Amazon’s fourth-gen Echo is still impressive well over a year after its initial launch — and even if you pay its full $100 price (you can often find it on sale if you keep an eye out). Between its new sphere-like profile, powerful sound output and a few forward-looking features, the Echo is still king of the countertop.

Google’s  speaker, which also launched in 2020, is a solid competitor with the Echo, and Apple’s recent plays well in the Apple sandbox, but Amazon wins out in two key categories: Its speaker is far more powerful — the bass is particularly impressive — and it features a built-in Zigbee receiver and Amazon Sidewalk Hub that make connecting devices like lightbulbs and locks much more seamless and reliable.

Meanwhile, Alexa and Google Assistant are pretty much at parity right now. While Amazon boasts about more skills and support for more third-party devices for its voice assistant, the numbers for Google Assistant also land in the tens of thousands, meaning you really don’t miss out on anything significant either way. 

Read more: 

Google Assistant does a better job at mimicking natural conversation flow, but the difference isn’t really that noticeable in your day-to-day interaction with each speaker. Most of the time you’ll ask a smart speaker for the weather, to set a timer and maybe have it play a song or two. Both devices are good at all of that.

Google has another card to play, which you can read below.

.

Amazon’s midtier smart display is the best one in its line. For $130, the Echo Show 8 has great audio quality, a highly visible screen and a convincing nod to privacy with a physical shutter you can slide over its camera. The second generation of the device launched in 2021, and honed many of the features that earned the first edition an Editor’s Choice award. We still like the interface better on the Google Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max, but for those of you who are committed to an Alexa-only ecosystem, the Echo Show 8 is the best smart display for the price.

.

Wi-Fi is everything — particularly once you start spreading things like smart speakers, smart lights, smart plugs and smart all else from room to room. After all, those connected doodads won’t do you much good if they can’t, you know, connect. 

That’s why a that’s built to spread a strong, speedy signal throughout your house might make for a particularly smart upgrade — especially if you’re living in a big home. Of , we think the  is the smartest pick. At $269, the two-piece starter kit was able to fill the 5,800-square-foot with decent signal strength, and it never once dropped our connection as we moved around conducting speed test after speed test. On top of that, the range extender doubles as a smart speaker, so as you spread a reliable connection from room to room, you’ll be spreading Google Assistant’s footprint in your home with it.

Read more:

The Nest Wifi , called , but you really won’t notice the difference Wi-Fi 6 makes unless you’re already paying for super-fast internet speeds of 500 Mbps or more. Our upgrade pick, the , is the best choice if you want to serve up that kind of speed. What you will notice with the Nest Wifi is the ease of installation, the simple network controls that sit right alongside your smart home controls in the Google Home app, and advanced Wi-Fi features like device prioritization, WPA3 security, and 4×4 MU-MIMO support, which lets the Nest Wifi boost speeds to devices that use multiple Wi-Fi antennas, like the MacBook Pro.

The Nest Wifi is obviously best for Google smart homes, so Alexa users will likely want to stick with the  or . But if you just want solid Wi-Fi that you and your growing number of internet-connected gadgets can rely upon, put the Nest Wifi right at the top of your list.

.

We often point to smart plugs as the entry point for anyone interested in trying out a connected home device. They’re cheap, they’re simple to install and they perform a function that’s pretty easy to grasp, toggling power on and off remotely. 

Read more: 

You can find a lot of smart plugs out there. TP-Link’s Kasa Mini is our favorite. It includes a single outlet that connects to your network via Wi-Fi. The app is well-designed and lets you program the plug to turn on or off on a schedule or even based on your location. It works with Google Assistant and Alexa, and it doesn’t cover up the adjacent outlet on a standard two-outlet wall fixture.

.

You can snag the Wyze Bulb directly from the company’s website at $15 for two, or $32 for four, plus shipping. That’s a pretty great price, and it belies the excellent quality of the device you get. You don’t need an extra hub to use them or to connect them to voice control with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant (or IFTTT). Just screw them in, turn them on, pair them with the Wyze mobile app and bask in the glow of dirt-cheap smart light.

The bulbs are also just great lights, with scalable white settings that offer a candlelike 2,700K output all the way up to whiter daylight tones that approach 6,000K. That these bulbs offer this flexibility at the $8 price tag is incredibly impressive — and they’re super bright, too.

.

At $60, Amazon Smart Thermostat is the least expensive smart thermostat we’ve tested. You’ll need a compatible Alexa-enabled smart speaker or display to use voice commands, but you don’t have to enable an Alexa skill since this is an Amazon-branded product.

Even if you don’t want to use voice control, the thermostat is impressive, saving an average of $50 on a yearly energy bill. Its design is simple and modern, and the touchscreen interface is efficient.

The downsides: The Amazon Smart Thermostat isn’t compatible with Google Assistant or Apple HomeKit and there’s no remote temperature sensor accessory. You also either need a C-wire or you have to buy and install the C-wire adapter.

Still, that incredible price tag sets it apart from the rest of the options on the market.

.

Wyze’s $50 indoor camera — which can pan and tilt to let you see a whole room — is one of the best camera values on the market. Not only does it give you top-notch control to see a large space, flexible settings enable the camera to scan spaces periodically, follow motion and more. Beyond that, you can use all the standard features like two-way talk and cloud storage.

Wyze also stands apart with its free cloud storage options — which allow you to store clips for up to 14 days. You can also store footage locally on an SD card, or pay $3 a month to gain better smarts and better cloud storage. If you’re looking for a nanny cam, a pet cam or just a standard indoor security camera, the Wyze Cam Pan v2 is one of the best you’ll find.

.

Arlo’s $200 Pro 4 outdoor security camera is a solid device with impressive performance, boasting 2K resolution and a 160-degree field of view that outshine most of the competition. On top of its great specs, the camera includes extra goodies like two-way talk, a siren and a spotlight, all of which offer excellent use as deterrents to would-be burglars. Add a $3-per-month subscription and you’ll get smart notifications that distinguish among people, animals and vehicles, plus motion zones and more.

While the Pro 4 is pricier than some of the most affordable outdoor cameras from brands like Blink or Wyze, it’s a good investment for anyone serious about upping their security game.

.

Ring’s latest home security system beats the competition for two simple reasons: It’s surprisingly cheap, with the eight-piece kit starting at $300 and competitive device-by-device pricing, and it offers a ton of value for that price. Not only do you get a built-in Wi-Fi 6 Eero gateway, but you get a Z-Wave radio for a variety of smart devices, cellular backup, local processing and storage, backup internet (in case of power or internet outages) and much more than in your standard DIY security array.

Monthly subscriptions range from $3 to $20 per month, which is on the lower end of the DIY home security spectrum, and it includes more smarts than most such subscriptions. If you’re looking to give yourself a solid base to start building out a smart and secure home, you can’t do much better than the Ring Alarm Pro.

.

When you consider that the  clocks in at $229, Arlo’s $150 Video Doorbell offers a lot for the price. While many of Arlo’s cameras are expensive, if not overpriced, the Arlo Video Doorbell is much more reasonable. 

The Arlo Video Doorbell is priced well, it performs well and the Arlo Smart cloud service is competitively priced, starting at just $3 per month. With Arlo Smart, you get a ton of features, from advanced motion alerts to 30 days of cloud storage and much more. 

You’ll get a 180-degree viewing angle and a 1:1 aspect ratio to show packages left at your door. A built-in siren helps it function in part as a security camera, too. 

Read more: 

There isn’t a free cloud storage option, and this is one of the larger doorbells at 5 inches tall. Still, we strongly recommend the Arlo Video Doorbell enough to give it an  and say that it’s our current favorite video doorbell.

.

make people nervous because they insert another point of failure between you and your physical security. With a smart lock, a malicious hacker, or even a plain old technical failure or connectivity issue could all of a sudden compromise the entry point of your home. 

There might be some truth to that. A keyless design with no physical failsafe could indeed lock you out, but the August Wi-Fi Smart Lock isn’t one of those locks.

Read more: 

The August Wi-Fi Smart Lock is a breeze to install. It fits over the internal thumb latch of most existing deadbolt designs, and you can set it up in 10 minutes. Because it doesn’t replace the lock mechanism itself, you can still use your original, physical key. It’s good looking too, and 45% smaller than older August models.

The lock itself connects to your phone via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, and from the August app, you can assign and revoke timed virtual keys to anyone you like, from your in-laws to your dog sitter, at no extra cost. Many other locks will charge extra for virtual keys. 

Because this model has Wi-Fi built in, you won’t need to purchase the August Connect accessory to enable remote access. Simply set up your lock with Wi-Fi in the app, and you can not only control the lock from anywhere, but you can also connect it to Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri (be sure to make each of them to accompany the unlock command) for added convenience. 

Another accessory included with the Wi-Fi Smart Lock model is the tiny open-close sensor. This lets the lock tell you if it’s locked or unlocked and lets you know if the door itself is open or closed. It’s the most complete product available on the market for now.

.

Our favorite all-around security camera-maker released a floodlight camera a few years ago that remains a best-in-class product. It has all of the things we like about the Arlo camera line in general: long-lasting battery, a sharp HD video feed, pts terbaik sumatera mounting hardware that’s both flexible, easy installation and compatibility with all three major voice platforms. 

Along with all of that, Arlo has added the most powerful array of LED lighting in its category, leaving competing products from Ring and others in the darkness. The 2,000 lumen light (3,000 if you add the optional Outdoor Charging Cable) will light up your entire backyard if you want that kind of power. It’s also dimmable, which is useful if you still want your neighbors to like you.

.