The Best Permanent Outdoor Lights (2026): Govee, Eufy, Cync | WIRED

CommentLoader-

Save StorySave this story

CommentLoader-

Save StorySave this story

Permanent outdoor lights might not seem useful now that we're headed into summer, but they're actually great to use year-round. The name suggests exactly what they are: a type of string light designed to stay up all year instead of coming down after the occasion you hung them for, whether it's the holiday season or a big party that inspired you to deck out your front porch.

Whether these lights are truly “permanent” is up to you, since you can choose to anchor them to your home with either screws or adhesive. Note that they may not be a fit for every home's architecture—you will need eaves, and preferably flat ones, to hide the thick cords. Our favorite options are from Govee ($440, 100 feet) and Eufy ($300, 100 feet); both are great sets you can cut and splice to customize to your home's roofline. My favorite affordable set is from Cync ($143, 100 feet)—it's easy to use and install and has lots of great color options.

No matter which set you choose, these lights are made for year-round enjoyment. It's not just for your basic holidays like Christmas and Halloween, either: WIRED reviewer Kat Merck uses hers in the post-holiday season to display her husband’s favorite sports team colors, and I've got big plans to use the permanent lights affixed to my balcony railing to light up for my next party.

Updated April 2026: We've updated the prices and details in this guide for summer, and added new sections on the best time of year to use and buy these types of lights.

Table of Contents

AccordionItemContainerButtonLargeChevron

- What Are Permanent Outdoor Lights?

- What Your Home Will Need

- What to Look for in Permanent Outdoor Lights

- What Time of Year Should You Use Permanent Outdoor Lights?

- Our Favorite Permanent Outdoor Lights

- If You Can’t Install Permanent Outdoor Lights

- More Outdoor Lights We’ve Tested

What Are Permanent Outdoor Lights?

Permanent outdoor lights are exactly what they sound like: outdoor lights meant to be permanently affixed to your home, so you don't have to go up and down a ladder every Halloween and Christmas season. They're similar to smart Christmas lights like those from Twinkly ($120) and Philips Hue ($210), and other smart lighting options like Philips Hue's smart bulbs ($99), in that they connect to an app and have custom color control.

The lights we recommend below are all DIY-friendly, but you can also hire a professional to affix them to your home. Some higher-end brands, like JellyFish and Gemstone, are for professional installation only. Hiring an installer is recommended either way if you have harder-to-reach eaves or a trickier home design, which may add considerably to the overall cost.

What Your Home Will Need

The most important thing to check is if your home is even compatible with permanent outdoor string lights. If your home has any of these features, installation should work for you:

- Accessible roof eaves, often found on one- or two-story homes

- An outdoor ceiling, like a porch roof

- Flat, smooth materials, including glass, cement, wood, or metal, under the eaves (or other spots on your home's exterior that would make sense for lights to live permanently, like a porch covering or pergola)

- Access to an outlet, ideally an outdoor one that's at least partially covered to protect the control box, or the ability to run the cord to one inside a garage or other interior space

Most one- and two-story homes can accommodate permanent outdoor lights, since they typically have roof eaves accessible on both levels. Govee, for example, claims its permanent outdoor lights ($440) will work on everything from cottages and tiny houses to large homes and even mansions. (I'm sad to report that no, I did not have a mansion available for our testing.) Eufy (another set we recommend!) warns that certain paints, including those with texturing, could prevent secure adhesion of its permanent outdoor lights ($300).

Most permanent outdoor lights come with multiple options for attaching them to your home, ranging from sticky tabs to more permanent options with screws, though some brands may require you to buy anchors separately. Some of our testers used sticky options with success, while others chose to use the included screws to ensure the lights wouldn't move. It depends on your home style and personal comfort as to which style you'd like to use. We've tested sticky adhesion for the better part of six months in the Midwestern US with great success, but obviously, tape isn't as permanent as drilled anchors.

Here are the home styles for which installation of permanent lights will be a struggle or may require a professional for installation:

- Homes and properties with a stucco exterior

- Homes with no roof eaves of any kind

- Homes with cross-style eaves that don't allow for fl