Hue bulbs works with home assistant without relying on the hue bridge or app. Just need a zigbee USB adapter.
Ikea also makes some decent bulbs for a fraction of the price.
Thanks for the suggestions. Do the IKEA bulbs work with HA out of the box or do they need an IKEA app?
They just work.
I'm using both IKEA and Hue bulbs without having used any of the original apps/hubs (though I do use the deCONZ/Phoscon hub addon, not the Home Assistant ZHA but if you're device is listed as compatible the experience should be the same.
Edit: apparently you can re-pair without a remote, see below comment: ~~One thing to note about the Hue bulbs (without a Hue hub) is that you need one of the remotes to reset bulbs after already being paired so they can be re-paired to a hub,~~ where as the IKEA only need the power turned off and on a number of times to enter pairing mode.
I actually ran into this just the other day on some refurbished Hue bulbs. I was able to reset then without any remote or app using this method. Just make sure to do it 2-3 times in a row or until the bulbs start flashing.
Thanks for the heads up
I use bulbs I've bought from IKEA and Lidl. Because they're ZigBee they're local. The "Hub' is HA because I have a ZigaZiga https://electrolama.com/projects/zig-a-zig-ah/ usb stick.
I use ZigBee2MQTT in HA to route commands to my bulbs (and sensors and plugs) which routes ZigBee commands through my MQTT broker which is also in HA.
The only app I use is the Home Assistant app
I've been using the ~~Sendled~~ Sengled E11-N1EA bulbs available on Amazon for quite some time now. They have a bit of a cold white edge to them and could maybe be a bit brighter at times, but overall I've been happy with them.
Mine came in a 4-pack. I have two inside in table lamps, and two outside in coach lamps.
I've had 10 of the RGB ones, E21-N1EA, for a few months now and they've been working perfectly. Not the brightest or the most accurate color, but they're simple, cheap, and local-only.
Home Assistant is open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first. Powered by a worldwide community of tinkerers and DIY enthusiasts. Perfect to run on a Raspberry Pi or a local server. Available for free at home-assistant.io