EverLights vs Trimlight: Permanent Lights for Installers

EverLights vs Trimlight at a glance#

The table below is what each brand publishes today, with the gaps left as gaps.

Dealers set the installed price on both, so the price row is the manufacturer's public number, not your customer's quote. Our permanent lighting brands compared hub puts JellyFish, Gemstone and Oelo in the same table.

Who installs it, and can you?#

Trimlight is dealer-only, and EverLights is three businesses at once. Trimlight's home page says installs are done by factory-trained dealers, not DIY, and its pricing page says the per-foot price is set by your local authorized dealer. If you want to hang Trimlight, you are a Trimlight dealer or you are not hanging it.

EverLights sells three ways. Its own crews install in five US markets from its base in Lindon, Utah. Third-party dealers and distributors cover the other areas. And anyone can buy ClickLights kits on its site and put them up themselves. For an installer, that means three different positions. In those five metros you compete with the manufacturer's own crew. Elsewhere you can be the local dealer. And everywhere, the homeowner can price the same lights as a kit before you arrive.

The two differ in Canada too. Trimlight's dealer locator lists dealers in six provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario and Saskatchewan), it has a Calgary location page, and it announced a Kamloops dealer on March 10, 2026. EverLights' pages we read do not mention Canada. If you work north of the border, as we do, ask Trimlight whether your area is already a territory, and ask EverLights about shipping, certification and support.

What does the warranty cover after year one?#

Parts, not labour, on both. The difference is how long the parts last on paper and what conditions you have to meet.

Trimlight's warranty page covers core parts for their expected service life, which it puts at roughly 20 to 30 years on average. Ridge lights get 1 year, landscape lights 10 years, and globe light lenses 2 years. The control board is covered; the software is not. A minimum $75 service fee may apply if a part sent in turns out to work. Labour on defective parts is at least 1 year, provided by the local dealer, and Trimlight head office is not responsible for installs or repairs.

EverLights' install page lists 1 year on colour-changing lights, 5 years on parts plus 1 year on labour when EverLights installs, and 15 years on the Classic line. Its warranty page now says 1 to 10 years by product and install method, with the schedules shown as images. Two pages, two answers on Classic, and the ClickLights kit page lists a 3 year parts warranty in its features and a one year warranty in its FAQ, so get the schedule for your install date in writing. The rest of the warranty page matters more to a dealer:

• Labour is excluded from the manufacturer warranty, and EverLights tells owners to get a labour warranty and maintenance contract from a third-party installer.
• A third-party install must follow EverLights' instructions and use its components (bridge, receiver, power booster, connectors, data buffers), or the warranty can be void.
• On a system bought from a dealer, the warranty starts at full app activation.
• Transfer to a new owner needs registration within 90 days of purchase.

From year two, a dead node on either brand is a free part and a paid ladder. Your agreement decides whose ladder; the permanent lighting installation agreement template has the clause.

How do they mount and power on the house?#

Trimlight goes under the eave in its own channel; EverLights often goes on the gutter. Trimlight's comparison page argues the under-eave position protects the bulbs from sun, which is the manufacturer making its own case. The same page, and a 2022 sponsored St. George News article, describe EverLights in the top lip of the gutter or the drip edge, with a channel on the fascia or stucco where there is no gutter. EverLights' own home page says only that the lights face outward or downward. Its warranty excludes damage from gutter, roof or soffit failure and from poor drainage, so look hard at the gutter before you quote it as the mount.

EverLights publishes its power layout on its install page, and it is worth printing:

• A power booster about every 75 ft, each covering 75 ft, fed from either end.
• A data buffer on any unlit wire longer than 5 ft, including after a Y-split.
• One bridge, plugged into the router by Ethernet, pairs with up to 20 wireless receivers, each on its own strand.
• Two receivers make two zones, so front and back can run different scenes.

That second bullet lands on your jumps. On an EverLights job, every unlit jump over 5 ft is a data buffer, which is one more reason jumps are their own run at their own rate; see ridge lines, peaks and jumps pricing. Trimlight's pages we read give the 12 V figure but no run length per power supply, so ask your rep before you lay out a long house.

What will the homeowner do in the app?#

Both apps run colours, patterns and schedules from the phone; the details differ. Trimlight Edge offers 180 preset patterns, music sync, lightning and snowflake effects, and control from anywhere. A blog excerpt on Trimlight's home page says Edge can run the lights over the controller's own Wi-Fi signal, without the home network.

The EverLights App runs RGBW lights with a true warm white, 200-plus patterns and presets, built-in scheduling and curated scenes, and control from anywhere with internet. The bridge needs an Ethernet line to the router, and the phone must be on the same Wi-Fi to pair. Its support page says a firmware download can take up to 5 minutes, so a strict home firewall can get in the way.

The app is what the customer calls you about in February. Set it up at handover, write the network requirement into the scope, and on an EverLights dealer job activate the app before you leave the driveway, since that is when the warranty clock starts.

What does it cost to carry each line?#

Trimlight publishes its door price; EverLights does not. Trimlight's dealer page asks $5,000 plus $499 for 30 zip codes or fewer, or $10,000 plus $499 for 31 or more. The $499 buys a demo kit and colour chips, and the rest is credited toward material. There are no royalties, monthly fees or renewal charges. Training is two days in Salt Lake City at your own travel cost. A territory is at most about a one-hour drive edge to edge, must include whole cities, and can be treated as abandoned if you fall below 10 percent of the yearly quota. In return: referred leads, wholesale pricing, a success manager and a marketing playbook.

EverLights' dealer page promises "minimal startup costs that include product," training, marketing and technical support, and says no specialty tools are needed. There is no dollar figure, so book the call.

One number from the kit is worth knowing: $1,675 for 100 ft is $16.75 a foot for the lights, channel, bridge and receiver, before any ladder time. That is the figure a handy homeowner may hold up against your quote. Its install page also lists a 20 percent restocking fee on unused material, returned in 25 ft lengths.

Worked example: one ranch, two lines#

A single-storey ranch with 140 ft of roofline, two gables with 30 ft of peaks, and two unlit jumps of 6 ft each across the garage and the entry, for 170 lit feet. Measured from one owned photo with the 16 ft garage door as the reference, an estimate confirmed on site before any channel is cut. You can price this house in the free tool. GlowBid's default rate card, track line, US dollars before tax; installers set their own rates.

That is $28.59 per lit foot, inside Trimlight's published $18 to $35. Now the part the brand changes:

The drawing, the footage and the customer's price did not move. The node order, the power plan and the warranty paragraph did, which is why each brand and spacing should be its own product line on the rate card.

When to choose Trimlight#

Choose Trimlight when you would rather not share a street with the manufacturer's own crew or a kit on the homeowner's laptop. Its install is dealer-only, so the lights on the house came from you. You also get a lifetime parts paragraph for the quote and three spacings on one brand. Budget $5,499 or $10,499 plus travel before the first job, and know the quota number before you sign, since a quiet year can cost you zip codes.

When to choose EverLights#

Choose EverLights when you work outside its five corporate markets, you want a low published startup, and your houses have sound gutters that suit a gutter-lip mount. Go in knowing the manufacturer warranty excludes labour, a dealer-sold warranty starts at app activation, and homeowners can buy the same lights as a kit. Confirm spacing, channel colours and dealer terms directly, because its public pages do not state them.

Homeowners: is the kit cheaper than an install?#

On the lights alone, often yes; on the finished house, not always. The 100 ft ClickLights kit works out to $16.75 a foot before ladders, boosters for a long run, data buffers on the jumps, or anyone's labour, and the manufacturer warranty never covers labour. Trimlight sells no kit, so its number is the dealer's installed price. Ask any installer who quotes you whether the controller is on its own line or folded into the per-foot price (Trimlight's pricing page says either can happen), and who pays the ladder after year one.

Mistakes on EverLights and Trimlight quotes#

• Quoting the manufacturer's warranty as yours. Parts are theirs; the ladder after year one is yours. The agreement says so in plain words.
• Forgetting the data buffers. On EverLights, unlit wire over 5 ft needs one. Count jumps from the drawing, not from memory.
• One power supply for a long house. EverLights puts a booster about every 75 ft. Lay out the power before you price, not on the roof.
• Leaving the app for the customer to set up. On an EverLights dealer job the warranty starts at activation. Do it at handover.
• Believing a competitor's comparison page. Trimlight's page is Trimlight's case. Check every EverLights figure on EverLights' own pages.
• Ordering nodes from a tape number. 170 lit feet at 9 inches is 227 nodes plus waste. A photo estimate confirmed on site, with a materials buffer you set (GlowBid's default is 10 percent), saves the second trip.

Before you sign: re-quote three houses you already sold#

Nothing about your customers changes when you change brands; your rate card does. Build the new line next to your current one, with per-foot rates by run type for each spacing, controllers and boosters as add-on lines, and the brand's warranty paragraph. Then re-quote three houses you sold last year. If the new line cannot hold your margin at the price your market pays, you want to know in January, not on a November ladder. Our permanent per-foot pricing guide sets the base rates.

GlowBid does that test from the drawings you already have. Roofline, ridge line, peak and jump runs are drawn on a photo you own and scaled from a door or a garage door, so footage, bill of materials and price come from the same geometry; switch the product line and the price follows. Each measurement carries a source tag and a confidence level, and the quote says photo footage is an estimate confirmed on site. The quote PDF carries the drawing and footage by run, the customer signs on their phone, and the deposit goes through Stripe.

Try the free roofline measuring tool on your next house, no login until export. When you are ready to price it, Core is $299 a year at the founding price, with a 7-day trial, no card, and a 30-day money-back; see GlowBid pricing. If you are still choosing how to quote as a new dealer, the permanent lighting dealer software page covers what the manufacturers give you and what they do not.