Amazon Echo Vs. Google Home: Which Should You Buy?

By Geoffrey Sperring

November 08, 2018

When there's too much to do and so little time to do it in, don't you wish for a personal assistant to remind you of important tasks and take some of your load? Amazon Alexa and Google Home might just be the solutions you're looking for.

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Besides being smart speakers with great sound, both can manage appointments and automatically control smart devices in your home, such as TVs, lights, heating and security systems.

What Is Amazon Echo?

Amazon Echo is a range of smart speakers and devices controlled by Amazon's AI personal assistant, Amazon Alexa. These gadgets respond to voice commands and prompts. Amazon Echo devices can control a wider range of smart devices from many manufacturers.

What Is Google Home?

Google Home is an application with similar functionality to Amazon's Alexa, but it's based on the Android operating system. Google Home devices use Google Assistant to control Google Nest smart devices, including smart speakers, displays and devices.

What Can Amazon Alexa and Google Home Do?

Both are smart devices that use AI to understand voice commands. While different, they perform similar tasks. The heart of the system is a voice-activated smart speaker that recognizes oral instructions. It also acts as a hub for controlling smart homes and compatible smart devices. Features include:

Smart speaker. Using voice commands, you can instruct the speaker to stream music, play specific tracks, adjust the volume and pause the music.

Personal assistant. Both Alexa and Google assistants can keep track of your appointments and reminders, search the internet for information and get weather forecasts and news.

Control smart devices. You can control smart home devices like smart thermostats, Nanoleaf and Philips Hue lights, Ecobee security cameras and most other smart devices.

Smart TV and displays. Using the speaker, you can remotely control smart TVs and smart displays to stream videos and watch YouTube.

Smart Amazon Echo Devices

Amazon Echo devices are based on Alexa and integrate fully with Amazon accounts, including Amazon Music Unlimited. Smart hands-free devices include:

Amazon Echo Pop: A compact smart speaker with a half-spherical shape that starts at $19.99 (CAD 28).

Echo Dot: A small, lighted spherical speaker with a motion detector and temperature sensor that starts at $27.99 (CAD 39).

Echo Studio: A cylindrical smart speaker with great sound that starts at $199.99 (CAD 274).

Echo Show 5 and 8: A smart speaker with a 5- or 8-inch touch screen that can make video calls. Prices start at $64.99 (CAD 89).

Echo Show 10: Like the Echo 8, except it has a rotating 10.1-inch HD display that moves with you, starting at $249.99 (CAD 342).

Echo Show 15: A wall-mounted 15-inch full HD display that includes Fire TV, costing $279.99 (CAD 383).

Google Home Speakers

As part of the wider Google Home ecosystem, Nest smart speakers include:

Nest Mini: A 4-inch doughnut-shaped smart speaker, starting at $49 (CAD 68).

Nest Audio: A cylindrical speaker that's 7 inches high with great sound and retails from $69.99 (CAD 96).

Nest Hub: Includes a 7-inch touch screen, hands-free calling and hand gesture control from $59.99 (CAD 83).

Nest Hub Max: This powerful device includes a 10.1-inch touch screen, hands-free video calls and facial recognition, starting at $229 (CAD 314).

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Which Platform Is Best for You?

There's not a lot of difference in overall capabilities between Google Home vs. Amazon Echo. Both are easy to use and work well, with excellent smart home integrations. Here are some reasons you should buy one or the other.

Reasons to Buy Amazon Echo

The strongest reason to buy the Echo is if you're tied into the Amazon ecosystem, such as Amazon Prime, Music Unlimited and Fire TV. Echo devices have a bright, snazzy design and are easy to set up. There's a larger selection of compatible smart devices than with Google Home. The Echo Studio has a more balanced sound than the Nest Audio. If you're using Amazon Ring Cameras, they work better in Alexa.

Reasons to Buy Google Home

Google Home devices are more compatible with Android devices. Nest devices have an unobtrusive, minimalistic design that looks elegant. Google Home's natural language recognition is better, and it gets better results from the web. Unlike Alexa, Google Home can process multiple commands at once, and it doesn't continually push ads for Amazon subscription services. Google Nest Accessories work best with Google Home.

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