1. Google Home

Cons: 

Buy: ($129) 

If you’re looking for a smart display, the Google Nest Hub (formerly Google Home Hub) is the best one you can get right now. For starters, it looks great. It’s small, comes in nice, soft colors, and basically fits right in no matter where you place it — that’s actually a core part of Google’s design philosophy with its ‘Home’ line up of speakers.

The Google Home Hub doesn’t have a camera though, so if you were thinking of making video calls with this, well, you can’t. However, that was a deliberate design choice from Google so people would feel comfortable keeping the Home Hub even in their bedrooms and private spaces in their homes.

Cons: 

Buy: ($149)

3. Google Nest Hub Max

If you are looking for a slightly larger and more efficient variant than Google Nest Hub, Google Nest Hub Max could be a viable option. For starters, it features a better looking 10-inch display. And with the built-in camera, you can keep a tab on your home with ease.

Pros: 

Buy: ($229)

If you’re looking for something that comes with a display, but not with Alexa, the Lenovo Smart Display is something you should definitely check out. The Lenovo Smart Display comes in three variants: 7″, 8″, and 10″.

Other than that, the smart displays come with Google Assistant, and support for Chromecast. Plus, thanks to the built-in camera, you can make video calls straight from your smart display with Google Duo integration.

If you’re looking for a smart display, you should definitely check out the Lenovo Smart Display.

Buy: (starts at $99.99)

  • Compact and durable design
  • Nice semi-transparent body
  • 4 far-field microphones for voice recognition
  • Amazing Alexa skills

Cons:

Buy: ($258)

If you’re an iOS user, the HomePod is probably the best smart speaker for you thanks to its obviously deep integration with iOS. The HomePod is a premium smart-speaker that offers audiophile-grade sound quality and can also get pretty loud.

Yeah, the HomePod is powered by Apple’s smart assistant, Siri, and it doesn’t have the best track record of being useful when you need it to be. However, if most of your use-case for a smart speaker is to listen to music on it, the HomePod will not disappoint you.

Cons:

  • Siri is below par

Buy:  ($299)

If there was a race for the best-sounding smart speaker, Bose Home Speaker 500 would comfortably finish among the top three. Yes, you heard that right! The smart speaker features eight mic arrays that deliver high-quality audio. Another feature that is worth taking note of is the good-looking front display that makes it more functional. With a modern design, it can seamlessly make a match with any home decor.

Buy: ($299)

Another smart speaker that has never failed to amaze me is the Libratone Zipp. It sports a nice-looking design and can rival the best in the business on the sound quality front.

Libratone Zipp can deliver sound in 360-degrees which plays a vital in offering an immersive listening experience. If you are fond of listening to music, you would really appreciate its ability to fire out at 360°. Besides, the presence of dual-mic and 15W woofer plays a key role in offering a much-improved sound.

  • Nice-looking sound quality
  • Interchangeable jackets
  • Deliver sound in 360-degrees
  • 15W woofer
  • Dual-mic

Buy: ($170)

Up to 18 hours of battery life make Bang and Olufsen Beosound A1 one of a kind. That’s not all, it’s also IP67 rated which makes it fully equipped to spice up your beach party.

Buy: ($231.24)

10. Invoxia Triby Smart Speaker

  • Lightweight design
  • e-paper display
  • Preset Internet radio stations
  • Option to make calls over VoIP
  • Two-days of battery life

Buy: ($109.83)

Not Sherlock’s brother, no. This Mycroft is artificial intelligence for everyone. Instead of going for proprietary hardware, the makers of Mycroft built it on Raspberry Pi, and Arduino, and added Natural Language Processing to understand your commands, and perform the appropriate actions.

Mycroft is meant to be an open platform, which is why the makers chose to use Raspberry Pi, and Arduino boards. With the highly active community surrounding these hardware devices, it’s quite evident that Mycroft’s abilities will only grow with time.

Buy: (Price hasn’t yet been revealed)

Yet another smart speaker that comes with a display, the JBL Link View is not the best looking smart display out there, especially when put against the Google Home Hub, but it definitely is worth checking out.

Pros:

Buy: ($249.95)

Sonos also came out with its own Alexa-powered smart speaker, so if you’re someone who’s looking for the Sonos’ gorgeous looks with Alexa’s smarts, the Sonos One is a smart speaker you should consider.

  • The sound may distort at top volume

Buy: ($199)

At $240, MEGABLAST does seem a touch expensive. However, you can’t go wrong with it considering the solid features.

Buy:  ($199.95)

Design-wise, KitSound Voice One looks a bit old-fashioned. However, when it comes to sound quality, it is on par thanks largely to the 20W power. Plus, the support for 60 Hertz – 20000 Hertz frequency response further enhances its ability to deliver good audio. The multi-room connectivity for up to eight Voice One speakers is worth taking note of as well.

Buy: ($125.43)

If you’re into DIY, you should consider building your very own smart speaker. It’s not too difficult, doesn’t cost a lot, and will give you a great way to spend a weekend with a Raspberry Pi, a soldering iron, and your laptop to configure the smart assistant.

It’s embedded below. If watching the video doesn’t sound fun, you can also check out our detailed article where we explain everything about building your own smart speaker.

Which home assistant is best?

You can use the Brief Mode to make Alexa stop shouting “OK!” after every single smart home command. When the Brief Mode is enabled, the virtual assistant will offer a subtle confirmation chime instead.

No. Google Assistant is by far the most intelligent virtual assistant.

There are quite a few differences. One notable difference between the two is that Google Home still doesn’t support Apple Music, unlike Alexa.

Who’s better Siri or Alexa?

Even though Apple has vastly improved Siri, it still lags behind due largely to several restrictions.