There are many smart speakers on the market, and picking the best smart speaker keeps getting tougher. First, you need to decide which voice assistant you prefer. There are three worth using—Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple’s Siri—and each has its pros and cons. This guide is organized by our preferred speaker, regardless of which assistant it uses, but we recommend a secondary option if you prefer a different assistant.
Overall, Google- and Amazon-powered smart speakers are the way to go, though we prefer Google’s ecosystem over Amazon’s. Amazon’s speaker lineup is more vast, but our favorite models are still Google’s, including the Google Nest Audio ($75) for a smart speaker (especially if you want stereo sound and two speakers for a great price) and the Google Nest Hub Max ($230) for a smart display. Amazon makes our favorite smaller speakers, though, particularly the fifth-generation Amazon Echo Dot ($50).
Check out our Best Alexa Speakers, Best Google Speakers, and Best Smart Displays guides for more recommendations. If you’re looking for more speaker advice, don’t miss our guides to the Best Bluetooth Speakers, Best Soundbars, and Best Sonos Speakers.
Updated June 2025: We’ve reorganized this guide and its picks.
Table of Contents
Our Favorite Smart Speaker
Photograph: GoogleÂ
Overall, Google Assistant is our go-to smart speaker and helper of choice, so it’s no surprise that the Nest Audio (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is our overall pick. It’s got a compact, pillow-like shape and great sound that will easily fill small and medium-size rooms. We really like using two Nests as a stereo pair because they combine to offer some of the best audio quality you can achieve in a smart speaker for $200.
As with all Google Assistant–powered devices, you can ask the Nest Audio to set timers, play music, or tell you the weather, and you can ask it anything you’d search on Google. The Google Home app makes it easy to pair up the speakers with any other Google-friendly smart device you have too. Google’s ecosystem is overall easy to use and easy to integrate into tons of other products, both from Google itself and others.
Connects to Google Assistant.
★ If you’d prefer Alexa: The fourth-generation Echo ($100) is the Amazon equivalent of this device. It’s a little shorter but wider, going for a round design over the taller Nest Audio. It’s got fantastic sound quality and great capabilities, and is a good choice if you’d prefer Alexa in your home. There have been some changes with Alexa, and there’s going to be a new version of the assistant available to everyone soon—read more in our section What About Alexa+?
Best Smart Display
Courtesy of Google
I love a smart display, because I love the option to either use voice commands to control my smart home or a tap of my finger. The Nest Hub Max (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is my favorite because it doubles as a gorgeous digital photo frame. It does a great job showing me all kinds of pictures since I’m a Google Photos user, but even if you aren’t actively backing everything up to Google Photos like I am, it’s easy to create and add to albums to display on the 10-inch screen.
The Hub Max is also easy to use to control your smart home, letting you adjust the lights with a tap or get the doorbell feed straight to your device. It has a built-in hub, so smart home devices can connect to it for setup, and it supports Matter over Thread and Wi-Fi. It also has surprisingly solid sound for its slim speakers and profile, especially for casual listening sessions in the kitchen or to set the ambiance during Dungeons and Dragons sessions.
Connects to Google Assistant.
★ If you’d prefer an Alexa display: Amazon has a borderline insane number of smart displays, but my favorite is easy to name: the Echo Show 8 ($150). The 8-inch screen is just big enough for everything you could use it for, and it packs a nice speaker and has a built-in hub compatible with Zigbee, Matter, and Thread. The larger sizes are too big for any regular-sized home, unless you’re a smart home addict and are certain you’ll put a 21-inch smart display to use.
Best Budget Smart Speaker
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Courtesy of Amazon
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Photograph: Nena Farrell
This little speaker is my favorite offering from Amazon. The tiny little Echo Dot is on its fifth generation (you might remember the original, which looked like a hockey puck) and this latest model has fantastic sound quality for such a small little speaker. It does everything the larger speakers can do, just in a smaller form. It’s a perfect choice to sneak into an office or a dorm room, or even a bathroom if you know you want to jam to music in the shower. I also love the Dot With Clock ($54) version that’s a little more and includes a simple digital clock—it’s currently in stock, but its availability has been rare this year.
Connects to Amazon.
