The 7 best Amazon Echo devices for 2026

Stacia Datskovska

Samantha Mangino

Read our full review of the Echo Dot (5th Gen) here.

Most people: Not sure where to begin with Echo devices? The best starting point is the Echo Dot. It's an easy-to-use smart home speaker, able to fill rooms with music from your preferred streaming service. It responds to voice commands and is even Alexa+ compatible.

The Echo Dot is the best entry point to Amazon's smart home devices. The Echo Dot is a squat little speaker, measuring 3.5 inches tall, suitable for any countertop, even when you're cramped for space.

Now in its 5th generation, the Echo Dot boasts more vibrant sound with clearer vocals and deeper bass, though it does not have Dolby audio like the Echo Dot Max.

The Echo Dot has a built-in mic and in-app privacy controls, as well as a temperature sensor and motion detector to help automate other smart home devices. Amazon takes smart home functioning quite seriously with its Dot: If you enable sound detection routines, for instance, you can program a particular sound (dog barking, oven dinging, door opening) to trigger a certain Alexa Routine.

You want a smart speaker for the bedroom: Whether you want an Echo smart speaker in every room or just need a smarter alarm clock, the 2024 Echo Spot is made for your bedside. It has programmable routines to queue your morning wake-up and evening wind-down. Plus, it responds quickly and clearly to Alexa commands, so you can play music from the speaker without opening your phone or ask for a weather report as you're getting dressed.

The 2024 Echo Spot improves on the previous models' shortcomings, creating an easy-to-use smart alarm clock that's both useful and good-looking. It's bigger than both the Echo Pop and Echo Dot; at 4.5 inches by 4.1 inches by 4.4 inches, it takes up just the right amount of nightstand space without overcrowding.

Slanted at a slight angle, the upper half of the clock face features a small touchscreen. While we think it's a little too small, it still has vibrant colors. The bottom half is a 1.73-inch front-firing speaker, the same one that comes in the Echo Dot. The speaker produces clear audio that doesn't sound tinny; however, it's meant for small spaces — don't plan on using it for your next party. Alexa also answers quickly to questions and commands, making it easy to turn on a podcast to kick off your morning.

The alarm function works like any daily alarm clock. Snoozing is easy: Tap the top of the device with more than one finger to get another few minutes of rest. Meanwhile, turning off the alarm is slightly more annoying, requiring you to interact with the touchscreen. While it works fine, it would feel more natural to have a "Stop" button on top.

The touch screen is rather minuscule and limited to the small rectangular space on the half-moon top of the clock face. Another big drawback of the Echo Spot comes when you're playing music or listening to a podcast. When audio is playing, the time disappears — a hindrance if you need to know what time it is.

Otherwise, the Echo Spot is a worthwhile entry into the Echo line of devices, offering a well-designed smart alarm clock.

Smart home beginners: Amazon's Echo devices don't just take the form of compact orb-like speakers. The Echo Show line of devices adds displays, and they're perfect for the person who wants to be able to take video calls, watch recipe videos, or check the calendar hands-free. The Echo Show 8 is a great starting point with a redesigned screen and upgraded chip for better performance.

Breaking beyond just audio, we're now jumping into the Echo devices with visual displays, also known as the Echo Show lineup. First on our list is the Echo 8 with its 8-inch HD touchscreen and 13-megapixel camera. It can act as a sous chef in the kitchen, serving up recipes while keeping your hands free, and it can just as easily make video calls to keep up with friends and family or stay productive while WFH (though our reviewer SaVanna Shoemaker noted some issues with Zoom functionality with the previous-gen model). You can also "Drop-In" on any other Alexa devices in your household, including video chat with other Echo Shows.

That's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the Echo Show 8's visual feats, though, and the gorgeous display really opens up the door to an incredible amount of enhanced Alexa functionality. The Echo Show 8 can even function as a security camera, and you can check in on what it sees via the Alexa app on your phone while you're away. That said, you can close the camera shutter and shut off the mic for more privacy.

If you're looking for the same capabilities in a smaller size for the bedroom or office, however, the Echo Show 5 is an equally nice choice. Note that the smaller-screened Show 5 won't do as good a job with streaming, pulling up ingredient lists on recipes, or other tasks that require a large display. Check out our full in-depth comparison of the two for more details. 

Audiophiles: If you're only going to use your Echo Dot for talking to Alexa, then go with the classic Echo Dot. However, if you also want to listen to music, then it's worth paying a little more for the new Echo Dot Max, released in fall 2025. It has stronger bass and better sound quality if you want to fill your space.

In September 2025, Amazon released a whole new line of smart home products, including a new range of Echo Dot devices. That included the Echo Dot Max and Echo Studio, which feature the most advanced speakers ever in the Amazon Echo lineup. Technically, the pricier Echo Studio has more powerful speakers, but the Echo Dot Max gets our recommendation.

So, why are we recommending the Echo Dot Max? Its $119.99 price tag is a little more reasonable than the $219.99 Echo Studio. (You can buy some amazing portable Bluetooth speakers for that price.)

The Echo Dot Max is compact like the classic Echo Dot, but it offers upgraded bass and speakers thanks to a redesigned tweeter and woofer.

Kiddos who need an age-appropriate speaker: Looking to get a speaker for the kids' rooms? The Amazon Echo Dot Kids speaker is great since it responds to voice commands while keeping parental controls in place. Not to mention, it comes in adorable designs, too.

The Echo Dot gets an adorable facelift in this kids' version of the device. You can choose from cute and colorful designs — like an owl or dragon — for the outside, but the inside is exactly the same as the latest-model Echo Dot. The Echo Dot Kids is not just a pretty paint job, though; it also comes with a free year of Amazon Kids+, a digital subscription designed for kids aged 3 to 12 to access kid-friendly audiobooks, educational Alexa skills, interactive games, homework help, bedtime stories, and more — all without ads. (Though to be fair, you could always subscribe to Amazon Kids+ separately and use it via any other Echo device too.) 

In addition to a built-in mic off button for privacy, the Echo Dot Kids is also packed with parental controls: Like only giving kid-friendly responses to any questions asked, filtering out explicit songs when playing music, and only allowing calls to parent-approved contacts. It also allows Alexa's voice to be changed to that of an owl- or dragon-inspired character, making the whole experience more fun for little ones. And, it comes with a two-year worry-free guarantee that allows for replacement if it breaks (which is a huge step up from the Echo Dot's 90-day limited warranty).

Read our full review of the Echo Pop (1st Gen) here.

Budget shoppers: If you want a smart home device, but aren't ready to drop a lot of money right now, then the Echo Pop is for you. It starts at $39.99 but is often on sale for under $25, an extremely good deal considering it comes with lossless audio. But word of warning, it's often out of stock so grab it when you find it.

Editor's note: The Amazon Echo Pop is unavailable on Amazon's website. We've reached out to Amazon to confirm if the product is currently out of stock or being phased out. We'll update this piece when we've received a comment from Amazon.

Mashable contributor SaVanna Shoemaker reviewed the lil' Pop in July 2023 and praised it for its ability to (inexpensively) fill up a living space with great-quality music. Besides being a handy and cheap smart speaker, the Echo Pop also boasts "nearly all of the same functionality" as other Echo devices on the market — including that signature smart home compatibility and Alexa voice control. Note that, unlike the 5th Gen Echo Dot, the Pop doesn't have temperature sensors or multi-device pairing.

Shoemaker was quick to mention (and bust) the myth that the Echo Pop is equivalent to a Bluetooth speaker. You cannot, in fact, use it to stream audio directly from your phone. The Alexa app must serve as a handy intermediary in order to do so.

Commuters: Want to bring all the perks of a smart home device to your car? Do exactly that with the Amazon Echo Auto. Your car needs to have a USB port to operate it but that's it. Once plugged in, it will play music through your car's speakers at your command.

PSA: Amazon has an Echo device just for your car, in case you weren't aware. While other Echo devices are designed mostly around the idea of being a hub for smart home devices, the Echo Auto brings that very intelligence to your vehicle.

As of now, you likely don't have a ton of smart tech to control while in your car, but the Echo Auto allows you to access Alexa's hundreds of thousands of skills hands-free while you drive. You can control your music, podcasts, or audiobooks, or make phone calls and send texts.

You can also remotely control your devices at home from the road, such as turning on your lights and bumping up your thermostat for a warm welcome when you walk in the door. You can even contact roadside assistance, all with simple voice commands.

The Echo Auto comes with an adhesive mount, USB-A cable, and AUX cable, and it's built with privacy controls, such as a "mic off" button.

Regardless of the Echo device you choose, its built-in access to Alexa’s artificial intelligence allows you to do so much. But how does Alexa work? Primarily through voice commands. When you call out to Alexa, similar to Apple's Siri, your device will respond to execute the task.

Amazon also has an Alexa app that connects your smartphone to your echo devices. So if you prefer to control your Echo through your smartphone over voice controls, that's another option. However, the Alexa voice controls is super helpful if you need to go hands-free.

It should also be noted that Alexa and Echo devices are built with many layers of privacy protection these days. You can turn the mic off if you don't want Alexa listening, and you can also view and delete your voice recordings. If your Echo device has a camera, the latest models also include a shutter to cover it up when not in use.

Many people tend to use the terms "Echo" and "Alexa" interchangeably, but even though their functions are deeply intertwined, they're actually quite different things. Amazon Alexa is the artificial intelligence system (kind of like its "rival" Google Assistant) that responds to your questions, acts on your voice commands, and does all the myriad other things that Alexa can do — but we'll get to that in a minute. On the flip side, Echo devices are simply the conduit for bringing that service to you. That's why Echo devices take on so many different forms, from spherical speakers to video screens to earbuds you can take on the go. 

What can

According to Amazon, there are more than 30,000 smart home devices marked with the "Works with Alexa" badge — and if something works with Alexa, it works with Echo too. There's a whole host of smart home items you can connect to your Echo device, including light bulbs, switches, locks, thermostats, fans, and smart plugs that can turn pretty much any electronic device into a “smart home” device.

Amazon's own brands (like Blink and eero) make a ton of smart home devices that will link up seamlessly, but Echo devices — especially those with a built-in Zigbee smart home hub — should be able to connect to any brand of smart home device fairly easily with the command "Alexa, discover my devices." (To be clear, though, Zigbee isn't required for connectivity)

Echo devices also work exceptionally well with each other. You can link as many of them together as you want, and you can even have them play the same music at the same time for a whole-home audio experience, or act as an intercom to let your family know dinner is ready.

We included as many different types of Echo devices as we could, including the audio-only original and Dot lineups as well as the more visual Echo Show options. We then compared and contrasted specs and selected those devices that rose to the top.

Echo devices can vary greatly in price, so we made it a point to include budget-friendly options as well as more extravagant, "splurge-worthy" choices.

Amazon's smart home ecosystem goes beyond Echo devices, and also includes Ring and Blink products. We chose Echo products with modern smart features, such as the ability to control and sync with other smart home gadgets.