Amazon Echo vs. Google Nest: Which of the two big smart platforms is right for you?

So, you’ve decided to take the plunge and snap up your first smart speaker or display (trust us, you’ll love it). Here’s the big question, though: Should you pick one that answers to Amazon Alexa, or Google Assistant?

That’s the choice you’ll face when you’re deciding between Amazon Echo speakers and displays, home to the ubiquitous Amazon Alexa, or Google Nest (formerly Home) devices, which are powered by Google Assistant.

What’s the best way to choose between Echo and Nest? Well, that depends on a variety of factors. Do you want to be on the platform that’s compatible with the most smart gadgets, or the one with an assistant that can answer the broadest range of questions? Would you prefer the platform with the most third-party apps, or maybe the one that’s most adept at setting up daily routines?

Now, if someone were to ask me to pick the best smart speaker/display ecosystem without any other context, I’d have to go with Amazon Echo.

Best digital photo frame features

After you warm up to your first smart speaker, you’ll eventually get around to snagging a smart display—and once you do, you’ll quickly find that one of your favorite smart display features is its ability to double as a digital photo frame.

Amazon’s Echo Show displays let you display a slideshow of your Amazon Photos or Facebook snapshots, and you can choose an album of handpicked photos or an automatically generated one of friends and family, all thanks to the magic of facial recognition and machine learning.

Google’s Hub and Hub Max displays one-up the Echo Show with their support for Google Photo’s Live Albums feature, which makes it incredible easy to create a continually updated album of friends, loved ones, and even pets. And not only does Google seem more adept at recognizing faces, it also does a better job at creating attractive photo collages, which help to fill the entire screen when dealing with portraits.

Best built-in home security

While there’s a galaxy of home security devices that you can control with Alexa and Google Assistant, both Echo and Google Nest devices count as security-minded gadgets in their own right.

Take Alexa Guard, a feature that lets your Echo device keep an ear out for breaking glass, and carbon monoxide or smoke alarms, and it can send you a mobile notification or send an alert to a professional monitoring service if you’re using a Ring Alarm or an ADT-compatible security service. Amazon has also announced that Alexa Guard will soon be able to detect any other “sounds of activity” while you’re away (such as footsteps, talking, or running faucets).