Both the Google Home and Amazon Echo are on sale for $79.99, so which one should you buy?
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Now is a great time to buy a smart speaker because the Amazon Echo and Google Home are on sale for $79.99 for a limited time.
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We tested the two smart speakers to determine which one is the best value for your money.
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The Amazon Echo wins with its 15,000+ skills, full compatibility with many smart home devices, and its simple design.
The Amazon Echo and Google Home are both on sale for $79.99 this holiday season, so if you've been waiting to choose a smart speaker for your home, wait no longer. Now is a great time to buy one.
The only hard part is choosing which one is best for you. Although we already have a full buying guide to the best smart speakers, we thought it'd be fun and helpful to pit the Google Home and the Amazon Echo against each other in a battle royale for the title of best smart home speaker.
To help you decide which one to buy, we've been testing both the Amazon Echo and the Google Home for months.
Each speaker has its advantages and its weaknesses. We break it down into a few key categories: compatibility with smart home devices and services, voice recognition and search, design and sound quality, as well as security and privacy.
Keep scrolling to see which smart speaker wins each category and to read our final verdict on which one you should buy.
Buy the Amazon Echo on Amazon for $79.99 (originally $99.99)
Buy the Google Home from Best Buy for $79.99 (originally $129.99)
Smart home compatibility and services
AmazonWinner: The Echo wins easily, thanks to Alexa's 15,000+ skills and Amazon's wide-ranging support for the most popular smart home products.
Anyone who's looking to build a smart home should grab the Echo instead of the Google Home. Amazon has significantly more partners than Google because the Echo has existed for a few more years than the Google Home. Alexa has 15,000+ skills, and new ones are added every day. Google is catching up, but it's still a long way off.
More smart home devices and popular services work with the Echo than the Google Home. The only reason why the Google Home might be better for some people is if they don't use Amazon and they're heavily into Google services.
Unfortunately for Google, literally millions of people are Amazon Prime subscribers who will get more bang for their buck with an Echo.
Amazon's Alexa supports the following:
- Smart home devices: Phillips Hue, Ring, Schlage Smart Locks, TP-Link Smart Home Products, Leviton, Insteaon, SmartThings, Wink, Caseta Wireless, LI-FX Smart Bulbs, GE Link Smart Bulbs, WeMo, iHome Smart Plugs, iDevices Switches, Nest, Sensi Thermostat, EcoBee Thermostat, Lyric Thermostat, August Smart Lock, Arlo Pro, Nest Cam IQ, Rachio Sprinklers, Gargeio Garage Door, iRobot Roomba Smart Vacuums, and so many more. You can browse all of the Echo compatible products on Amazon and buy them by clicking this link.
- Services: Amazon's Alexa supports more than 15,000 skills, and it supports far too many services to list here. Big ones include Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, Sirius XM, Uber, Domino's, StubHub, Audible, Dish, NPR, and so many more. You can also buy things from Amazon with a simple voice command.
Google's Assistant supports the following:
- Smart home devices: Chromecast, Chromecast-enabled TVs and speakers, Nest, SmartThings, Phillips Hue, LIFX Smart Lights, TP-Link Smart Home, Vivint Home Security, Rachio Sprinklers, Logitech Harmony, Geeni Connected Tech, August Smart Locks, Anova Precision Cooker, Insignia Wi-Fi Smart Plug, Belkin WeMo Insight Smart Plug, iRobot Roomba 960, Honeywell Wi-Fi Thermostat, Mr. Coffee Smart Coffee Maker, Lutron, Ring, and many more. See the full list here.
- Services: Spotify, Pandora, Google Play Music, TuneIn Radio, YouTube, IFTTT, Netflix, Google Services, Domino's, Food Network, Headspace, MadLibs, and more. See the full list here.
Voice recognition and search
GoogleWinner: The Google Home is slightly better with understanding accents and natural language, plus, Google's search prowess makes it the clear winner.
Google started out as a search engine, so it is absolutely no surprise that the Google Home is better at answering questions and searching for random info on demand. The company has also been working on voice recognition, natural langauge processing, and translation for years, so the Google Home is better at understanding accents and natural language than the Echo.
That's not to say the Echo is hard of hearing. Alexa also understands you very easily and what she lacks in search power, she makes up for with skills, which use the knowledge from other apps and services to serve your needs.
Both speakers are good at understanding requests, but you do have to use scripted commands still. Google is slightly better at dealing with pauses, hesitations, and awkward phrasing than Alexa, but it's close.
Design and sound quality
AmazonWinner: In terms of design and sound quality, there's no clear winner because both speakers come in multiple colors and sound decent for medium-sized Bluetooth speakers.
The new Echo certainly looks better than the original and it comes in a few fun colors and finishes, so clearly that's an improvement. The Google Home also offers a selection of colorful bases in cloth or metal that complement the white top portion of the speaker.
Neither one is what you'd call a masterpiece of design. In fact, both have been mocked — the Google Home for looking like an air freshener and the Echo for being a boring cylinder. In the end, good design comes down to taste, and tastes vary. I personally like the look of both speakers, but I don't have a strong reaction either for or against them.
When it comes to sound quality, both speakers sound good for medium-sized Bluetooth speakers. You won't get audiophile sound out of either speaker, but both of them sound just fine for most people.
The new Echo did get some audio improvements, so it does sound better than the original one. The Google Home has always sounded decent. The only major difference here is that the Echo supports more music services, but since you can use both as Bluetooth speakers —and therefore play any audio from your phone — that advantage is negligible.
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