The best TikTok lights will make a real difference to the quality of your videos. Look at the videos of your favourite creators, and if they frequently share videos where they address the camera, chances are good that you’ll spot the tell-tale circular reflection of a ring light in their eyes. It’s one of the simplest steps you can take to improve your videos.
LED lights are generally the best choice – they’re energy-efficient, they’re not too costly, and they provide an effective way to light simple videos. They come in different configurations – not only is there the popular ring light, but also strip lights and panels. Some come with useful accessories like softboxes to make the light more flattering, or clips to attach them to a phone.
As with most things, the more you pay, the more you get. A basic, cheap TikTok light will do the job, but upping your budget gives you access to advanced features like colour temperature control, dimmable bulbs and more. We’ve included lights for all different budgets in this guide, from expensive kits designed for professional videographers to simple LEDs that cost less than $10.
Our guide to the best ring lights for photos contains lots of lights that are suited to TikToks, and is worth having a look through. Also, if you’ve been looking for a way to hold your phone still while you craft your masterworks, see our list of the best smartphone tripods. Meanwhile, read on for a guide to the best TikTok lights.
The best TikTok lights
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The Fositan 21-inch LED Ring Light Kit offers tremendous value for money, and for that reason it’s our pick for the best TikTok light you can get right now. It’s a 21-inch ring light, which is a good size for TikTok use. You can also switch from 2900K to 6500K colour temperatures, allowing you to match the ambient light of the environment and keep colours consistent.
The light also has multiple phone-mounting points, which is useful if you’re shooting from multiple angles. The downside is that there’s no battery – you need to be plugged into the mains, which does restrict your options a little. However, the included remotes are handy and mean that you don’t always need to be physically close to the light, and the telescopic stand gives you a lot of options to set the height of the light.
The Supernight LED strip light comes on a 10m roll, which packs in a whopping 600 LEDs for consistent lighting along the strip. It comes with a 44-key remote to control the 16 colour options, five-light patterns and their cycle speeds. There are six custom keys to freely adjust the exact colours to taste.
Flexible, lightweight and waterproof, these are ideal for lighting the home either inside or outside as they come with a self-adhesive backing to attach to surfaces. For particularly small, hard-to-light areas just cut along the dedicated cutting points (every 6 LEDs) to change the length without damaging the lights.
The Neewer dimmable Bi-color LED light is built in a stylish and sturdy metal casing making it more robust than its plastic competitors. It has the ability to switch colour temperature with the aid of two control knobs at the back, which switch between white and yellow LEDs in dimmable amounts.
It’s versatile for home studio and outdoor use thanks to the ability to switch between mains and battery power. It also comes with a diffusion panel which softens the light – perfect for portraits. This panel is ideal for those wishing to light themselves or the background, with a small, compact design and U-shaped light stand mount to allow for fast tilting up and down.
If you’re on a really tight budget, the Diyife Ring Light is available for a single-digit price in dollars or pounds, and will get the job done. It may not have colour temperature control, or much brightness control beyond three basic settings, but it does provide a decently attractive light for selfies and self-taping. It comes with a clip that can attach to pretty much any smartphone or tablet, and its lithium-ion battery is rechargeable via micro USB, making it easy to give yourself a little more power when needed. Small enough to take anywhere, the Diyife Ring Light is a cheap and easy ring light that you can pick up and throw in a bag at a moment’s notice.
The tiny Lumimuse 8 LED light is Manfrotto’s upgraded version, which includes Bluetooth connectivity. Using the app, one can link a smart device to the light to control dimming from 0-100%, as well as access other functions such as flash, timers, photo and video modes.
There’s no in-built control for colour temperature, and the main light stands white at 5600K, but there are two orange filters to help balance the light against tungsten or fluorescent bulbs. Since it weighs just 0.16kg, you can easily pop one (or several) in your pocket to light videos on the go. It's great for use as a key or fill light and can be placed anywhere for lighting accents.
The Andoer Softbox light comes with a powerful 150W LED light. It has a wide colour temperature range from 3000-6000K, making it ideal for matching with existing lighting or with ambient lighting in a room.
Though big and bulky, the soft box makes light diffuse and flattering, mimicking window light that falls gracefully across the subject. It comes with a light stand standing from 68cm to 200cm in height and even has an infrared remote to turn the light on and off, dim it and change colour temperature.
Designed to be portable but still pack a punch, the NEO 2 by Rotolight really goes all out to quash the competition. Able to run on 6 standard AA batteries or mains power, this LED light serves as both a continuous light for video and even has a HSS sync flash option for fine-tuned stills.
The colour gamut is wide and is so accurate it's ideally suited for the Television Lighting Consistency Index, meaning your TikTok videos are going to look superb. It also has some CineSFX which mimic types of lighting effects such as lightning, fire, TV and gunshots.
Good things come in small packages, and if you’re either on a budget or need something to take with you while travelling, the Aputure AL-M9 Mini might be the light for you. At just 140g, you probably won’t even notice it in your pocket.
Powered by batteries alone, it’ll last for 105 minutes at 100% brightness, so plenty long enough to light multiple videos for social media. At 900 lumens, it isn’t the brightest on this list of the best TikTok lights, but it's ideal for close-up fill work for selfies, products and macro videos. What it lacks in power, it makes up for with a very attractive price.
It’s not always about lighting yourself in a TikTok video. Sometimes you’ve got to pay attention to the lighting in the background too, and that’s exactly where the Lepro warm LED lights come in.
Coming in two 5m strips, they can be cut along the dedicated cut points to resize them or to connect up several strips to fit around doorways, windows, or anything else. It’s always possible to use them to light the main subject too by cutting them up and using them up close. They come with a sticky back, so you can place them straight to surfaces without any faff.
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