The ideal smart home will have at least one smart speaker, which can end up being the most important component of the setup. A quality smart speaker should first and foremost excel at playing music, audiobooks and podcasts. On top of that, it should offer smart features for internet searches and voice-activated control of your connected devices. These smart speakers come with a lot of technology built into them, including the ability to be smart home hubs for systems like Matter and Zigbee.
If you’re out shopping for your next smart speaker, size and your choice of platform are crucial factors to consider, but actual sound quality, line-out support and specialty features like a built-in clock can make a world of difference, too. And, of course, it needs to be able to easily understand you, whether it’s right next to your bed or all the way across your echoey kitchen. Plus, if you’re on a budget, you can secure some savings right now. After all, smart speakers easily top the list of best smart home gifts year after year.
Most speakers these days are still running either Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, but Apple’s HomePod Mini with Siri is there for those wholly committed to Apple’s ecosystem. Some speakers have support for both Alexa and Assistant, too, but the Sonos Era 100 is not among them. Instead, the Era 100 is a smart speaker that can be controlled by Google Assistant but does not have Google Assistant on-board, so when shopping for smart speakers, be sure to check if something is not Alexa/Assistant-compatible but rather Assistant/Alexa built-in.
What’s the best smart speaker?
Amazon Echo speakers are among the most affordable and easy-to-set-up smart speakers out there. That’s why the fourth-gen Amazon Echo is our pick for the top smart speaker overall. It’s likely to best meet the needs of most households. Although it’s a few years old, the device features improved sound quality over the previous generation is compatible with an assortment of smart devices and goes for the relatively affordable price of $100 (although it can often be found on sale for $80 or less).
The fourth-generation Echo might not be the best pick for your particular home. Almost every smart speaker allows you to control the lights, play music, ask questions, set reminders and much more with simple voice commands. The decision may simply come down to which brand you’re already invested in. If you have an affinity for a particular company’s products, whether you’re devoted to Amazon, Apple or Google, picking a speaker is easy.Â
For platform-neutral folks (or those looking to switch things up), our top picks aside from the fourth-gen Amazon Echo, are the second-gen Google Nest Mini, the Amazon Echo Dot (5th Gen), the Apple HomePod Mini and the new Sonos Era 100. Find out why below.
Best smart speakers of 2024
We give the smart home edge in the best smart speaker category to Amazon, thanks to Alexa and the $100, fourth-generation Amazon Echo.Â
The latest Echo (not to be confused with the fifth-gen Echo Dot or Echo Pop) combines the usual Alexa smarts with a speaker that sounds great and has a built-in Zigbee radio. That’s a nice inclusion that’ll let you connect Zigbee lights, locks, sensors, and other devices to your setup without the need for a separate hub device.Â
The Echo is even useful while you’re away, as Alexa can send alerts if your smart speaker’s microphones detect the sound of glass breaking or a smoke alarm.
What helps the Echo clinch first place is its sound quality: This speaker offers loud, room-filling sound with plenty of clarity and bass control. While there are even better-sounding speakers, such as the Sonos Era 100 and the Echo Studio, neither can beat the price of the Echo.
Read our Amazon Echo (4th gen) review.
If you’re in the market for a budget smart speaker, they don’t come any more feature-packed than the Amazon Echo Dot (5th Gen). It offers a wealth of capabilities including a temperature sensor, an Eero mesh extender and the ability to tap it like an alarm clock.Â
The Echo Dot (5th Gen) also sounds better than other speakers at the price, including the Echo Pop and Google’s Nest Mini, with plenty of vocal clarity and decent bass weight. Its microphones are sensitive enough to hear you from across the room, even with another speaker playing.
While Google’s Nest Mini is a little more sophisticated in terms of its responses, the Amazon Echo Dot is better in every other respect and is the best smart speaker for under $50.
Google has done an admirable job of catching up to Amazon in the smart speaker race. At this point, picking between the lowest-price smart speaker devices from the two companies comes down to splitting hairs.Â
Google Assistant now has almost as many capabilities as Alexa, making the $50 Google Nest Mini a solid alternative to the Amazon Echo Dot if Google Assistant is your preference. Plus, per our tests, Google Assistant is slightly smarter than Alexa.Â
It responds more flexibly to voice commands if you can’t remember the exact name of your smart home devices, and Google’s grouped commands, called routines, work with more types of smart devices than Amazon’s similar routines.Â
Google Assistant can recognize multiple voices, so it’ll give you and your spouse different answers if you each ask about your calendars, (although Alexa can do this now, too).Â
Overall, Google still has the intelligence edge, and the Google Nest Mini is a great, low-cost way to take advantage of those smarts.
Read our Google Nest Mini review.
