Google Home vs. Amazon Echo: Which is better for you?

With the emergence of smart speakers in the market, tech companies like Google and Amazon are doing their best to integrate their respective voice assistant devices (Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa) with as many other smart products as possible to give their customers the most comprehensive and cutting edge smart home experience.

The battle between Google Home and Amazon Echo is one that many smart speaker enthusiasts and smart home hobbyists focus on because of the two platforms’ affordability and quality.

Since their release, smart speakers have become essential to many households and even offices because of their convenience, not to mention the savings they can provide by helping conserve utilities, and their ability to make work faster and easier.

With both products having such great reviews and enthusiastic supporters, it can be difficult for someone who’s new to the smart home game to know which assistant would be better for them.

That’s where this guide comes in, so let’s get going.

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Google Home vs. Alexa Devices

The Google Home and Amazon Echo lines each include a few different devices, so it’s important that you understand what all your options are before you choose.

In addition to the standard Google Home, Google also makes the Google Home Mini and the Google Home Max. They all have Google Assistant built in, so the primary differences among them, aside from price, are size and sound quality.

The original Google Home is 5.62 inches tall and 3.79 inches in diameter. The Google Home Mini has about the same diameter, but is less than 2 inches tall. The Google Home Max is the largest of the bunch, measuring 13.2 inches by 7.4 inches by 6.0 inches.

The Google Home Mini is intended for those who don’t plan on streaming much audio. It’s a great, unobtrusive voice assistant platform, but the speaker quality isn’t great.

The Google Home Max, on the other hand, is designed with streaming in mind. The large size makes it less than understated, but if you love to stream music or podcasts, the sound quality is excellent.

The Google Home falls in the middle, with decent sound quality and a size that’s much easier to fit into your home’s existing decor.

Amazon, on the other hand, has five different products in the Echo lineup.

The Echo is the counterpart of the Home. Each has fairly compact size and middle of the road sound quality.

The Echo Dot corresponds to the Google Home Mini, each with a compact, hockey puck like size and shape and pretty unimpressive sound quality.

The Echo Dot Kids Edition includes extensive parental controls and prioritizes child-focused content. While Google doesn’t offer a counterpart to the Echo Dot Kids Edition, you can use their Family Link feature to set parental controls and create accounts for your kids that extend across all of your Google Home devices.

The Echo Plus is great for those who already have a variety of smart home devices. It has a built in hub that allows it to automatically discover and set up your smart home devices.

The Echo Show has a built in screen which allows you to stream video (but not from Google-owned Youtube), pull up your recipe while you cook, view song lyrics, check your security camera, and more. Finally, the round Echo Spot has a screen like the Echo Show, but like the Echo Dot, it’s a scaled down version.

Now that you know what your different product options are, let’s move on to the actual features of each platform.

Smart Home Control

In the Google Home vs Alexa comparison chart, the former’s extraordinary speaker has a unique feature; it can control your smart home.

You can ask your Google Home to turn off or dim your lights, play some music, and even switch on the television (TV).

There are many smart appliances available in the market today that are compatible to the Google Home. When utilized to perform their functions, they’re found to work well with Google’s speaker.

The fact that the speaker can assist in the initial home setup with astonishing speaker quality scores it points in the Google Home vs Alexa audio quality reviews.

Amazon’s Alexa-enabled devices, on the other hand, focuses on integrating its smart assistant to automobiles like BMW, Toyota, and Ford.

Google Home has captured the market majority because it can be connected to any Android-powered device or appliance.

Better Language Coordination

Google Home vs Alexa speaker sound can attest to how much the devices have improved in language coordination since their very first launching.

These improvements have certainly helped how Google Home vs Alexa manages more private tasks. After all, the better the language coordination, the easier you can command the smart speaker for tasks.

It is essential for every smart speaker or any smart devices that features voice recognition to have a better language acknowledgement, especially if it will be made available outside the United States.

The different accent and languages used can cause problems otherwise. So in the Google Home vs Alexa battle in the advancement of voice recognition, the two devices are clear winners.

The difference between Google Home vs Alexa is the timeline of their upgraded product launches. These improvements can also take a while in the production and quality assurance process.

After all, the recording of the voice assistant is also one of the essential factors that can make of break the product.

Aside from the improved language coordination, the devices can also predict and recognized different languages such as Japanese, English, French, German, and Italian.

Store Things To Remember

In the Google Home vs Alexa Reddit on home compatibility, people find Google’s smart speaker to bring more value for their money.

Users find that the Google Home smart speaker can store tasks better. It can also play back requests so t can be used as a reminder; it’s basically a talking diary.

For example, Google Home can store passwords or remember any locker combo in case you tend to be forgetful. The smart speaker assures that you are covered in times you ask it for the said password.

Although, this feature could still stand improvements on the privacy provision of the device.

Find Local Businesses

Smart speakers were crafted and launched not just to support music or entertain, but to also give aid to the household needs like finding or locating good plumber services, construction, or carpentry.

Anything related to finding people or businesses on the internet, Google Home and Amazon Alexa can provide.

Google Home, for example, can locate and give you the closest recommendations for available services you need for troubleshooting or fixing. It is a Siri version of Android but through a smart speaker.

For this feature, Google Home does it better than the Amazon Alexa in terms of promptness of response.

Monthly Fees to be Paid

There is no monthly fee to use both Google Home and Amazon Alexa.

But if you preferred to get the most of your smart speakers in terms of music and entertainment, you can opt to subscribe to third-party applications.

Choose apps like Spotify Premium (for unlimited music streaming), Amazon Prime (for Amazon Alexa), or YouTube Red (to stream premium videos, access live streaming, and get YouTube Premium).

Google Home offers a six-month trial for YouTube Red for selected subscribers, but users have the option to continue it or not.

It is the same with Amazon Alexa. Any Amazon Alexa device can opt to upgrade to Amazon Prime to keeping it as is.

All third-party application subscriptions are entirely optional. Many users just recommend it to make the most out of your smart speakers’ function and optimum service.

Connections and Phone Calls

Yes, you can make phone calls using either Google Home and Amazon Alexa, but with specific limitations.

For Google Home, the company has enabled free calls for both landline or mobile in the U.S. and the UK.

On the other hand, Amazon supports calling for Alexa and Echo all through their very own Alexa application.

All calls are not subject to any form of charges, but the application does not support international calls in the United Kingdom.

With the power of wi-fi calls, you can easily call another device (given that it is also connected to the internet) through the speaker itself and solely direct to it and not from any mobile devices.

Device Compatibility

Google Home could be a lot better than Amazon Alexa (for now) since it is more flexible and versatile, especially because Android powers it.

Many other independent devices can work well with Google’s smart speaker. Some of these devices are:

• Smart Locks
• Precision Cooker
• Thermostats
• Smart Lighting
• Security Cameras (Android-powered)
• Smart Outlets and Plugs
• Air-Conditioning Units
• Vacuum Cleaners
• Sprinkler Controllers; and
• Garage Door Openers

While there are more devices compatible with Google Home, there are also plenty that can be connected with Amazon Alexa like:

• Light Switch (Belkin)
• iHome Smart Plug
• Samsung devices or outlets
• Wi-Fi Smart Plugs
• Energy Monitors

Getting the Best Assistance

Getting the best assistance for your home is just within reach through smart speakers. Google Home vs Amazon Alexa could be a tough match, but it works very well depending on your preference.

If you have a lot of smart appliances in your home and you want to make the most out of it, Google Home is the right answer.

If you are currently subscribed or reachable via any Amazon applications or have the Prime subscription, then Amazon Alexa can work best for you.

It can really depend on your current need as both can provide less or more hanging on to how purposeful it can be to your demand.

Suggested reads:

Amazon Echo’s Biggest Hardware Problems

A Beginner’s Guide to Amazon Echo

The 3 Best Wearable Speakers You Don’t Want to Miss

Frequently Asked Questions

Before You Sign Up

When it comes to pricing, Google Home and Amazon Alexa are on the same range, but the former is a lot cheaper.

If you have a limited budget and can only shell out an amount not more than $150, then Google Home is the best for you.

For only $130 compared to Amazon’s $180 estimate pricing, you can have the most of your preferred service.

Which smart speaker are you using now? Did you decide on one or the other? Do you still have questions? Share your answers to these questions and any questions of your own in the comment section below!