10 Best Smart Speakers (2025): Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri

There are many astute speakers connected the market, and picking the champion keeps getting tougher. First, you request to determine which dependable adjunct you prefer. There are 3 worthy using—Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple’s Siri—and each has its pros and cons. If you’re new, we inactive similar Google- and Amazon-powered models, arsenic they are the astir wide user-friendly.

Second, you request to fig retired which talker has the features you want. Is euphony prime your apical concern? Do you privation a touchscreen, oregon is dependable assistance unsocial enough? Does your talker request to link to different astute location gadgets? That’s wherever uncovering the champion enactment gets trickier. Don’t fear, you’ll find what you’re looking for here! We’ve tested dozens and dozens of astute speakers successful the past fewer years to fig retired what’s the champion close present (and what’s not).

Check retired our Best Alexa Speakers, Best Google Speakers, and Best Smart Displays guides for much recommendations. If you're looking for much talker advice, don't miss our guides to the Best Bluetooth Speakers, Best Soundbars, and Best Sonos Speakers.

Updated March 2025: We've added details connected Alexa+, and mentions successful our Alexa picks that each dependable recordings volition beryllium sent to Amazon. We besides added much speakers to the Honorable Mentions section, positive a caller More Smart Speakers We've Tested section.

Table of Contents

• Best Overall Smart Speaker
• Best Alexa Speaker
• Best Google Assistant Speaker
• Best Smart Soundbar
• Best Google Assistant Smart Display
• Best Alexa Smart Display
• Best Mini Speaker
• Best Portable Speaker
• Best Dolby Atmos Speaker
• Best Dual Smart Speaker
• Honorable Mentions
• What About Siri?
• What About Alexa+?
• Why Still We Prefer Google Assistant Speakers
• Will It Become a Brick?
• More Smart Speakers We've Tested

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Best Overall

Sonos Era 100

We've been large fans of Sonos' compact astute speakers for 3 generations now, with its erstwhile Sonos One topping this database for years. With the newest Era 100 (9/10, WIRED Recommends), Sonos expands the champion astute talker to stereo and ups the bass, with caller tweeters and a 25 percent larger woofer that bash an adjacent amended occupation of filling your country with sound.

Built-in country tuning is particularly awesome successful this generation, with the quality to bounce a speedy frequence scan astir your country to assistance it automatically EQ itself for its nonstop placement. It's not a gimmick: Bass sounds tighter, and highs shimmer adjacent more. The caller astute talker besides comes with a fewer carnal improvements, including a ample measurement slider connected top, and it has a power that lets you easy mute the mics if you don't privation immoderate dependable adjunct action. As before, it supports Alexa and Apple AirPlay 2 for casual integration with immoderate astute location ecosystem.

If you’re utilized to asking Google Assistant to power your Sonos speakers, you're retired of luck with the 2 caller Era models (this 1 and the 300, mentioned below)—they don't enactment it.

Multiroom audio support, arsenic good arsenic enactment for astir each audio streaming app around, are what truly acceptable Sonos isolated from different large astute speakers. It's conscionable truthful casual to integrate them into your space. With the caller Bluetooth connectivity offered by the Era 100, you tin adjacent wirelessly link a turntable. (I know, blasphemy!) If you privation to support things wired, the USB-C larboard connected the backmost of the Era 100 lets you link different devices with a dongle.

As with its predecessor, you're capable to usage a mates of Era 100s arsenic situation speakers with Sonos soundbars successful your location theater, and you tin brace 2 Era 100s for usage arsenic stereo speakers. It's worthy noting that Sonos was successful a spot of blistery h2o successful 2020 implicit the information that its older speakers weren't going to get bundle updates. There is present a hole to enactment bequest hardware, but unfortunately, this is simply a world for computer-powered speakers. Unlike their analog predecessors, you can't expect them to past forever. Sonos astute speakers, however, person a way grounds of lasting longer than thing other we've tested, and that volition apt proceed successful the Era era.

Connects to Alexa, Sonos App, and AirPlay 2. Has some Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Best Alexa Speaker

Amazon's Echo talker (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is simply a cute shot of dependable that brings the aforesaid bold bass and wide soundstage arsenic the erstwhile model, but with much room-filling dependable than ever before. You tin enactment it anywhere—kitchens, bathrooms, adjacent smaller surviving rooms—and it easy fills the abstraction with 360-degree sound.

Compared to Google's Nest Audio speaker, this is simply a large 1 for off-axis listening (i.e., erstwhile you're not sitting straight successful beforehand of the speaker). Alexa besides makes getting quality and upwind updates convenient, and it's dormant elemental to acceptable room timers and alarm clocks. We besides similar that you tin crook disconnected the microphones with a carnal button, for erstwhile voice-assistant-wary friends and relatives are over. If you're aft a simple, audio-focused Alexa talker that doesn't get successful the mode and won't interruption the bank, this is the champion you'll find.

While the main Echo won't get the caller Alexa+ adjunct enactment (more connected that below) arsenic aboriginal arsenic the Echo astute displays, it volition suffer the privateness diagnostic to process requests locally. That means recordings of each bid spoken to Alexa successful immoderate Echo speaker, adjacent if it isn't utilizing Alexa+, volition automatically beryllium sent to Amazon and processed successful the cloud. This alteration begins March 28, 2025.

Connects to Alexa.

Best Google Assistant Speaker

The Nest Audio (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is Google's nonstop Echo competitor, and it fares highly well. It's got a compact, pillow-like signifier and large dependable that volition easy capable tiny and medium-size rooms. We truly similar utilizing 2 Nests arsenic a stereo brace due to the fact that they harvester to connection immoderate of the champion audio prime you tin execute successful a astute talker for $200.

As with each Google Assistant–powered devices, you tin inquire the Nest Audio to acceptable timers, play music, oregon archer you the weather, and you tin inquire it thing you'd hunt connected Google. The Google Home app makes it casual to brace up the speakers with immoderate different Google-friendly astute instrumentality you person too.

Connects to Google Assistant.

Best Smart Soundbar

Sonos’ second-generation Beam is the champion astute soundbar you tin bargain close now. It mightiness look akin to the first-generation model, but it's got large dependable upgrades. The Beam besides has plentifulness of inputs, has immersive Dolby Atmos, and pairs with some Alexa and Google Assistant. It's casual to usage with different Sonos speakers arsenic a multiroom audio system, too.

Connects to Alexa oregon Google Assistant, Sonos App, and AirPlay 2. Has Wi-Fi, HDMI eARC, Ethernet, IR receiver for TV remote.

Best Google Assistant Smart Display

Smart displays are large successful a fewer antithetic parts of the home, similar the room oregon an entryway, but mightiness spell mostly unused. The Google Pixel Tablet (7/10, WIRED Recommends) fixes that by marrying a tablet and a astute show into 1 useful device. The 11-inch tablet sits connected the included Docking Station to crook it into a astute display, appearing astir identical to the Google Nest Hub Max, and you simply popular it disconnected the show to crook it backmost into a tablet. (There whitethorn beryllium a flimsy learning curve to decently disengaging it from the magnet base.)

Popping it onto the dock activates the tablet's Hub Mode, and you tin customize the show to either amusement your Google Photos oregon prime 1 of the amusive timepiece designs. You tin easy power astute location devices by tapping the Google Home icon connected the fastener screen, which volition propulsion up an overlay of your favourite astute location devices to fto you power them and cheque camera feeds connected doorbells and Wi-Fi cameras. This diagnostic is lone disposable portion docked, truthful your camera feeds are harmless from strangers if you instrumentality the tablet retired and astir with you.

The Pixel Tablet is present our existent favourite astute show for a fig of different reasons. The dock's built-in speakers person robust dependable with amazingly decent bass, truthful you tin jam portion you're successful the room oregon the surviving room. There's besides multiuser enactment that lets you adhd up to 8 accounts, each of which tin person customized apps, layouts, and wallpapers each protected by fingerprint, truthful the full household tin usage this instrumentality without infringing connected 1 another.

If you don't privation to splurge connected getting some a tablet and a astute display, the Nest Hub Max (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is inactive a large enactment with akin features, a ample screen, and beauteous awesome speakers considering the slim profile.

Connects to Google Assistant.

Best Alexa Smart Display

The Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen) keeps everything we liked astir the erstwhile model, but adds the features we similar connected Amazon's pricier Echo Show displays. For the caller kicks, the third-gen Show 8 gains a astute location hub that works with Zigbee, Matter, and Thread devices, and it has spatial audio capabilities (though not each euphony services tin instrumentality vantage of this feature). It besides gains widgets, which let you to enactment small Post-It-sized shortcuts connected your surface to things similar your favourite astute location devices, calendar, oregon adjacent a small integer sticky note. On the Echo Show 8 these don't ever amusement up, arsenic they're portion of the display's contented rotation, but they're amusive and useful erstwhile they do.

Besides that, the Show 8 inactive has large dependable and a perfect-size surface for seeing the upwind and speechmaking recipes without hogging excessively overmuch antagonistic oregon tablespace. It's casual to power your euphony and astute location devices, ticker videos, and get contented similar sports scores and upwind alerts close connected the screen. The 13-MP camera lets you instrumentality video calls and doubles arsenic a information camera, oregon arsenic a mode to video telephone your household wrong the house. The lone downside is that Amazon present runs ads connected its Echo Show devices, but there's a hack to somewhat hole it.

The Echo Show 8 is 1 of the devices slated to get archetypal entree to Alexa+, Amazon's caller dependable assistant, which comes retired aboriginal this spring. Before that release, though, the impending accomplishment volition origin the privateness diagnostic that keeps your dependable recordings stored locally to spell away. As of March 28, 2025, each dependable commands volition automatically beryllium sent to Amazon and processed successful the cloud.

Connects to Alexa.

★ A cheaper, akin Echo Show: The second-gen Echo Show 8 ($130) is simply a small cheaper and is inactive a large prime if you don't person your bosom acceptable connected caller features similar the astute location hub oregon spatial audio.

Best Mini Speaker

If you aren’t successful it for the music, the Amazon Echo Dot (5th Gen) and Google's Nest Mini (7/10, WIRED Recommends) volition springiness you astir of the perks of owning a astute speaker, and you tin usage them to marque existing speakers smarter connected the cheap. The dependable is precise akin betwixt models, and they person astir identical footprints, truthful you tin reason that 1 is amended than the different based connected the ecosystem alone. For that reason, we similar Google's ecosystem to Amazon's.

Like immoderate different astute speaker, you tin inquire it the weather, person it reply random questions, and play achromatic sound astatine bedtime to assistance you sleep. It's a large size to compression onto a bedside array oregon adjacent a bath antagonistic if you request an alarm timepiece oregon ablution jams.

Connects to Google Assistant.

★ A timepiece option: We primitively preferred the Echo Dot with Clock ($60) simply due to the fact that it tin archer time, acknowledgment to the LED timepiece added to the front. But Amazon is mostly retired of stock, portion a batch of different retailers person it astatine fractional off, and Amazon has told america they don't program to restock this generation. Amazon could denote a caller procreation soon, and we'll update this usher if that happens. The regular Echo Dot (5th Gen) ($50) is inactive successful stock, sans clock.

Best Portable Speaker

The pint-size Sonos Roam (9/10, WIRED Recommends) has go our favourite astute portable speaker. WIRED reviewer Parker Hall has taken it connected roadworthy trips, to outdoor weddings, and successful the handbasket of his bike. The simple-to-use Sonos ecosystem works with Google Assistant and Alexa, and the talker has Bluetooth for erstwhile you're retired of Wi-Fi range. It adjacent includes wireless charging, which makes it the cleanable talker to acceptable down astatine location betwixt trips outdoors.

You'll get 10 hours of listening connected a afloat complaint astatine mean volume, and the happening is rugged; an IP67 standing means it tin past successful 3 feet of h2o for 30 minutes. Hall is not casual connected speakers, and his reappraisal portion is inactive going strong. If you're looking to up your out-and-about game, bargain 1 of these and stash it wrong a stainless to-go mug. Just drawback a portion on the way.

Connects to Google Assistant oregon Alexa.

★ Another option: The 2nd procreation of Bang & Olufsen's Beosound A1 ($250) added Alexa dependable adjunct to the mix. It's a beautiful, great-sounding, and durable mono talker we've had connected our Best Bluetooth Speakers database for a while, and with Alexa successful tow, it's a bully portable enactment for fans of Amazon's dependable assistant.

Best Dolby Atmos Speaker

This butt-shaped talker from Sonos (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is the champion mode to perceive spatial audio tracks—audio that is mixed with much than 2 channels and tin beryllium projected anyplace successful a 3D space. (Apple Music and Amazon Prime Music some connection this.) It tin task audio passim your country and tin adjacent beryllium paired with a Sonos soundbar to enactment arsenic Dolby Atmos surrounds successful a location theater.

Even if you're not listening to spatially mixed audio, the talker inactive sounds fantastic. It has big, assured bass and details up top, and it tin tune itself to your country utilizing iOS oregon built-in microphones connected the speaker. It's a spot harder to spot than the Era 100 above, and is besides astir treble the price, but this is inactive worthy considering if you person a larger abstraction oregon a modern location with a much unfastened level plan.

Connects to Alexa, Sonos App, and AirPlay 2. Has some Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Best Dual Smart Speaker

JBL’s Authentics 200 astute talker (9/10, WIRED Recommends) speaks some Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, letting you divided betwixt the 2 for antithetic tasks without having to power your penchant successful the app. That makes this talker peculiarly appealing for folks with a sprawling postulation of astute products from both.

The 200’s vintage-inspired foam grille and useful power knobs adhd a saccharine retro vibe, but it’s the dependable prime that truly makes this talker a winner. We enactment it head-to-head against immoderate of the best, including the Sonos Era 300 and Era 100, and recovered it sitting pleasantly successful betwixt them, making it among the best-performing astute speakers for the wealth we’ve heard. With bully looks, a large brain, and uncommon versatility, the Authentics 200 is simply a crisp contender successful a crowded field. –Ryan Waniata

Connects to Alexa and Google Assistant simultaneously, AirPlay 2, and the JBL One app. Has some Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Honorable Mentions

There are tons of astute speakers. Here are a fewer much we like:

• Amazon's Echo Spot ($80) is simply a large partial astute display. While the euphony prime isn't the aforesaid extent that you'll get connected the Echo Dot, you'll alternatively get a amusive small half-screen with the second-gen Echo Spot (7/10, WIRED Recommends) that shows you the time, the weather, your calendar, and the sanction of the opus playing. It's a amusive small acceptable of features that marque it a large talker for the bedroom, particularly since there's nary camera.
• Amazon's Echo Hub ($180) is the champion Alexa smart-home controller. The Echo Hub (8/10, WIRE Recommends) is designed wholly to power your astute devices, and acts much similar a location information instrumentality than a existent astute speaker. It besides has the worst built-in talker of Alexa's ecosystem, since it's designed to beryllium utilized successful tandem with a much almighty Alexa talker similar the ones above.
• Amazon's Echo Studio ($200) is the best-sounding Alexa speaker. Don't bargain it for euphony prime alone, but the Echo Studio is close up determination with the discontinued Google Home Max successful presumption of bold bass and room-filling soundstage. Its unusual signifier keeps it from the apical of our list.
• Amazon's Echo Show 10 ($250) tin travel you astir the room. The ample basal gives it large dependable and the quality to swivel the surface and camera astir to travel your voice, making it particularly useful for pursuing a look portion moving astir the room oregon taking a video telephone with Grandma portion wrangling the kids. It does necessitate a batch of space, though, and the quality to travel you isn't a diagnostic everyone volition need.
• The Bang & Olufsen Beosound Level ($2,000) is a gorgeous talker that's built to last. The institution has designed the high-end exemplary to beryllium repairable and upgradable implicit time. It's made of earthy cloth and wood for a genuinely sustainable “cradle to grave" experience. It's a gorgeous level talker that comes with Google Assistant onboard—or you tin bargain it without a astute adjunct for the aforesaid magnitude of money.
• The Google Nest Hub ($100) is simply a large bedside talker for Google Assistant users. The 7-inch surface feels similar a smartphone propped up connected its broadside alternatively than a monolithic astute display, and it has slumber tracking exertion built into it to way your slumber without needing immoderate accessories connected your body. Handy! Plus, nary camera.

What About Siri?

It's chill looking, but Apple's HomePod Mini ($99) (6/10, WIRED Review) has the aforesaid issues arsenic the larger HomePod talker (5/10, WIRED Review), including a higher terms than overmuch of the contention and a muddy midrange. It doesn't person anyplace adjacent the level of third-party astute location enactment you'll find with Amazon oregon Google. You tin get a full-size Nest oregon Echo talker for the aforesaid money, and you should.

Why Still We Prefer Google Assistant Speakers

There are a batch of reasons to emotion Amazon’s Alexa dependable assistant, and it works beauteous well. If you privation to usage your dependable adjunct to store oregon usage Amazon services similar Prime Music oregon Prime Video, chances are an Alexa-powered talker is champion for you.

Google Assistant has less skills and is compatible with less astute location devices than Alexa, but it tin bash capable to suffice arsenic genuinely useful, and Google adds caller skills reasonably frequently. Speakers with Google Assistant enactment amended erstwhile you web them together, and they're compatible with a wide assortment of Google apps and services. Google is amended astatine answering random questions and telling you wherever to spell retired to eat, since it tin entree and nonstop accusation to your telephone done Google apps.

Spotify, Pandora, and YouTube Music are the main ways to play euphony with Google Assistant, covering astir of your bases. The work tin besides nonstop Netflix shows and movies to your TV if you person a Chromecast attached.

If you're utilizing a astute display, we besides similar Google's displays due to the fact that Alexa Show devices volition amusement you sponsored content. Google's volition not. Amazon's Show displays are already crowded with contented by default that you'll apt privation to remove. (To bash so, spell to Settings connected the device, and past click Home Content. You'll presently find implicit 40 options you tin toggle connected and off.) But you can't afloat region the sponsored contented unless you're connected Photo Frame mode. Meanwhile, Google's displays marque for amended photograph frames acknowledgment to Google Photos, and don't person specified a crowded interface of contented to distract you. We'd instrumentality to a Nest Home Hub unless you decidedly privation an Alexa show and won't caput the occasional onscreen ad.

What About Alexa+?

Amazon volition commencement rolling retired the caller and improved Alexa soon, named Alexa+. This 2nd procreation of the Alexa dependable adjunct is expected to beryllium much conversational, capable to execute analyzable tasks and larn caller information, and beryllium overmuch much personalized. That'll beryllium owed to its being powered by generative AI.

Alexa+ volition besides necessitate each dependable recordings beryllium sent to Amazon to beryllium processed, and Amazon's changing its features for recordings with regular Alexa to spell to Amazon, too. There's presently a “Do Not Send Voice Recordings” privateness diagnostic that you tin prime to person dependable requests processed locally, but that diagnostic volition beryllium killed connected March 28, 2025, per an email Amazon sent retired to existent users of that feature.

Alexa+ volition beryllium disposable for $20 a month, oregon escaped if you person an Amazon Prime membership. While you apt person a rank if you added an Alexa instrumentality to your home, it's a large leap from the antecedently escaped adjunct (and some versions volition person little privacy). Amazon says aboriginal entree volition statesman to rotation retired adjacent period successful the US, opening with Echo Show astute displays, specifically the Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21. The privateness alteration volition impact each Echo users, whether oregon not it's 1 of these devices oregon a antithetic model.

Will It Become a Brick?

The astute speakers successful this usher are each made by ample brands—Amazon! Google! Sonos!—and it's improbable immoderate of them volition abruptly vanish oregon go a useless ceramic talker connected your desk. There are adjacent immoderate first-generation Amazon Echos inactive moving that are astir a decennary aged (with mixed results, based connected what users accidental online).

But a UK instrumentality passed successful April 2024 adds much extortion here. The instrumentality mandates 3 cardinal things: much unafraid password procedures, much clarity connected however to study bugs and information issues, and that manufacturers and retailers pass customers however agelong these products volition person enactment and bundle updates.

The past 1 is the astir applicable for astute talker users, since the fearfulness is you'll bargain a talker that volition abruptly halt getting updates and go unusable, similar the Sonos issues successful 2020. The instrumentality is new, and nonaccomplishment to conscionable these requirements results successful fines, truthful we'll person to hold and spot however overmuch accusation is truly offered to shoppers arsenic it takes effect. But it's a instrumentality we like.

More Smart Speakers We've Tested

• Amazon Echo Pop ($40): The Echo Pop (7/10, WIRED Reviews) is simply a cute small talker that's affordable and comes successful amusive colors. It's a good prime for assemblage students oregon teenagers who privation thing with a small personality, but everyone other should conscionable upgrade to the Echo Dot for overmuch amended dependable and different the aforesaid features.
• Amazon Echo Show 5 ($90): The Show 5 tin bash everything the Show 8 tin do, but connected a smaller, little convenient screen. It's a bully size for a bedroom, but it has a camera; I'd alternatively adhd the Echo Spot oregon the Google Nest Hub for a akin mini surface connected my bedside table.
• Amazon Echo Show 15 ($300): The Show 15 is determination successful betwixt a astute show and a astute TV, but doesn't rather nail it astatine being either. The widgets are amusive to usage since you tin adhd truthful galore to the Show's 15-inch screen, but I've tried this instrumentality a fewer times and ever walked distant underwhelmed. There's present the adjacent larger Echo Show 21 ($400), which is the aforesaid speaker, conscionable 6 inches larger. I would conscionable bargain a tiny TV and get a streaming instrumentality with a built-in dependable assistant.