Oelo vs JellyFish Lighting: Permanent Lights Compared

Oelo vs JellyFish at a glance#

Oelo, often searched as "Oleo," and JellyFish side by side, with every gap left as a gap.

Dealers set the installed price on both. The permanent lighting brands compared hub adds Trimlight, Gemstone and EverLights to the same rows.

Lens or puck: what goes on the house?#

The housing is the first thing the homeowner sees, and the two brands build it differently. Oelo's main option is an acrylic cover sold in 8 ft pieces you can cut down, with the LEDs behind a lens at 10 inches or closer. Its commercial page also lists a metal channel in 7 ft 6 in sections. Oelo's pages describe the acrylic cover mounted on the fascia facing out for a traditional glow, and the colour list differs between its pages (nine standard colours on one, ten including Cream on kit pages), so check the order form.

JellyFish uses individual puck-shaped lights with a frosted lens, 3-diode LEDs and silicone-filled casings, set in a track that is colour-matched to the soffit at the measuring visit. Its product and Built to Last pages list 6, 9 and 16 inch spacing; one landing page says 6, 9 or 18, so confirm before you order.

From the ladder, the difference is in the cut list. A cover in 8 ft pieces means counting joints on every run; a track means matching the soffit colour on a house that may be repainted in year four. Either way, look at the fascia and soffit before you pick a line for a house.

How do the warranties compare, and what tier are you?#

Oelo's warranty depends on your dealer tier; JellyFish's depends on which page you read. Oelo's warranty page, as search results show it, gives 7 years on installs by Authorized, Preferred and Platinum dealers from January 1, 2024, and 5 years on Contractor and customer DIY installs. Systems installed before 2024 carry 5 years. The summary gives full coverage in year one and parts only after that. So the same lights carry a different warranty depending on the agreement you signed.

JellyFish's product page and Why JellyFish page say 5 years on parts and 1 year on labour. Its holiday lighting page says three years on parts and one year on labour. Get the term written into the dealer agreement and print that, not a web page.

On Oelo the tier sets the parts years; on JellyFish the page you trust does. Neither one covers labour after year one, so your agreement has to say who pays the service visit; our permanent lighting installation agreement template has the clause.

Controllers, zones and the app#

JellyFish sizes the controller in feet; Oelo sizes it in lights. JellyFish runs the lights at 48 V DC with a 12 V controller, states 250 ft of lights per controller, and adds power supplies for more lights. Its app handles zones, schedules months ahead, voice control through Alexa, Google Home and Control4, and its Why JellyFish page says the controllers work with or without Wi-Fi.

Oelo's Evolution app manual, from March 2024, describes up to six zones per controller, each named and sized by LED count, 55-plus pre-made patterns, saved custom patterns, and scheduling at set times, sunset or sunrise. Its FAQ lists Alexa, Google Home, Control4 and other home automation systems. Capacity is where the pages disagree: search results show 120 lights for a small control unit and 300-plus for a large one on kit pages, and up to 600 lights in the FAQ. At 10 inch spacing, 600 lights covers 500 ft, while 120 lights covers 100 ft. Ask which unit you are quoting.

On the quote, the controller is always its own line. JellyFish's corporate pricing lists it at $650 to $850 on its own, which tells you how homeowners will compare it.

What does it cost to start with each brand?#

Oelo publishes a tier ladder; JellyFish publishes no dollar figure. Oelo's tier pages, as search results show them, start with a Contractor tier at no startup fee and no annual purchase minimum, for 10 percent off list. The Authorized dealer tier has a $5,000 initiation fee and $5,000 to $24,999 a year in purchases, with on-site training and ad match. Preferred and Platinum ask for larger yearly purchases for larger discounts. The thresholds differ between Oelo's own pages, so get the current tier sheet before you plan cash flow.

JellyFish has no ladder to climb: one dealer door with no franchise or territory fee, "different opening purchase levels" that are not priced, and training plus a lighting specialist. Its FAQ raises territories and competing brands without a public answer, and a partner program lets a business sell while JellyFish installs.

Ask both the same questions: the opening purchase in dollars, the yearly minimum, the territory rule, whether you may carry a second brand, and the warranty term in writing. Our guide to starting a permanent lighting business covers the rest of the startup list.

Worked example: a long ranch with four jumps#

A wide single-storey with 220 ft of roofline, two gables with 40 ft of peaks, and four unlit jumps of 6 ft each between the house, the garage and the entry, for 260 lit feet. Measured from one owned photo with the garage door as the reference, an estimate confirmed on site before anything 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 $28.18 per lit foot. At JellyFish's corporate range of $25 to $35, the same 260 ft is $6,500 to $9,100 before its controller, by our arithmetic. On this ranch the brands part ways on counts, not price:

On this ranch the controller is the line to settle before you send the quote. JellyFish counts feet and the house is 10 ft over; Oelo counts lights and the answer depends on which control unit you order. Ask both reps, then put the hardware they name on its own line.

When to choose Oelo#

Choose Oelo when you want to start on the no-fee Contractor tier and move up as volume grows, your customers like the look of a continuous lens, and you want up to six zones from one controller. Plan to reach the Authorized tier if a 7-year warranty is part of your pitch, and confirm every figure by phone, since its site would not load for us.

When to choose JellyFish#

Choose JellyFish when your customers want to see individual lights rather than a glowing line, you want a density choice of 6, 9 or 16 inches, and you would rather size controllers by the foot than count lights. The dealer door carries no franchise or territory fee and no tier ladder. Get the parts term in writing, since two of its pages disagree.

Homeowners: why does the installer's Oelo tier matter?#

Because on Oelo it sets your warranty. Ask whether the installer is an Oelo Authorized dealer or above, or on the Contractor tier: the same lights carry 7 years from the first and 5 from the second, by Oelo's warranty page as search results show it. On JellyFish, ask which parts term is in the dealer's agreement, 3 or 5 years. On both, ask who pays the service visit after year one and whether the controller is its own line.

Where Oelo and JellyFish quotes go wrong#

• Selling 7 years on a Contractor account. Contractor and DIY installs get 5. Know your tier before you print the paragraph.
• Counting feet for an Oelo controller. Oelo sizes control units in lights. Divide the lit feet by the spacing first.
• Assuming one JellyFish controller on a long house. It states 250 ft per controller. Add up every lit run, front and back.
• Ignoring the joints. An 8 ft cover on a 260 ft house is 33 pieces. Count joints at every hip and return from the drawing.
• Matching the soffit once. A JellyFish track is colour-matched at the measure. Note the colour on the job file for the house that gets repainted later.
• Printing a warranty from a web page. Both brands publish more than one figure. Print the term from your agreement.

A lens line and a puck line on one rate card#

The two brands count different things, so set them up differently. An Oelo line is sold by the light and the 8 ft cover, and its warranty paragraph depends on your tier. A JellyFish line is sold by the foot of track at one of three spacings, with the controller sized in feet. Build each as its own product line, put controllers and power supplies on as add-ons, and re-quote three houses you already sold. The EverLights vs JellyFish page runs the same test on a two-storey, and the permanent per-foot pricing guide sets the base rates.

In GlowBid, the footage behind the cover count and the light count comes from one drawing. Runs are drawn by type on a photo you own and scaled from a door or a garage door, and the footage, the bill of materials and the price follow from that geometry. Every measurement carries a source tag and a confidence level, and the quote says photo footage is an estimate confirmed on site, which is the line you want before cutting 33 acrylic pieces. The homeowner signs the PDF, drawing and footage by run included, on their phone and pays the deposit through Stripe.

Try the free roofline measuring tool on your next house, no login until export. Core is $69 a month or $299 a year, with a 7-day trial, no card, and a 30-day money-back on a first yearly payment; see GlowBid pricing. The permanent lighting dealer software page covers what each manufacturer gives a new dealer and what it does not.