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When it comes to welcoming Alexa into your home, you’ve got a lot of devices to choose from. Amazon’s own selection of Echo products is a great place to start, and the lineup is versatile, catering to every kind of user and budget. It can be overwhelming to find the right fit for your setup, so we’ve gathered the best Amazon Echo smart speakers and displays all in one place.

Our top pick is the standard Amazon Echo, which offers the perfect balance of features, price, and capabilities for most smart-home needs. However, if you’re on a tighter budget, the Amazon Echo Dot is half the price. Though its sound quality isn’t as good, the Dot doesn’t compromise on convenient features, and its compact design is great for smaller rooms. 

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are more Echo models to choose from, including smart displays with touchscreens and even a high-end speaker model with Dolby Atmos sound. Keep scrolling to see all our picks for the best Amazon Echo devices.

Our top picks for the best Amazon Echo devices you can buy:

Best overall: Echo (4th Gen) – See at Amazon

Best on a budget: Echo Dot (5th Gen) – See at Amazon

Best for audiophiles: Echo Studio – See at Amazon

Best with a display: Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen) – See at Amazon

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Best overall

The fourth-generation Echo feels like a realization of everything Amazon has been building toward in previous models. It’s an Alexa speaker that finds just the right balance between audio performance, price, and smart-home capabilities. 

The device has a modern look and is shaped like a six-inch orb, eschewing the cylindrical style of older Echo devices. It’s available in three colors and looks good on any counter or shelf. With its three-inch neodymium woofer, dual tweeters, and support for Dolby audio, the Echo is a solid device for general music listening and an ideal smart speaker for larger areas like living rooms and dining spaces.

As noted in our Echo review, the fourth-generation Echo sounds better than its predecessors in every way, with louder, deeper, and more full-bodied audio. It beats every other member of Amazon’s smart speaker family, save for the more expensive Echo Studio, which steps things up with more powerful drivers, Dolby Atmos playback, and high-resolution music support.

Of course, the device includes all of the smart-home capabilities that Echo speakers are known for, including built-in Alexa support for voice control and a suite of digital assistant functions. It also supports motion detection for activating routines, temperature sensing, and even an integrated Zigbee hub along with support for the Matter protocol to directly link other compatible smart-home devices together for seamless control.

Whether you’re just starting to build an Amazon smart home or simply want a standalone smart speaker that does it all, the Amazon Echo is our top recommendation for the top Alexa speaker you can snag right now. It offers everything most people could need without being exorbitant in price.

Check out our Amazon Echo review. 

Best on a budget

Though it’s no longer the cheapest Echo speaker you can buy, the fifth-generation Echo Dot is still our favorite budget pick. It offers the best balance of features for its price, and it’s even on sale regularly to bring its cost down lower.

At just under 3.5 inches high, the Echo Dot is one of the most compact Alexa smart speakers, making it ideal for smaller rooms or for placing out of the way. In exchange for its tiny size and low price, it does make some compromises in sound quality compared to the regular Echo, and it lacks that model’s built-in Zigbee smart home hub and 3.5mm port for wired connections. 

However, if you’re looking for a budget-friendly speaker to supplement, not spearhead, an Alexa smart-home setup, these shortcomings shouldn’t matter much. After all, the Echo Dot still offers all of the digital assistant features and extra perks that most users seek, including hands-free voice control, motion detection, temperature sensing, and built-in Eero support for extending Eero-compatible WiFi systems. And while it doesn’t support Zigbee, the Dot does still support pairing with other devices that use the Matter smart-home protocol.

The Echo Dot’s smaller speaker drivers do result in less impressive audio performance than its larger siblings, but the Dot is still more than capable enough to suit smaller spaces like a kitchen, bedroom, or dorm room. While it’s not something we recommend as a device dedicated to playing music, it works fine for casual listening.

We also think the Echo Dot remains a better investment for your money when compared to Amazon’s newest budget speaker, the Echo Pop. Though the Pop is $10 cheaper and performed well enough during our tests, the Dot looks more premium, fills space better with audio, and comes with temperature and motion sensing features. It’s easy to see why it’s the brand’s most popular Echo speaker. Buyers who want a little something extra, should also consider the Echo Dot with clock, which for $10 more adds an LED display that can show the time, temperature, and song titles. 

Best for audiophiles

If you want an Alexa smart speaker with the chops to deliver great music playback in a large space, the Echo Studio is the model for you. The largest of the Echo lineup, this speaker packs a punch with clear audio that far surpasses the quality of our other picks. 

As soon as you set it up, the Echo Studio balances its sound to match the acoustics of your space, making for a personalized auditory experience. It automatically recalibrates when you move its location, too, so you never have to worry about finessing the details yourself.

For a smart speaker, it’s shocking how good the Echo Studio sounds. Bass is rich and weighty, with highs and vocals that don’t get lost in the mix. Music fills the space, and rather than just a device for background noise or casual listening like some smart speakers, the Echo Studio’s audio becomes the main attraction. When paired with a good quality source, the Echo Studio makes other Echo speakers sound weak.

It even supports playing Dolby Atmos tracks from Amazon Music, which is a spatial audio format designed to spread sound effects and instruments in all directions, including above your head. It also has an optical port to connect to a TV to serve as a mini home theater speaker. And if you have one of Amazon’s latest Fire TV models, the Echo Studio can connect wirelessly to your streaming device to serve as your audio system. 

However, it’s important to note the Echo Studio is older than most models in Amazon’s lineup. It came out in 2019, and it still uses the older cylindrical design of past-generation Echo speakers. It also lacks some extra features found on other Echo models, like motion detection and temperature sensing, and it’s huge to boot. The Echo Studio isn’t designed to fit in the background like other smart devices. You need a dedicated space for this speaker. But if you’re looking for an Alexa device that puts audio quality first, the Echo Studio is the best Amazon Echo you can buy.

Best with a display

Amazon offers a wide range of Echo smart displays, from the huge Echo Show 15 to the tiny Echo Show 5. However, if you’re looking for the best all-around display to cover most needs and use cases, the midsize Echo Show 8 is the best Amazon Echo to get. 

Its screen is just the right size for poking around menus and reading internet recipes while remaining compact enough to fit on most shelves and counters without getting in the way. During testing, it was the one smart display that never felt “too big” or “too small” for any of its features, whereas the other Echo Shows often fell into one of those categories. 

The Echo Show 8 also matches the more expensive Show 10 with its 13-megapixel camera and 1280 x 800 resolution touchscreen. Though it lacks the Show 10’s automatic rotating feature, the Show 8’s HD display and camera combo make it ideal for streaming clips and video-calling friends and family. 

In contrast, the cheaper Show 5 has a smaller, lower resolution screen and a camera with just 2MP, which makes it difficult to recommend for video chatting. With dual two-inch speakers, the Show 8 also offers a nice upgrade in sound quality over the cheaper Show 5, and it has the bonus of Zigbee smart-home hub support. And like all Echo devices, it features hands-free Alexa digital assistant functionality.

If you absolutely need something smaller, the Echo Show 5 is still a solid alternative, and if you want a larger screen that can automatically follow you during calls, the Echo Show 10 has you covered. But if you’re looking for the best Amazon Echo smart display that will be “just right” for most needs, we recommend the Echo Show 8 over other options.

What to look for in an Amazon Echo smart device

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Amazon offers a wide array of Echo devices for various needs. When selecting the best Amazon Echo for your home, we recommend settling on a few priorities first.

The first major decision to make is whether you want a speaker or a display. If you have a need for visualizing recipes, browsing your smart home devices, or video calling, then an Echo Show display is going to be a better fit than an Echo speaker. You should then consider what kind of space it’s going in and how often you plan to video call with it because that will help narrow down which size you should get: the 5-, 8-, 10-, or 15-inch Echo Show. 

If you don’t need a screen, an Echo speaker should do the trick. Each one brings Alexa capabilities with at least decent audio quality to help smarten your space. All that’s left is to determine where you’d like to place it, how much you prioritize speaker quality, and whether you need it to connect directly to other smart devices in your home. Once you’ve got those questions answered, you can confidently narrow down which Echo speaker has the features you need most.

Lastly, we recommend keeping in mind whether this is your first Echo device or an additional purchase you’re making to add to an existing smart-home ecosystem. If you already have Alexa products in your home and you’re just adding supplemental devices, you can probably go with budget models that forgo some features. For example, if you already have a standard Echo or Echo Show 8, you likely won’t need an additional Zigbee-capable model if you’re shopping for a secondary speaker for your bedroom or kitchen. In that case, opting for a smaller Echo Dot or Show 5 can save you money and space.

For details on Amazon’s entire lineup of Echo devices, check out our full guide to Amazon Echo products with a breakdown of key features for each model.

Amazon Echo device FAQs

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How do I set up an Amazon Echo device?

Setting up an Amazon Echo device is simple and only requires a smartphone or tablet with the Alexa app and an Amazon account (no Prime membership necessary). It’s a very similar process across the board for all of the speakers and displays: just turn on the new device and follow the instructions in the Alexa app.

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Are Amazon Echo and Alexa the same thing?

Amazon Echo and Alexa are closely related but they’re not the same thing. Echo is the brand name for Amazon’s series of smart products, while Alexa is the name of the company’s digital assistant. 

All Echo devices support Alexa, so it’s best to think of Alexa as the primary feature of an Amazon Echo.

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What does an Amazon Echo do?

The best Amazon Echo devices offer many useful features. Most notably, Echo smart speakers and displays feature built-in support for Amazon Alexa, the company’s popular digital assistant. 

Alexa enables voice commands so you can ask questions, set timers, check the weather, get news updates, play music, and control other compatible smart devices through hands-free commands.

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Do I need to have an Amazon account to use Echo?

You need to have a basic Amazon account to set up and use an Echo device with Alexa. 

That said, Echo products don’t require a paid subscription to Amazon Prime. You can just use a free Amazon account to get started with your Echo and access its main features.

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Should I wait until Prime Day, Black Friday, or Cyber Monday to buy an Amazon Echo? 

The best Amazon Echo devices get big discounts during deal events like Prime Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. If you’re planning to buy an Echo but don’t mind holding off for a few months, you should wait until one of these deal holidays to snag one for the best price.