Philip Hue Lights and Strips

I have about 45 hue lights throughout my house. BR30s, A19s, and lightstrips. I don't have any white ambiance bulbs all color, primarily because like you say, for an extra 10 or so bucks you get a better product.

I wouldn't bother with competitors, Hue pretty much sets the standard for smart bulbs.

As for lightstrip alternatives...there was a thread about a week ago on here about a way to make your own for much cheaper than the hue strip, and it would be compatible with hues hub.

Thread about do it yourself Hue Light strips

I am waiting on the materials to try this out right now. Should be a much cheaper option for the light strip portions

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1) I need like 90 feet of LED strip. Is this the way to go? At about $12/ft is there a better option?

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Not really. Depending on what you want to do, though, there are some light bars being released on Nov. 1 that may fit what you want to do better.

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2) Are the white ambiance lights any good? I hear they aren’t that bright. I’m not sure I want to pay $30/ bulb for a dim light.

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The white ambiance lights should perform very similarly in the white spectrum to the white and color ambiance. I'd imagine they have the same LEDs for the white spectrum. The white dimmable LED lights absolutely DO NOT perform as well as the white ambiance. Don't be tempted to try to cheap out. The dimmable bulbs do not dim nearly as much as the ambiance bulbs. My bathrooms have motion sensors and automatic lighting. After 10 pm, the lights come on with nightlights to avoid blinding people half asleep. The dimmable bulbs were terrible at it. I threw those away and just replaced them with white and color ambiance. Besides, being able to do dim red light after bedtime is way better for not blasting your eyes if you have to pee at 3 am. Basically, if the bulb looks roundish like a regular light bulb, stay away. You want the bulbs that are flattish on the end.

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3) Is it worth to just spend the extra $10/bulb more to get the full color bulbs?

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Yes. What you can do with full color bulbs is truly spectacular. My living room goes full movie theater lighting with the dim red lighting around the perimeter and the ceiling with the lightstrip behind the TV for bias lighting when I want to watch TV or play video games. Plus, the home automation things you can think up with the colored lights can be awesome. For instance, about 15 minutes before I leave for work, I have a HA routine that runs and checks the weather. If the chance of rain is high enough, it turns the foyer light blue so I know to grab my umbrella, then it automatically sets the color normal and turns it off about 15 minutes after I leave. If you can think of it and have some programming chops or use available tools, you can do some truly cool things with lighting.

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Is there any other alternative or competitor I should look into?

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No. Philips Hue is the big swinging dick in the customizable lighting world.