The best smart speakers act as way more than just audio devices. A smart speaker can be a great addition to your smart home, giving you voice control over things such as your thermostat, lighting and acting as an AI Assistant.
This list features some of the top brands in smark speakers such as Amazon Alexa, Apple, Google and Sonos. However, for those who only want to stick to Amazon in their home, check out our guide to the best Alexa speakers instead.
We've broken down all the specs such as sound quality, features, price etc to help you pick the right speaker for you. So whether you simply want to listen to good music or you want to complete your smart home functionality, there's something in this round-up for you.
Best smart speakers 2023: the top 10
The Amazon Echo Show 10 is the most comprehensive Alexa smart speaker to date, capable of doing the most, and with a unique trick: its large screen rotates to follow you around the room, so that you can always see it clearly even if you need to move around.
Smart screens have often found a home in the kitchen, where they can be used for recipe videos or fun videos to keep you entertained, and that's a great example of there the Echo Show 10 excels: if you need to move from position to position in the kitchen, then screen just turns to go where you go, and you don't need to touch it with your dirty hands to be able to see what's going on.
But equally, if you want to make a video call in the living room, it doesn't matter where you sit – when you invoke Alexa, the screen turns straight to you, using the direction of your voice. And sound quality from the built-in 360-degree speaker system is rich.
In terms of what Alexa can do, it's the same as other Echo products, with the smart assistant become more useful than ever, with smarter responses to an ever-growing range of enquiries – and you can add Skills for things it can't do, of course.
The big screen is also ideal for making the most of what a smart display can do, and videos look good on it – the only downside here is that Alexa isn't the strongest for video service support (with its half-hearted YouTube integration being the biggest sore point). It's also more expensive than simpler smart speakers, but we can't begrudge it than when it's so useful. You can read more about it in our full Amazon Echo Show 10 review.
Designed to be the focal point of your smart home, the Amazon Echo Show 15 is the biggest smart display yet. It can be mounted on the wall to look like a photo frame or placed on a stand. When you aren't using it, you can display photos which is a really nice touch.
The 15-inch Full HD screen looks fantastic, and there's plenty of space to display the brand new Alexa widgets, which make this the most usable and useful smart display on the market. Choose the Alexa widgets you want quick access to based on what you need the smart display for - leave sticky notes to family members, create shared calendars, see recommended recipes or control your smart home all from the home screen.
One downfall of the Amazon Echo Show 15 is its speaker system, it's nowhere near as powerful or accurate as the Echo Show 10 so if you listen to a lot of music then that's probably still the better choice. But for most people, it will be fine because it is loud enough to clearly hear Alexa's responses.
There's so much to discover on the Amazon Echo Show 15, it's the most accomplished smart speaker yet in terms of usability even though it falters in the audio quality.
Oh, sure, the Google Nest Hub Max is a baby compared to some of the more venerable entries in this list, but there's a long list of reasons it's taking the top spot. It was the winner of our T3 Awards 2020 award as the best smart speaker because it does absolutely everything in one package. Sure, if you'd rather run the compact Nest Mini, or opt for a smaller screen in the Nest Hub which came before it, you can. But for the most full-on Google Assistant smart speaker experience, this is the way to go.
Why? It's the combination. The screen is a crisp ten inches, so you won't need to squint. The speaker is a heavy, loud and great quality cone. There's a camera for video calls, and you can use it to monitor your security cameras. And Google Assistant is a great smart environment to play in.
Assistant is made even better with that screen on board: you can control your music with touch controls, watch videos, skim through photos and a lot more, and this also works as a Chromecast speaker and display. Read our full Google Nest Hub Max review for more.
The new Amazon Echo is bigger than the previous model, but that's because it added extra muscle to its speakers and features as well as its shape. A large woofer and two tweeters provide better balance and clarity for music, while the Zigbee smart home hub functionality that used to be exclusively part of the Echo Plus has been moved into the standard Echo.
Alexa is as capable as ever, but it can also respond a little faster to some queries in this model, thanks to Amazon's new learning chip, which can process some common voice requests on the device itself, making it quicker to respond to questions such as turning the lights off.
We think the new design is a little less decoration-friendly than the old one, but that's made up for by all its new improvements – it's the best Alexa speaker overall. Read our full Amazon Echo (4th gen) review for more.
The big-boy HomePod is a beautiful thing, but next to the competition it's hard not to look at its price without wincing. Apple has, with customary casualness, taken its time in bringing home a HomePod for the rest of us. Now the HomePod mini is here, it's clear the folks from Cupertino have pulled off a cost-effective sequel in magnificent style.
This is a quality little speaker with all the brains of its chunkier cousin – including, importantly, the ability to act as a HomeKit hub to control smart home devices – and even some new capabilities; support for up-and-coming smart protocol Thread means it may help the growth of your smart network. Siri's focus may be on mobile, but don't discount it as the driver here either. If you're using an iPhone, going HomePod is the slickest phone-to-speaker experience there is.
The HomePod mini also packs a surprising punch in the sound department, with 360-degree audio filling most rooms without issue. It's the size of the Echo Dot, yet sounds as good (arguably better, depending on preference) to the full-size Echo or Nest Audio. Read our full HomePod mini review for all the details.
Watch out Sonos and Apple, because Amazon has unveiled its best-sounding Echo yet: the Amazon Echo Studio. It comes with support for the Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio standards, so it's capable of filling a room and then some with rich, vibrant acoustics. Three 2-inch mid-range speakers, one 1-inch tweeter, and one 5.25-inch woofer are fitted inside.
As well as the superior sound quality, you do of course get all the smarts of Amazon Alexa, and it's reasonably priced too. Amazon recently launched an HD version of its music streaming service as well, which is probably the perfect app to pair with the Amazon Echo Studio.
Here's the Apple HomePod, which has a lot going for it: very impressive sound quality, for instance, which can adapt to the room it's in to make sure your ears are always hearing your tunes at their best. It also looks and feels fantastic, a very premium product, and definitely one of the best smart speakers.
On the downside, you're going to be disappointed if you need to go beyond Apple Music, Siri and the iPhone with your HomePod: support for the likes of Spotify or anything else not made by Apple tends towards the difficult or non-existent (though you can stream audio from iTunes on Windows). Nonetheless, it's the best-sounding smart speaker for those already heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem, only bested (arguably) by the cheaper HomePod mini.
Note: this model has now been discontinued but may still be available from some retailers. Read our full Apple HomePod review.
If there’s one thing that Audio Pro knows how to do, it’s making great-sounding speakers. The Audio Pro G10 is no different. Not only does it produce crisp, loud audio for such a small speaker, but it also has the Google Assistant built-in. Get all of your burning questions answered or skip to the next song in your playlist using your voice. Just ask Google.
With Chromecast and Apple AirPlay 2 support, you can hook the Audio Pro G10 up to your multi-room system, or seamlessly play music over Spotify Connect. Setup is painless through the Google Home app, and you can control its bass and treble settings there too, though admittedly they don’t make much of an impact.
What sets this speaker apart from the rest is a few small features that will actually go a long way for some, including a power button to save on energy and to switch the Google Assistant off without needing to unplug it. There’s also a 3.5mm auxiliary port. Read our full Audio Pro G10 review for more on where this speaker impressed us.
The Sonos Roam is a great choice if you want your smart speaker to double as a battery-powered mobile speaker. It's around 6.5 inches long, so it's easy to toss in a backpack or a coat pocket to take on a trip with you. At home, it works on Wi-Fi, with Sonos or Apple AirPlay 2 multi-room capabilities, plus your choice of Google Assistant or Alexa as a smart assistant.
On the go, it uses Bluetooth, which kills its ability to be a smart speaker, we should note. It provides around 10 hours of life on its battery, which is fine, though other (less smart) competitors offer 15-20. But we're happy with that compromise – it's still great to take in the garden with you, or to the park for a day. It's also fairly tough, and waterproofed against showers, splashes or short dips in a pool.
It sounds good for such a compact speaker, but there are cheaper and larger options here that sound better for less money. So it's best to think of it as a portable speaker that doubles up as a nice smart speaker when at home, as our Sonos Roam review explains.
Besides the rebranding that's taken place to reflect Nest becoming the umbrella label for everything in the Google smart home range, the Nest Mini adds a wall mounting hole and boosts the audio from the original Google Home Mini.
Voice detection should be improved with the introduction of a third microphone, and Google has brought back the tap controls as well – just touch the top of the speaker to pause or resume audio playback, and slide along it to change the volume.
Otherwise, the Google Nest Mini is very much like the Google Home Mini: all the power of the Google Assistant in a very compact, aesthetically pleasing form factor. Your choices for colors are chalk, charcoal, coral or sky. Read our full Google Nest Mini review.
Google's replacement for the Google Home upgrades the sound over its predecessor by including a woofer and dedicated tweeter, giving a more full sound overall – though the audio doesn't quite match the new Amazon Echo, and definitely trails behind the likes of the Sonos One.
The new tall, slim design is attractive and is smaller than it comes across in photos. It has hidden controls on top – slightly too hidden, in our view, but if you know they're there, it's nice not to have the look broken up.
Google Assistant is excellent, of course, and though there are no unique features to it on this device, it's a really good balance of speaker quality and capability for those in the Google ecosystem. Read our full Google Nest Audio review.
Sonos' jump to the outdoors isn't just a battery-powered Sonos One, even though we would have been happy with that. The Move has been engineered for outside. It's weather-resistant, with an IP56 rating; that first digit means there's dust protection, and the second means it should be protected against strong water jets. It's drop resistant, too, making this by far the most rugged speaker Sonos has ever made. There's also a carry handle molded into the casing.
Sonos states 11 hours of battery life, which obviously depends on volume and usage, and there's a charging base included which means this doubles nicely as an indoor speaker when you're not carting it around – it also charges via USB-C if you're looking to power it from a power bank.
Hook it up to Wi-fi and you can choose your smart ecosystem, as Sonos has joined Bose in offering both Alexa and the Google Assistant, and you can obviously tap into Sonos' rich app and multi-room expertise to expand your playback possibilities.
Smart Speaker Buying Advice
What are the best smart speakers to buy?
The most common options for the best smart speaker are Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant – for most folks, it’s a choice between these two. Apple’s Siri is also an option, but it’s only available on two smart speakers at this point, and generally isn’t quite as capable as the other two overall, so it’s more of a marginal option. Mostly.
But for the majority, it’s Alexa or Google Assistant. And actually, for most people, the choice won’t make too much difference still – they’re both able to play music pretty comprehensively, they can both answer most question types, they both offer a lot of smart home control.
To help decide which is right for you, read our in-depth comparison of the two: Alexa vs Google Assistant. The gist of all this is that we’d slightly recommend Alexa more overall because it’s a bit more flexible and has more cool additional abilities you can add. Google Assistant ties into the Google ecosystem better, though, so if you’re deep into Google services, that will probably the better choice.
Honestly, though, if talk of advanced extra skills and ecosystems makes you shrug, you can choose either and be happy – it will probably come down to the hardware.
For the speakers themselves, consider their size, design, audio quality and any of the additional hardware features we've talked about, such as having a screen or a smart hub inside. Price will obviously be a major factor, but it's likely to be something you'll consider in combination with the above – you might well choose a smaller and nice-looking option if it’s going prominently in your living room, but if you want a powerful music speaker for the office, your priorities will be a bit different. When it comes to speakers of all kinds, bigger usually means better sound.
Finally, a vital component of a smart speaker is the microphone, naturally. Everything we’ve recommended has a strong mic setup, designed to pick voices out from other sounds, and to hear you from across a room.
Grab a smart speaker with a built-in smart screen and you'll get you even more. You get the brains of a smart speaker, you generally get some strong speakers, but that screen opens up options: you can pull up a live view of compatible security cameras, watch videos, skim through recipes, and get visual notifications – they're much more than just digital photo frames. Although they'll do that, too.
Check out our best smart bulbs to integrate into your home setup, or go all out with our best smart home gadgets to connect even more.
Do smart speakers have good sound quality?
In most cases, smart speakers will have good sound quality if they feature a proper speaker for what you're after.
If you're looking to play music, for example, the Sonos One offers an impressive setup that delivers great sound quality and clarity. That option can be a bit pricier, however, so those looking for just basic use such as voice assistants and calls you can look for options a bit more budget-friendly.
The Amazon Echo 4th Gen, for example, offers excellent sound quality for calls, video playback and voice chats. If you're looking to crank up your favorite tracks, however, it won't provide the best experience.
Is a smart speaker or a Bluetooth speaker better?
To answer this question, we'll need to explain the difference between a smart speaker and a Bluetooth speaker.
While both can connect wirelessly via Bluetooth connection, a smart speaker is designed with voice assistants in mind. While a Bluetooth speaker can play your favorite music, audio books and other audio-based entertainment, a smart speaker will be designed primarily for use with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant or any other AI-based voice controlled assistant.
Bluetooth speakers, depending on the model, will usually have better hardware inside designed to get the most out of multi-layered audio tracks. Some will even support surround sound or have improved sound support technology that improves the quality overall.
Smart speakers, however, will feature lighter hardware that provides a great mix of sound quality and versatility for voice assistants. If you're hoping to listen to your favorite tracks at their optimal levels, a Bluetooth speaker with audio-enhancing features and tech will be what you want to look for.
If you're just looking to grab a solid speaker for use with Amazon Alexa, however, then a smart speaker will do the job and then some.
