How to Choose Between Alexa and Google Home

Here's what you need to know to select the right smart home assistant.

If you have yet to wade into the smart home world, or if you're simply considering the best voice assistant and speaker combination to add to your space, you're probably looking at an Amazon Alexa vs. Google Home showdown. Both ecosystems integrate with thousands of smart home devices, from video doorbells to lightbulbs, and both smart assistants can perform basic functions like playing music, scheduling alarms, and reading weather reports.

However, while these two platforms are closely matched across the board, there are a few differences to consider before buying.

Alexa vs. Google Home: Devices

Amazon's Alexa-enabled hub is the Echo, which comes in several models: the Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Pop, and Echo Studio are all smart speakers, while the Echo Show (5, 8, and 15) and Echo Hub are smart displays. Google offers a similar lineup of assistant-enabled devices, including the Nest Mini and Nest Audio (speakers) and the Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max (smart displays). The price points are similar for comparable products. Note that there are also plenty of third-party devices (such as Sonos speakers) that work with Amazon Alexa and/or Google Assistant.

Alexa vs. Google Home: Compatibility

Smart home control is a primary use case for Alexa and Google Home. Google's assistant works with more than 50,000 smart home devices, and while there's no firm number from Amazon on how many are compatible with Alexa, it's at least double that. This may seem like a significant advantage for Alexa, but if you're choosing a hub for your smart home, it doesn't matter how many tens of thousands of devices you could connect—rather, you'll care whether the specific devices you own or plan to add are compatible. Note that the Alexa ecosystem includes products from Blink and Ring, while Google integrates seamlessly with Nest.

Both Alexa and Google (alongside many other smart home players) have also signed onto Matter, an interoperability standard meant to boost device compatibility.

Alexa vs. Google Home: Features

On the surface, Alexa and Google Home have a lot of similar features: The hubs can play audio, respond to commands, and control your smart home devices. However, there are a few differences that could sway your choice:

• Google Assistant is a little bit better at natural language recognition than Alexa, and you can ask multiple questions without having to repeat the wake word thanks to a feature called Continued Conversation.

• Google Assistant pulls from, well, Google for search, while Alexa uses Bing by default.

• Google Assistant supports more languages than Alexa, but both offer multilingual support (with some restrictions).

• Alexa has more "skills" than Google has "actions," but both support major third-party platforms and services like Spotify and Netflix.

• Google is a great choice for YouTube fans, while Alexa offers more robust voice and video calling.

Alexa vs. Google Home: Bottom line

Alexa and Google Home are comparable in terms of form, function, and compatibility, so the choice comes down to which ecosystem is the best fit for your needs. For example, if you already have Ring devices, Alexa will work seamlessly versus Nest products that pair with Google Home. You may also prefer the specific features or aesthetic of one hub over another, which can help you narrow down your choice. While Alexa has a slight advantage for smart home integration thanks to its broad device compatibility and skill range, Google Home's voice assistant and search capabilities are a bit more polished (and it's native to Android devices). Neither is a bad choice.