Smart speakers and the voice assistants that power them are quickly becoming the “face” of the smart home. In 2018, about a quarter of American households had at least one smart speaker. It’s likely that will increase to about half in 2019. About 75% of Americans already use a voice assistant, whether it is through a smart speaker or another device such as a tablet or smart phone.
In this article, we’re going to look at the major smart speakers on the market and help you choose which one is right for your smart home. Your time is valuable, so here’s the executive summary. Keep reading below if you want to understand all your options and why we recommend what we do.
| Best Choice | Also a Great Choice |
Amazon Echo | Google Home |
|
|
Assuming you’re following our recommendation, you might want one or two Amazon Echos for main living areas in your house, an Echo Show for the kitchen (very useful for recipes and other information), and an Echo Dot in every other room that you spend any significant time in. If you decide to go the Google Home route, the recommendation is essentially the same, just replace Amazon Echo with Google Home
Smart Speaker Ecosystems
Maybe you’re reading this because you’re part of one of the remaining households that doesn’t yet own a smart speaker. Or perhaps you’re on the fence, having already bought into one or more voice assistants, but aren’t sure which one is right for you. Here, I’m going to try to break down which voice assistant ecosystem is the right one for your smart home.
By now, practically everyone has heard of Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri. Perhaps you’re also familiar with Microsoft’s Cortana, especially if you’re a Windows power user. You may or may not know anything about Samsung’s Bixby. Despite the relative disparity in name recognition, all five of the mentioned voice assistants have real promise. There are actually countless other voice assistants available, these five are really the main players, each backed by a technology powerhouse.
Voice Assistants and Smart Speakers
Just to clarify, we’re really talking about two things here. Voice Assistants are computerized “personalities” that can listen for spoken requests and respond with information or actions. Smart speakers are hardware devices powered by voice assistants that include a speaker and microphone. The same voice assistant that runs on a smart speaker may also run on a computer, smart phone, or any number of other devices.
Here’s a breakdown of the major voice assistants and where you might find them.
| Voice Assistant | Maker | Smart Speaker | Also commonly on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alexa | Amazon | Amazon Echo devices | Amazon Kindle |
| Bixby | Samsung | Galaxy Home | Samsung Phones |
| Cortana | Microsoft | Harman Kardon Invoke | Windows Computers |
| Google Assistant | Google Home devices | Android Phones | |
| Siri | Apple | HomePod | Apple Phones and Computers |
Samsung and Microsoft are Far Behind
All of these voice assistants and their smart speakers are impressive. They aren’t all in the same league, though. Despite large install bases in Windows computers and Samsung phones, Microsoft’s Cortana and Samsung’s Bixby just haven’t wowed users with their usefulness and therefore haven’t gained the popularity of the other three contenders here. Additionally, these two brands have been really late to the game when it comes to getting smart speakers to market.
HomePod Doesn’t Make the Cut
Although Siri is a household name, prominently featured on the ubiquitous iPhone, it also has run into some roadblocks. First, the artificial intelligence powering Siri hasn’t kept up with the assistants from Google and Amazon. Secondly, Siri just doesn’t play well with anything outside the Apple ecosystem. If you don’t own an iPhone, or other device manufactured by Apple, you can’t use Siri at all. Even if you were to buy a HomePod, you can’t set it up without connecting it to another Apple device. Finally where Google and Amazon have both released a range of smart speakers, Apple has only released the HomePod, which at $350, is outside the price range of most who are just curious about getting started with a smart speaker.
The Real Competition is With These Giants
That leaves us with Amazon Echo and Google Home to battle it out for the central place in the smart home of 2019.
Honestly, you could stop right here, smart speakers from Amazon and Google are both great options. Both are compatible with a wide range of devices. Both have acceptable to impressive sound quality, depending on the device you’re using. Both are intelligent and capable of providing basic information from the Internet or about your smart home. Their price points are very similar. Each offers a budget option good for placing in every room of the house, and a higher end option suitable to replace a basic stereo. The two aren’t completely identical, but where they differ, it’s often had to choose a clear winner.
Smart Speaker Score Card
| Amazon Echo | Google Home | |
| Music Streaming | Winner if you subscribe to Amazon Prime Unlimited, or to a lesser extent Amazon Prime | Winner if you subscribe to Google Music or YouTube Red |
| Sound Quality | Tie | Tie |
| Smart Home | Winner: Practically twice the number of compatible devices | |
| Voice Assistant | Winner: Can resolve a wide range of queries without the need to search out third party skills |
Amazon Has Taken the Lead with Smart Home Compatibility
In terms of device compatibility, Amazon is the clear winner. Google reports compatibility with over 10,000 devices while Amazon boasts over 20,000. It’s apparent that Amazon is doing a better job getting more smart devices integrated. It even seems that most high-profile smart devices that work with both systems typically work out Amazon Alexa integration months ahead of Google connectivity. Granted there are a number of smart devices that only work with Google Home at this point, but the scales on this one tip very strongly in Amazon’s favor.
Either One Will Give You the Time of Day
Both Echo and Google Home devices can give you the weather, traffic information, and summaries from Wikipedia. They can provide sports scores and help with trivia or questions you might find homework. However, Google’s deep reach in search and information retrieval seems to help their Assistant provide information in a more reliable and seamless way. Additionally, if you’re already a user of Google products such as Gmail, Google Calendar, or an Android phone, you’ll find that Google Assistant is more helpful with personally relevant information since it is aware of your schedule and contacts. In general, I find that Google’s responses are more natural, and more often laced with a fun sort of playful wit that just makes it more fun to talk to.
Google Is Less Frustrating to Talk To
It’s terribly hard to put an empirical measure on a voice assistant’s usefulness. By one metric, Amazon Alexa has over 50,000 skills, whereas Google Assistant supports over 1 million actions. This isn’t a totally fair comparison, because what is considered an “action” or a “skill” is up to how each manufacturer defines it. However, it does paint a picture of where each manufacturer stands, and Google’s 1 million to Amazon’s 50,000 actions makes it far more capable when it comes to responding to questions. Additionally, a huge portion of Alexa’s capabilities are provided via third-party skills that have to be enabled individually. Google Assistant can just do more things natively. The point here goes to Google
Both Make Adequate Jukeboxes
Almost every smart speaker owner uses the devices to listen to music, so it’s worth looking at what each device can do. Both Alexa and Google Assistant can stream music from Apple Music, Pandora, TuneIn, and Spotify. Only Google Assistant supports Google Music and YouTube Red. Only Amazon Alexa supports Prime music. To get the full benefits of Google Music, you’ll need a subscription, and to get the full benefits of Amazon Prime music, you’ll need a subscription to Prime Unlimited. However, if you’re already an Amazon Prime member, you’ll get the basic Prime Music experience with direct, ad-free access to a large music library. This one is a tie. However, if you’re a Google Music subscriber, then Google wins this one, and if you’re an Amazon Prime or Prime unlimited subscriber, the Echo pulls ahead.
Amazon Echo by a Nose
Although a case can be made for buying any smart speaker, Amazon Echo and Google Home devices are the obvious choice for most people. Which one you buy is ultimately going to be a personal decision, and many people have a mix of the two. If you’re ready to commit to one platform or the other, you’d be unlikely to regret going with the Google Home. However, due to Amazon Alexa’s staggering lead in device capability, Echo is the way to go if having a smart home is your primary objective.