Permanent Lighting · Buyer's guide

Jellyfish Lighting vs Trimlight: what actually differs, and how to choose

Updated September 13, 2026

Jellyfish Lighting and Trimlight are the two most-searched professional permanent lighting brands, and the hardware is more alike than different: both put addressable LEDs inside a colour-matched aluminium track along your roofline, both are controlled from an app, and both are installed by local dealers. The real differences are in how they are sold and what they publish. Trimlight is dealer-only, publishes a lifetime product warranty on core components with a one-year labour minimum, states plainly that its residential product mixes white from red, green and blue with no dedicated white channel, and gives an approximate price per foot in its own comparison post. Jellyfish sells through corporate locations and dealers and also offers a do-it-yourself route, publishes an approximate per-foot price plus a controller charge for its corporate installs, states that its wiring is enclosed in the track with no exterior power supplies, and does not state its warranty terms or its white-light approach on the pages we checked. Neither is better in the abstract. The dealer, the track colour match against your trim, and the written warranty will decide your result more than the name on the box, and this page shows you how to compare them on those terms.

Why almost every comparison you find is biased

Search this exact question and the top results are dealer blogs. A Trimlight dealer explains why the lifetime warranty makes Trimlight the safe choice. A Jellyfish dealer explains why enclosed wiring and a DIY option make Jellyfish the flexible one. Both are usually accurate about the facts and both arrive at the verdict their business needs. Even the manufacturers do it: Trimlight's own site carries a brand-comparison post, which is where its published price range lives.

Lights Local is a directory. The installers listed here quote whichever brands they carry, and many carry more than one, so there is no reason for this page to steer you either way. Read the dealer comparisons for their facts. Read this one for the verdict, which is that the verdict depends on your house and your dealer, not on the logo.

What they share

Before the differences, it helps to see how much is the same, because it is most of the product.

• Colour-matched track. Both systems mount their LEDs inside an aluminium track or channel finished to match your trim, so the run is a near-invisible line by day. Jellyfish describes installation "under eaves and behind trim" with a matching track colour; Trimlight describes a patented, colour-matched channel designed to disappear into the roofline.
• Individually addressable LEDs. Each light can be its own colour, which is what makes holiday patterns, chasing effects and accent zones possible on both.
• App control. Jellyfish uses the Jellyfish app; Trimlight uses the Trimlight Edge app, which the manufacturer says handles custom colours, patterns, schedules, timers and music sync with Alexa and Google Home compatibility. On either brand, the app is where you live with the product after the crew leaves, so try each one before you sign.
• Dealer installation. Both are fitted by local dealers who measure, cut, route and wire the run to your house. The quality of that work is the single biggest variable in how the finished system looks and lasts, and it is the same variable for both brands.
• Year-round use. Both are positioned for everyday accent lighting as well as holidays, and both are permanent installs meant to stay up.

If you took the logos off two well-installed systems, most homeowners could not tell them apart from the street. Our brand comparison puts all the professional systems in one table; this page zooms in on these two.

Where they genuinely differ

Mounting and spacing options

Trimlight's site makes a point of its light spacing: residential installs come in 6-inch, 9-inch or 12-inch spacing. That is a real choice with a real effect. Tighter spacing reads as a continuous line of light and costs more per foot; wider spacing reads as distinct points and costs less. Ask to see both against a house at night before you decide. Jellyfish's pages we checked do not present spacing as a menu in the same way; ask the dealer what spacing they install and whether there is a choice.

Power and wiring

Jellyfish states two things about its wiring that Trimlight's site does not address. First, the wires are enclosed in the track with "attic jumps" and there are no exterior power supplies, which in practice means the power and control hardware lives inside the house or attic rather than in a box on an exterior wall, with no visible cable along the eave. Second, its 16-gauge, four-wire design means that if one light fails the rest keep working. Trimlight's site does not state its power arrangement on the pages we checked, so ask the Trimlight dealer where the controller and power supply will live on your house and how the cable gets there.

White light

This is one of the few places the LEDs themselves may differ, and it matters if everyday warm-white is your main reason for buying. Trimlight states that its residential product mixes white from red, green and blue rather than carrying a dedicated white channel. Mixed white works, and many owners run it nightly, but it can read slightly differently from a dedicated warm-white LED. Jellyfish's site does not say either way on the pages we checked. So the honest comparison is: Trimlight has told you what it does; Jellyfish has not. Ask the Jellyfish dealer directly, and ask both dealers to show you plain white in person after dark.

How they are sold

Trimlight is strictly dealer-only. The manufacturer describes a network of more than 300 factory-trained local dealers and sells no retail or DIY version. Jellyfish sells through its own corporate locations and a network of authorised dealers, and also offers a do-it-yourself route, describing DIY installation as very doable for those who are handy while recommending professional installation for safety and design. If you want the option of installing a professional-grade system yourself, that rules Trimlight out. If you want the assurance that every install of the brand was done by a trained dealer, that is Trimlight's argument.

Published warranty

Trimlight publishes the most specific warranty of any brand in the category: a lifetime product warranty on core components, based on the manufacturer's estimated lifespan of those components, which it has described as covering LEDs, channel, wiring and controller; a minimum one-year labour warranty from the installing dealer; replacement parts free through local dealers, with labour fees possibly applying after the initial labour period; and no transfer when you sell the home. Jellyfish's warranty terms were not stated on the pages we checked, so we will not guess at them. That does not mean Jellyfish has a worse warranty. It means you have to get it from the dealer, in writing, before you can compare.

Published pricing

Both brands publish an approximate price, which is rarer than it sounds; Gemstone, EverLights and Oelo do not. Jellyfish's pricing page gives an approximate cost per linear foot plus a separate controller charge for installs by its corporate locations, and says in as many words that authorised dealers operate independently and their pricing varies. Trimlight gives an approximate price per linear foot in its own comparison post and says full projects generally land in a range that runs to several thousand dollars or more depending on scope. Neither number is your quote. Both are useful as a sanity check: if a dealer's quote lands far outside the manufacturer's range, ask why, and expect a specific answer about your roofline rather than a shrug. Our cost guide explains what moves the number.

Side by side

Read the table for what each brand has chosen to say. A row that reads "not stated" is not a mark against the product; it is a question you now know to ask.

How to compare a Jellyfish quote against a Trimlight quote

Get both quotes for the same house, and make sure they are quoting the same job. The most common reason two permanent lighting quotes differ is not the hardware. It is that one covers the full roofline including the back and the garage and the other covers the front elevation only, or one includes the peaks and the other leaves them off. Before you compare a single number, line up:

1. The run. Total linear feet, and which elevations. Ask each dealer to mark it on a photo of the house.
2. Corners, peaks and transitions. How many, and whether each is priced in or extra. This is where most of the labour lives.
3. Spacing. For Trimlight, which of the three spacings is quoted. For Jellyfish, what spacing they install. Two quotes at different spacings are not comparable.
4. Controller and power. Where it goes, how it is powered, and how the cable gets there. Jellyfish's attic-jump approach and Trimlight's arrangement may route differently on your house.
5. Warranty, in writing. Trimlight's published terms plus whatever extra labour coverage the dealer offers; Jellyfish's manufacturer terms plus the dealer's labour coverage. Then ask both what a service call costs in year three.
6. What is extra. Difficult access, second-story work, and a long run to the power source are the usual add-ons.

Once the two quotes describe the same job, the remaining difference is the price and the dealer. Pay attention to the dealer. The same product fitted by a careful crew with the track cut cleanly to every corner and the controller somewhere dry will outlast a superior product fitted badly.

Questions to ask each dealer

Ask the same list of both. The answers, and how readily they come, will tell you more than either brand's marketing.

1. Have you installed on a house like mine? Ask to see it, ideally at night.
2. Which track colour, and can I see a sample against my trim? Colour match is the main daytime difference between a good install and an obvious one.
3. How do you handle corners, peaks and transitions between roof heights?
4. Where does the controller go, and how is it powered and wired? For Jellyfish, ask how the attic jump is routed on your house. For Trimlight, ask where the power supply lives.
5. Does the system have a dedicated white channel, and can you show me plain white after dark? Trimlight's answer is on its site; Jellyfish's is not.
6. What is the manufacturer warranty, what labour do you cover, and for how long? In writing. Then: what does a service call cost after the labour period ends?
7. What is in the quote and what is extra?
8. When can you do it?

A dealer of either brand who answers all eight clearly is the one to hire. Installers are listed by state and city under permanent lighting, and the individual guides go deeper on Jellyfish Lighting and Trimlight.

When neither is the right answer

Both of these are professionally installed systems priced accordingly, and for some houses that is more product than the job needs. If you have a single-story home with a straight roofline, an outlet within reach, and a free weekend, a retail kit may be the better value. The trade-offs are real, clip mounting instead of a fitted track, a plug-in power adapter instead of a dedicated supply, and you as the support department, but for a simple roofline they may not matter. The Govee guide walks through exactly when a kit is the right call and when the roofline defeats it.

And if you want a professional-grade system but want to install it yourself, Jellyfish offers that route and Trimlight does not, which may settle the question on its own.