Nanoleaf vs Govee: Battle of smart lighting titans

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Sleek Performance

Nanoleaf Shapes Hexagons

Highly Configurable

Govee Glide Hexa

Beautiful app experience
Reliable desktop sync
$$$
Smooth light animations
Wide compatibility

Nanoleaf Shapes is a wide family of wall-mounted LED smart lights that can animate in some truly hypnotic ways. A slick mobile app and smooth animations make them a great addition to any home.

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Cluttered app
Unreliable desktop sync
$$
Jagged animation
Limited compatibility

The Govee Glide Hexa panels are super bright, but the app is way more cluttered. Animations don't run as smoothly either.

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Nanoleaf's user experience wins, hands-down.

Both Nanoleaf and Govee provide some really novel interactions, including music synchronization, and community sharing of light recipes. They both use connectors that make early set-ups easily expandable. They both have a straightforward adhesive mounting system that doesn't leave residue when you remove it. There's a lot of similarities, but Nanoleaf's user experience wins, hands-down. The real clinchers here are easy navigation and forward compatibility.

Let's take a closer look to see how one blinky hexagon differs from another...

Source: Nanoleaf

Ready now and in the future

Category	Nanoleaf Shapes	Govee Glide Hexa
Touch Responsive	✅	❌
Music Sync	✅	✅
TV sync	✅	✅
Google Assistant	✅	✅
Amazon Alexa	✅	✅
Apple HomeKit	✅	❌
Thread Connectivity	✅	❌

You can see that Nanoleaf connects to more ecosystems. This makes it easier to use no matter what other devices you have in the home. Thread connectivity also ensures Nanoleaf is prepped for the future of the smart home.

Source: Nanoleaf

How Nanoleaf Continues to Rock My Living Room

I have a few Govee tiles at home, but Nanoleaf is still the king of lighting in my living room.

A big part of it is the app experience. Govee tries cramming everything and the kitchen sink into its app. Sure, that gives it access to some very specific light recipe tools, but I don't typically want to spend a lot of time in the app. I want to be able to jump in, make a switch, then get on with my night.

Nanoleaf knocked desktop sync out of the park.

I love watching shows with smart lights syncing up. This way when there's an explosion on screen, my whole viewing area goes up in yellows and oranges.

Nanoleaf knocked this one out of the park with their Windows app. It's smooth, connects reliably, and you can easily arrange your lights to capture certain parts of the screen.

Nanoleaf also gets points for compatibility. It's on board with Matter, which will help it communicate more quickly with other connected gadgets in the home. Plus, it has Apple HomeKit support, which means painless control from your iPhone and iPad. This is a big leg-up on Govee.

Source: Nanoleaf

Govee is still relying on a connection to Razer Chroma to do desktop sync. This means a second app to install and manage, and even then, the performance isn't that reliable. For all of the functions Govee offers, Nanoleaf still hits all of the important ones in an easier-to-use package.

Bottom Line

Nanoleaf continues to be king of the hill when it comes to wall-mounted LEDs. Smooth animations, a polished app, strong performance with TV sync, and broad software compatibility make it a hard light to beat.

Tested & Approved

You can read more about why I'm absolutely in love with Nanoleaf tiles here. There's a lot more to it than just the wall tiles, so it's worth a look. Needless to say, I've put my time into Nanoleaf lights and can vouch for their awesomeness.

High-tech Style

Nanoleaf Shapes Hexagon

4.5 / 5

Instant Ambiance

Nanoleaf Shapes are a fun addition to any living space. Not only do you get a wide range of color animations, but interactive touch, music, and entertainment sync put it ahead.