A smart speaker is often one of the first additions to a smart home, so you’d want your choice to fit right in and get working. To do its job well, it’s important for the smart speaker to have good sound, an easy setup process and great microphones to pick up your voice from across the room. To be honest, it’s quite important it gets that timer started right when you need it and those smart lights turned on or off correctly. If possible, it should even fit into a budget.
So, if you’re just getting started with your smart home — or are eyeing an upgrade to a better sounding smart speaker — backed by DailyNow&Then years of research and testing of voice control devices and smart speakers, starting back when they first hit the scene, here is a list of the best smart speakers on the market.irst hit the scene, here is a list of the best smart speakers on the market.
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.
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.
Amazon Echo (4th gen)
Best smart speaker overall
We give the smart home edge in the best smart speaker category to Amazon, thanks to Alexa and the $100, fourth-generation Amazon Echo.
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.
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.
Amazon Echo Dot (5th Gen)
Best budget smart speaker
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.
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 Nest Mini (2nd gen)
Best Google Assistant speaker
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.
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.
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.
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).
Overall, Google still has the intelligence edge, and the Google Nest Mini is a great, low-cost way to take advantage of those smarts.
Apple HomePod Mini
Best smart speaker for HomeKit
Apple’s small, Siri-enabled smart speaker bridges a strange gap between its competitors with a $100 price tag like Google’s Nest Audio and the Amazon Echo, and cheaper speakers that come in small packages like the Nest Mini and Echo Dot.
Features like intercom, audio handoff and stereo pairing make this little smart speaker quite practical. It looks good and sounds great.
When it comes to the smart home, Siri and HomePod Mini are limited to devices that work with Apple’s smart home platform, HomeKit.
Fewer HomeKit-compatible devices are available than are devices that work with Alexa or Google Assistant.
If you like Apple (and if Siri is your smart assistant of choice), or if HomeKit is your preferred smart home platform, you’re going to love Apple’s smart speaker.
For those who already use an iPhone, Apple TV or original HomePod, adding this smart speaker to the collection just makes sense.
Sonos Era 100
Best smart speaker for sound quality
It was going to be a tough job replacing the Sonos One, but the company has managed to not only make the Era 100 sound better but give it a bit more functionality as well.
In addition to Apple AirPlay 2 and Sonos’ own multiroom system, the Era 100 now features Bluetooth, and this brings it in line with the Roam and Move portable speakers.
The Era 100’s only drawback is that the speaker no longer offers a choice between Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. While adding a Nest Mini might seem to defeat the purpose of a speaker like this, it should solve this problem for people who are in the Google ecosystem. The issue is reportedly with a change to Google’s rules, so maybe there’s hope the Assistant can be added in the future.
Either way, the Era 100 sounds great and Alexa fans in particular should love it.
