The best smart speakers: See where the Amazon Echo Dot, others rank

If you’re searching for a new speaker, the market is flooded with options. Whether you’re looking to spend your time listening to music outside, in search of the perfect indoor acoustics, or both, there are hundreds of speakers for you to choose from.

But what about smart speakers? You know, the kind that come with built-in voice assistants and can be found in almost any home at this point? If you have a bunch of "smart" devices lying around your home — perhaps a robot vacuum, or even a smart toaster (yes, that's a real thing) — a smart speaker is pretty much essential in keeping all of them connected. In short, a smart speaker is what makes your home truly smart.

But like regular speakers, smart speakers are also totally saturating the market. You could spend all day scouring product descriptions and review sections to find the best fit for your home — but we would never make you do that. Instead, we compiled a small list of what we feel are the best smart speakers you can get right now.

Are smart speakers worth the money?

Although smart speakers aren't always the best way to listen to your audio and aren't really prioritized for music in the first place, we think they're absolutely worth having if you have the budget for it. (And you might not even notice the audio downgrade unless you're really looking.)

The real reason to get a smart speaker is — and you probably already guessed it — convenience. Hands-free voice assistants are the name of the game when it comes to smart speakers, as well as compatibility with other connected smart tech like robot vacuums, streaming devices, and much more. Being able to hear your day at a glance, catch up on news, play music, and control most of your smart tech by way of simply asking a speaker is a truly unmatched feeling for those who enjoy doing less. And let's be honest: Most of us enjoy doing less. Plus, smart speakers don't always have to break the bank — there are plenty of budget options out there, including the fantastic Echo Dot, which we'll get into more below.

What's the best voice assistant?

There are really only three worthwhile voice assistants out there: Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Siri. Out of those three, most would put Siri at the bottom. That's not to say that Siri is a bad voice assistant, but Apple is just way too exclusive about their propriety operating systems, and Siri is only available to Apple devices — that means if you get a third party brand like Bose or Sonos, Siri won't be possible for you (although Apple AirPlay is an option). In our opinion, getting a worse-sounding speaker just for Siri isn't worth the sacrifice.

That brings us to Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, and when it comes down to choosing, our answer is probably the most annoying one possible: It's subjective. It will all rely on your voice assistant habits, and both Amazon and Google have specialties that they do better than the other.

If you're an online shopper and have an arsenal of smart devices throughout your home, Alexa will probably be your best bet. Amazon's smart speakers recognize more devices than Google's Assistant, so you're more likely to have a better time with an Echo if you really want to go for a true smart home. Alexa's direct connection to the Amazon store also makes online shopping easy, allowing you to add things to your cart and check out solely through voice commands. If you get a lot of your goods from Amazon, Amazon's smart speakers are kind of a no-brainer.

The Google Nest Audio has a nice, minimalistic look. Credit: Google

While Google Assistant does get edged out by Alexa in terms of skills, it is better at things like general knowledge, location services, and other real-world information that you might need at a moment's notice. Google Assistant is also great for those with Android phones, enabling easy exchanges of information between your smartphone and smart speaker when using Google-supported apps. Google speakers also tend to be better at networking, so if you're looking to buy more than one smart speaker to connect them, Google is probably where you'll want to start.

Both assistants are great, so you can't really lose with either choice here — just think about what features you want most, and go for the one that fits that vision best.

What's the deal with wattage?

When you're shopping for a new speaker, you're going to see the word "wattage" a lot. While that might be meaningless gibberish to you when you see it on a product page, it's actually a pretty simple concept. Basically, wattage defines the limit of how high your speaker can go without distorting the sound. Unless you enjoy really blasting your tunes or you regularly host parties, 50 watts is normally going to be more than enough for the average listener. But if you really like to crank it up to 11, the more (watts) the merrier. While smaller speakers tend to have the least amount of wattage, there are certainly some exceptions.

What are the best smart speakers?

If you're ready to start building out your smart home, let's take a look at the best smart speakers to serve as your jumping-off point.