Amazon Alexa vs. Google Home: Which assistant is best in 2023?

You’ve probably heard about all the smart tech available to make your life at home a little easier. You may benefit from being able to ask for weather updates and set timers, or you may be after clever controls like changing lights or mastering your home security. But how do you get all your gadgets to talk to each other and respond to your voice commands? That’s where the main smart home platforms like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home come in.

With these, you can use your voice to get internet-connected smart plugs and appliances to work together via an app on your phone or tablet, and you can control them with spoken instructions. Whether you’re asking Alexa to arm your security camera or telling Google to turn on your reading light, there’s a lot you can do with a smart assistant.

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How do you pick the right platform for you, though? This will determine the specific smart devices you’ll get, so it’s worth knowing the pros and cons of each one. Below, we’ve gone through all the key details you need to know about Google Home and Alexa, which work with the widest number of compatible gadgets.

We tried each assistant in our daily life and got them running our lights and plugs, and we sifted through the prices, specs and capabilities of each option and its range of speakers too. Here’s everything you need to know.

Voice assistants are clever helpers that are a key part of your smart home system, responding to your instructions, serving up information (like facts or weather forecasts) and controlling your home appliances. You can talk to them from your phone or via a dedicated smart speaker, and the big benefit is hands-free control, so you can get your gadgets working without having to physically touch them.

Voice assistants are only getting more and more popular too. Amazon’s Alexa is supported on more than 100,000 different devices, and in 2021 research from Ampere Analysis found that over half of UK internet households now own a voice assistant. There are three main assistants: Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri. We’ll be talking about just the first two here, as they’re supported by the most smart home products.

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There isn’t a huge amount of difference between Alexa and Google, but there are a few key points to know. Alexa can do a few things Google can’t, like tracking your Amazon orders, detecting irritation in your voice or – if everyone’s asleep – whispering its responses when you’d prefer it to be quiet. Meanwhile, Google has a better natural language understanding to deal with multiple commands in one sentence. For instance, you can set an alarm and turn on a plug without having to issue both instructions separately.

In general, Google is considered to be a bit more knowledgeable (with all of the search engine’s smarts at its fingertips, you’d hope it would be) while Amazon is the better option for its wealth of third-party smart home integrations. Google says its assistant works with over 50,000 smart home devices, yet Amazon works with over twice as many.

While you technically can have both Google and Alexa speakers together under one roof, we think that’s more fuss than it’s worth. You’d be best off picking the one you prefer and keeping everything connected to a single platform. Once you’ve peppered a few smart speakers around the house so you can talk to them wherever you are, you’ll feel like you’re living in a sci-fi movie.

Amazon Alexa: Pros

As mentioned above, the key selling point for Alexa is its huge number of smart home integrations. On the speaker side of things, that can sync up to your other gear. There’s the Echo series, which goes from the all the way up to the powerful , and includes models with screens so you can view your security camera feeds.

Alexa is compatible with several Amazon-owned brands, including Ring and Blink doorbells and security cameras and , but also works with loads of third-party options, including and mesh wifi systems, and and .

We’d also say that Alexa is the best option for shopping and package tracking, given how it’s connected to your Amazon account. You can also program custom skills for it so that it’ll work exactly how you want it to.

Amazon’s devices are simple to set up and offer top-quality audio and interconnectivity. Interact with them by saying “Alexa” and give your request, whether that’s to set a timer for an hour, dim the lights at 8pm, or shuffle your playlist.

Amazon Alexa: Cons

One area where Alexa isn’t all that customisable is the voice itself, you can change its language to British English, change its accent, and pick between feminine and masculine voices, but that’s it. Comparably, Siri offers six accents and different voices within those settings, including a gender-neutral one, and Google offers 10 main assistant voices.

Alexa also can only respond to one command at a time. As we’ll explain below, that’s one of the major benefits that Google has over its rival. If you try to ask “Alexa, turn on the lights and tell me what the weather forecast is for tomorrow”, you’ll find that it’ll only deal with one of the things you’ve asked.

Google Home: Pros

Want an assistant that can handle a proper chat and understand you like a normal human? The value of Google Assistant is its natural language recognition and that you can issue several commands without having to say the “Hey Google” wake phrase each time.

For example, you could throw together a string of unrelated queries like: “Hey Google, when is Father’s Day? What year is Downton Abbey 2 set in? Oh, and can you turn the lights on?” and the assistant can respond to each without you having to restart the conversation. Because the knowledge comes from the world’s largest search engine, it’s also accurate and reliable.

Google may not work with as many smart devices as Alexa but it is still compatible with thousands of third-party products including many of our favourites like , and , as well as Google’s own Nest range that includes its , and .

Like Amazon’s range above, Google splits its smart devices into smaller speakers like the , a slightly larger model for louder music in the , and display editions in the and .

Google Home: Cons

We’ve already explained above that Google Home slightly lags in third-party smart device support when compared to Alexa. Although it’s closing the gap, this is still a major factor that’ll affect which one you pick.

Also, Google does not offer any way to change the “wake word” for its devices. You’re stuck with “Hey Google”, whereas, on Amazon’s speakers, you can set the phrase to other options like “Echo”, “Amazon” and “Computer”. Beyond this, though, there aren’t really too many other downsides to this smart platform.

Both Google Home and Amazon Alexa are excellent smart home platforms, and whichever one you pick, it’ll be available in a wide range of different affordable or premium speakers.

We recommend going with Alexa if you want the most home integrations. It works with thousands of supported smart home devices and is the most capable platform for setting up your connected abode. After a voice-powered assistant that can reply in a humanlike manner and deal with the most requests? Go with Google. It is powered by the search engine’s web of information and is cleverer overall.

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Take a glance at the box or on the side of your Alexa or Google Home device, and you may see a label noting that it works with SmartThings. What is that, and should you care? Well, if you’re someone who likes to monitor your gadgets in one place without needing to check each brand’s individual app, this will be of interest. It’s a smart home platform (accessible via an or Android app) owned by Samsung and used to see a complete overview of the connected devices installed in your home – whether that’s a video doorbell or a smart light bulb. It lets you change settings and automations for connected devices directly from the app and set them into groups depending on what room they’re in. You can also connect Alexa and Google Assistant to control your devices with voice commands from the SmartThings app. You’ll have to grant it permission and link the SmartThings app to your Alexa and Google Home accounts, but it shows you the process in a and we did so in under five minutes.

Pairing is simple: you can scan the QR code on the device, scan for nearby gadgets or search based on device type (such as your fridge, robot vacuum or TV) or brand (such as Samsung, Nest, Philips Hue or Sonos). You’ll need a Samsung account for it to work, and it’s true the app works best when you’re on a Samsung product as it has some features that only work with the brand’s own tech – like a Find mode for Galaxy phones, tablets and earbuds – but we tested the app with a Google Pixel 7 smartphone and didn’t run into issues. We paired a in well under two minutes.

The list of compatible items will only grow, as Samsung has confirmed that SmartThings is joining Apple, Google and Amazon in support of Matter – a new universal smart home protocol that makes it easier for smart devices to communicate without you having to buy dedicated hubs. The protocol has launched and is still in its infancy but it’s set to expand in 2023 and will come to devices like the , and .

Good Housekeeping

While we haven’t mentioned it much here, Apple’s HomeKit – and its connected voice assistant, Siri – is the other major player in the world of smart home platforms. This is the ideal pick if you want to control your smart home from your iPhone or iPad, and it works with a fair few third-party devices along with the , HomePod and . If you’re surrounded by Apple tech at home, it’s the obvious choice but it doesn’t integrate with as many smart home devices as Google or Alexa do. For a – and the roundup of our favourite HomeKit devices here.