specialized lamp and don’t have to change your decor. It also makes replacing the bulbs over time really simple.
Clip on and standing grow lights are also great simple options.
Wall-mounted and hanging grow lights can look lovely, but can be a little trickier to set up. If drilling into your wall or ceiling to attach a grow light isn’t for you, avoid these types.
Using a grow light can be more technical than just turning it off and on. Many grow lights offer advanced tech features which can be like Marmite – you’ll love them or hate them. Tech-filled grow lights can be great for automation and adjustability (think timers, vacation mode and watering reminders), but these features are not for everyone and will add to the price tag.
FAQs About Grow Lights
Why do I need a grow light?
Grow lights help plants to get access to the light they need for photosynthesis and healthy growth. This is especially important if your houseplant is kept in a dim room or struggles to access much light in the winter.
In particular, seedlings, herbs and vegetables tend to benefit from grow lights.
What are the signs that my plant needs a grow light?
If you notice any of the following signs, your plant might benefit from a grow light:
- Dying or yellow leaves
- Slow or small growth
- Regular pest infestations or diseases
- Weak, leggy growth
- Loss of variegation on variegated plants
What color grow light is best for indoor plants?
A full spectrum grow light is best for indoor plants (this light usually looks white). But increasing a plant’s access to a certain color can provide specific benefits.
For example, blue light helps growth, root health and germination, so it’s good for seedlings. Red light helps to regulate growth and the production of fruit and flowers.
Can any LED light be used as a grow light?
There are a few plants that can benefit from a regular LED light, such as English ivy.
However, a regular bulb will not work for the majority of plants – a specific plant grow bulb is required.
How effective are grow lights for indoor plants?
The effectiveness of a grow light depends on several factors, including the bulb type, color spectrum, wattage, size and the heat given off by the bulb, for example.
A well-chosen grow light can help to improve your plant’s health and encourage growth. A plant grown in a dim room will almost always do better with a grow light than without one. And grow lights are essential for successfully growing healthy seedlings.
Get the Best Grow Light Today!
There are so many grow lights and features that it can seem overwhelming! The key is to think about your priorities.
Do you want the ease of inserting your grow bulb into a lamp you already own? Go for the GE Grow Light BR30 bulb.
Do you want support for successfully growing herbs? AeroGarden’s Harvest Elite with Gourmet Herb Seed Pod Kit has all of the tips and features you could need.
Do you want a grow light setup that is part design feature, part plant hospital? Modern Sprout’s Smart Landscape Growframe is for you
Still unsure? The overall best grow light for indoor plants is the GE Grow Light BR30. It might not have all of the bells and whistles of the high tech options, but it has everything you (and your plant) need. The full spectrum white light gives your plants what they need to thrive. The fact that the bulb works in regular lamps and gives off a soft light means it will look normal in your living room.
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