Whether you’re looking for a central hub for your smart home, an easy way to keep track of your daily tasks, or just want to stream TV shows while in your kitchen, a smart display is a wise choice. Available in a variety of sizes and styles, these gadgets are incredibly useful. They’ve evolved rapidly over the years, with companies fine-tuning their performance to ensure they’re ultra-capable companions. From the Echo Show 8 to the Nest Hub, fans of Amazon Alexa and Google Home have a wealth of options at their disposal.
However, many smart displays are designed for specific tasks. For example, the Echo Show 21 boasts a massive screen that’s ideal for cramped countertops, while the tiny Echo Show 5 isn’t great as an entertainment hub. Some can also be used to create powerful automations and Routines. All these factors can make it difficult to narrow down your options and find the best smart display for Alexa or Google Home.
Need some help with your search? Here’s a look at six smart displays that work with either Amazon Alexa or Google Home. These come in a variety of sizes to accommodate a variety of spaces and carry price tags that fit most budgets.
The Echo Show 8 offers everything you’d expect from a smart display, yet does so without carrying an inflated price tag. Featuring an 8-inch touchscreen display, a built-in webcam, support for apps like Netflix and Spotify, and access to Amazon Alexa, there’s not much missing from its spec sheet. Its screen might be a bit small for large floorplans, but it’s easy to read from a few feet away and gives it a small footprint that’s easy to fit anywhere in your home.
Other standout features include robust audio from two 2-inch drivers with a passive bass radiator and the option to install Alexa Skills for additional functionality. Amazon loves to discount the smart display during big shopping holidays, so if you don’t need the unit today, consider waiting for a price cut.
At less than $100, the Nest Hub is one of the cheapest smart displays on this list. But despite the low price tag, it offers a bunch of great features. The one notable omission is a webcam — but if you don’t mind sticking with your laptop or smartphone for calls, there’s not much else missing on this excellent product.
Along with built-in support for Google Home and the ability to quickly view connected cameras, the Nest Hub serves as a sleep tracker. When placed next to your bed, it works much like a smartwatch does, giving you detailed information about your sleeping patterns when you rise in the morning. Toss in impressive audio, plenty of apps, and a streamlined design, and it’s easy to see why the Nest Hub is one of the best smart displays of 2025.
While its large size might make it difficult to place in cramped kitchens or busy living rooms, anyone looking for a large smart display should seriously consider the Echo Show 21. You’ll get everything available on the rest of the Echo Show lineup plus a lot more real estate for displaying photos, streaming Netflix, or taking video calls.
Because of its large 21-inch screen, you’ll likely want to mount the Echo Show 21 to your wall. Amazon includes screws and anchors and a mounting template, making this a fairly simple process. It can be mounted in either portrait or landscape orientation. The unit also comes with Fire TV built-in, making it a bonafide entertainment hub and slightly more capable than other displays on the market. You’ll pay a premium for the Echo Show 21, but there aren’t many other options if you’re looking for a display this large. Prefer to keep it on your countertop? A Premium Adjustable Stand is sold separately.
Unlike most smart displays that are designed to be stationary, the Echo Show 10 can (sort of) move. It won’t roll around your home following you like Ballie, but its display is designed to rotate up to 175-degrees and keep you in focus during video calls. That gives you a lot of freedom to move around the kitchen or living room yet remain the center of attention.
Aside from that cool feature, this is a fairly standard smart display. Alexa is supported natively, as are apps like Hulu, Prime Video, and Netflix. The unit also doubles as a robust security camera, allowing you to get a live stream of your home and rotate its camera to better protect your property. Its footprint is quite large — and it’s quite expensive — but those tradeoffs are worth it if you want access to this generous screen and unique rotating feature.
The Nest Hub Max is essentially a larger version of the Nest Hub. It’s picked up a few new tricks, however, as it features a built-in webcam and some impressive new audio equipment — making it a serious upgrade over its smaller sibling.
Equipped with a 10-inch HD touchscreen, webcam, and two tweeters and 30W woofer, the Nest Hub Max makes big strides over the standard Nest Hub. And since the standard Nest Hub doesn’t have a camera, this is the model you’ll need to get if you want a Google Home-enabled smart display that supports video chats. The biggest drawbacks? You’ll need to spend a bit more cash and clear a bit more space on your countertop.
The Echo Show 5 is the cheapest item on this list. Clocking in at $90 (and often on sale for less), the biggest concession it makes is with its tiny screen. At just 5.5-inches, you’re not going to be scanning its display from across the room. But if you have a small kitchen or are tight on space, it’s a nice affordable option.
Aside from its tiny display, most of the Echo Show 8 features carry over. That includes a camera shutter button, support for Alexa, and support for apps like Prime Video and Spotify. It works great as a speaker too, with a 1.7-inch driver that sounds better than you’d expect (though still falls short of dedicated smart speakers). Shoppers living in a cozy studio or with a busy kitchen will find the Echo Show 5 to be a perfect fit, though consider stepping up to the Echo Show 8 if your space permits.
There are a lot of smart displays to choose from, and many of them share the same specs and features. However, there are a few key factors to consider when shopping — here’s a look at how we put together the list of the six best smart displays for Alexa and Google Home.
A smart display should be large enough to read from a distance but small enough to easily fit on your countertop. Most shoppers will find that a screen between eight inches and ten inches is ideal for their kitchen or living room, while anything larger likely needs to be mounted. Conversely, anything smaller than seven inches might be challenging to use unless you get within a few feet of the screen.
People use smart displays for a wide range of activities. Whether you want to catch up on a Netflix show while cooking or listen to Spotify, it’s important that smart displays offer support for a wide range of apps and services.
Connecting to the rest of your smart home should be simple. The six products above are all built by either Google or Amazon, ensuring they play nicely with other Google Home or Amazon Alexa devices.
A few smart displays offer unique features such as sleep tracking or swiveling to follow you during your video calls. While these typically won’t make or break a device, they can help give it an advantage over the competition.
Jon Bitner is a writer covering consumer electronics, technology, and gaming. His work has been published on various websites beyond Digital Trends, including The Wall Street Journal, Metacritic, GameSpot, and Slickdeals. He holds a degree in Biology and previously worked as a Medical Editor.
When not playing video games, he can be found running, reading, or checking out the latest series on Netflix.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
Technology evolves every day, transforming how we live and work. Our devices are becoming more than tools we use. They are increasingly capable companions that help streamline day-to-day routines and spark creative ideas. If you have been waiting for the right moment to upgrade your tech setup, the Discover Samsung Shopping Event offers an opportunity to explore what connected, AI-powered living can look like.
With AI progressing so fast, it's only a matter of time before we start getting AI companions like the ones we used to see in movies like R2-D2, Wall-E, or Baymax. Now, Singapore-based OKA Technology has unveiled Mori, a cute little AI companion that looks less like a conventional home robot and more like someone turned the Pokémon Foongus into a table lamp.
Mori isn't meant to clean your house or control your smart home, but to serve as what OKA calls a "Nature Companion." It uses subtle movements, warm lighting, nature-inspired sounds, and small reactions to make its presence around the house feel calming rather than distracting. Mori can sit quietly while you read, sway along to music, welcome you when you enter a room, or encourage you to slow down for a moment without requiring a screen or a conversation.
Quick Recap: Life with twins and a pile of bottles