There are several voice assistants locked in a tug-of-war over who controls the smart speakers in your home: Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistant, and Apple’s Siri. We prefer Google. Its Assistant answers questions more accurately, has a simpler setup process, and connects to a growing number of smart home devices. All the devices below have built-in Google Assistant, so you can ask it anything you’d search for on Google, or ask it to control smart home products like robot vacuums, smart plugs, lights, and TVs. Google doesn’t update its line of products often, but even with the same lineup for years, here at WIRED we find ourselves coming back to it again and again over the competition.
If you’re looking to add Google to your home, the best overall speaker is Google’s Nest Audio ($75). But the handiest devices are the smart displays, since they give you more capabilities to control your smart home, watch videos, display your photos, and much more. The Google Nest Hub Max ($230) is the best of the two hubs since it has a large enough screen to enjoy photos and easily, or you can splurge on the Pixel Tablet ($499), which is a tablet and smart display in one, thanks to the speaker charging dock.
Be sure to check out our guide on how to maintain your privacy as much as possible while still enjoying the luxuries of smart assistants. We also have many other buying guides, including the Best Smart Displays, Best Smart Speakers, and Best Alexa Speakers.
Updated June 2025: We’ve reorganized the picks in this guide and added an FAQ section.
