The Best Smart Displays of 2026

Smart display devices are among the most versatile and useful smart gadgets. From controlling your smart home devices with Alexa and Google Assistant to making video calls, watching videos, and even using it as a digital photo frame, smart displays are an excellent way to futurize your home.

We tested some of the best smart displays on the market and tried out their features to help you find the very best option for your setup. As with many smart devices, what is right for you may depend heavily on which voice assistant you prefer. The Alexa-enabled Amazon Echo Show 8 (2025) (available at Amazon for $179.99) is our top choice as the best smart display you can buy. However, our guide also includes other great smart displays, each tailored to your lifestyle and smart home needs.

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Other Smart Displays We Tested

What To Consider When Buying Smart Speakers

Who would use this?

When choosing the best smart display, consider how it will integrate into your daily life. Do you primarily want a hands-free way to video call with friends and family or to stream videos mindlessly during your workday? Do you want help tracking your sleep or controlling your smart home gadgets? Every smart display offers a little something different in terms of features and usability. Our guide can help you determine which smart display to buy for your home.

Key features

• Screen size: Are you planning on using your smart display to show random information like the time and weather, or do you plan on actually using it to watch videos when you're cooking? This can help determine how big a screen you should get. Some have small screens measuring only about 5 inches, which is small by smartphone standards. Others have much larger screens that are closer to a tablet and are better for watching videos or movies. Lastly, some are as big as a computer monitor, designed to be mounted to the wall and used extensively for watching video content. Unfortunately, the display quality offered by most smart displays isn't incredible, and for the most part, the highest resolution you'll find is 1080p. That's fine for casual use, but don't expect it to look anything like your 4K TV.
• User interface: Smart displays evolved out of smart speakers, and as such, they're often designed to be used with your voice more than anything else. That said, a decent user interface can still be helpful. The vast majority of smart displays use Amazon's or Google's custom smart display software. However, some of Amazon's larger smart displays swap that out for a full Fire TV interface, which is the same as the one you'll find on its Fire TV streaming devices. Because there are so few options, you'll have to buy the smart display that fits your smart home ecosystem.
• Sound and audio quality: If you plan to use your smart display to listen to music, then decent audio quality could come in handy for you. Unfortunately, most smart displays don't prioritize audio as much as smart speakers do. However, some still deliver decent-quality audio thanks to oversized bases with larger speaker drivers. A good example is the Amazon Echo Show 10, which features a large base with a dedicated woofer, delivering deeper bass response than other smart displays. Some will let you connect external speakers to the base, but not all do.
• Touchscreen: Of course, the biggest reason you buy a smart display instead of a smart speaker is access to the actual screen. The vast majority of smart displays feature a touchscreen, allowing you to control smart home devices and quickly access settings. However, some don't have a touchscreen at all, being designed exclusively to show information like the time and anything related to your voice commands.
• Connectivity: The basics of smart display connectivity revolve around Wi-Fi, which is how they'll access information from the web and control your smart home devices. However, some have other connectivity features, like Bluetooth, but this is rare.
• Video calling: Most smart displays offer a video calling feature, but are largely limited to using the built-in voice video calling software. For example, on Echo Show devices, Alexa Calling allows video calls to other Echo devices or the Alexa app, while Google Nest Hub devices support Google Meet. Some newer models support other apps, such as Zoom, but this support is currently limited.
• Smart home hub: Smart displays are designed to integrate within a smart home, but some go beyond that and serve as a smart home hub. This means they'll be the main gateway between smart home devices and the wider internet, connecting them via standards such as Matter, Thread, and Zigbee. If you don't already have a hub or plan to replace it with your new smart display, it's worth thinking about the kinds of smart home connectivity you want or need.
• Privacy: Privacy might seem like a thing of the past, but in your own home, you can do a few things to protect yourself, even from naturally invasive smart home devices. First, make sure to enable two-factor authentication for your smart display account, which sends a code to your mobile device to verify it’s you. That way, if someone tries to hack into your account, you will receive an alert and can quickly take care of the problem. Many devices also let you enable email or other push notifications in settings to alert you when someone logs in. Additionally, make sure to use a unique, strong password that includes multiple characters, letters, and numbers. Data breaches can happen, making it all the more important to use different passwords across various websites and apps. Smart assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant are built into smart displays, and you can protect your privacy by regularly deleting your voice recordings and turning off the device's mic and camera when it’s not in use. All Echo Show displays feature integrated privacy controls like a physical, sliding shutter for the camera and a mic mute button on the top of the device. Google Nest displays lack a physical slider, but you can easily access privacy controls for the camera and mic by swiping up from the bottom of the display. One thing to note is that Echo displays come with Amazon Sidewalk enabled by default. The goal of Amazon Sidewalk is to create one large, low-bandwidth wireless network that extends the range of certain devices (like Echo devices, Ring cameras, and Tile trackers) that only work when connected to Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. The more neighbors who opt in, the larger and stronger the Amazon Sidewalk network will be. The program only applies to Echo devices, and you can opt out at any time.

Care, maintenance, and warranty

Generally speaking, smart displays are designed to be left alone on a counter, as far away from water as possible. There's nothing you need to do to maintain a smart display, apart from simply taking care of it as best you can.

Usually, the warranties of smart displays last around a year or two. Still, they only really cover manufacturing defects, so don't expect to be able to repair or replace a smart display for free if you damage it.

FAQ: What To Know About Smart Displays

The features vary by hub and ecosystem, but smart displays are more than just a pretty video portal for your countertop. The devices can show you who is at the front door as soon as someone rings the bell. They can also listen for breaking glass and barking dogs (potentially alerting you to home security threats), as well as provide visual reminders (like that late afternoon Zoom meeting you keep forgetting about).

Smart displays from Amazon and Google sometimes also function as Matter hubs so that you can connect your Matter-enabled smart home devices to them.

Smart displays work with a variety of video and music streaming platforms. While the streaming lineup varies by ecosystem, popular services like Spotify and Apple Music, Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube are available.

Smart displays can also serve as digital keypads to disarm your home security system and to manually adjust the brightness and color of your smart bulbs and light strips. Some smart displays can also track your sleep, providing detailed statistics on your nightly sleep habits.

Most smart displays come with adaptive audio controls, so your assistant can hear you from across the room or over loud noises.

Echo vs. Nest: What’s the difference?

Choosing the best smart display for you and your household often comes down to which smart assistant you rely on to control your smart home—Alexa or Google Assistant. If you already have an Amazon Echo or Google Nest smart speaker in your home, for instance, you’ll want to choose a device that best integrates with it (i.e., one from Amazon or Google).

Alexa is the world’s most popular voice assistant and can control thousands of smart home devices, similar to Google Assistant. As of April 2025, Apple does not have a Siri-enabled HomeKit smart display.

Do any other brands make smart displays, or are there only Amazon and Google?

Technically, other companies do make smart displays. However, those made by Amazon and Google are by far the most popular. That's because they deeply integrate with their respective smart home ecosystems, offering first-party features that aren't widely available elsewhere.

Lenovo used to make some smart displays that ran Android Things, a Google-focused operating system that Google killed a few years ago. While you might still find Lenovo smart displays here and there, you should generally steer clear of them, as their support is lacking, nd they don't include the latest features.

Why You Should Trust Our Expertise

Because every smart display has its own strengths and features, our testing could not be standardized across devices. Instead, we tested smart displays in an actual smart home for several weeks, using popular smart home gadgets such as smart plugs, smart locks, security cameras, and appliances. We also tested smart displays for privacy settings, streaming services, video calling experiences, and individual features.

What Other Reviewers Are Saying About the Best Smart Displays

Most professional reviewers, like us, consider the Amazon Echo Show 8 the best smart display, at least for most people. To save you some time, we've done the research for you.

• PCMag considers the Amazon Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen) to be the best smart display, thanks to its solid audio and good smart home support.
• CNET gave two products the Best Smart Display Award, including both the Amazon Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen) and the Google Nest Hub (2nd Gen), arguing that the best depends on what ecosystem your smart home is in.
• Tom's Guide notes that the Amazon Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen) is the best smart display, thanks to its sleek design and its ability to serve as a smart home hub.

What Owners Are Saying About Our Best Smart Display

Generally speaking, the Amazon Echo Show 8 receives positive user reviews online, and users seem to find it helpful and high-quality. Here's a look at some of those reviews.

• Amazon: On Amazon, the Echo Show 8 has an average rating of 4.5 stars, which is quite good. One customer noted that the "Amazon Echo Show 8 is a perfect blend of size, functionality, and affordability. Its 8-inch HD screen is great for video calls, streaming, and smart home controls while being compact enough to fit easily on a nightstand or kitchen counter."
• Best Buy: The Amazon Echo Show 8 has an even better rating on Best Buy, with an average of 4.8 stars. One user was particularly impressed with the voice recognition, noting that it's "simply outstanding. Whether I’m in the kitchen cooking or relaxing in the living room, Alexa hears me clearly and responds almost instantly."

Overall, users find that the Echo Show 8 has a solid screen and helps control smart home devices, though its audio quality isn't particularly impressive.

Read More About Smart Displays and Screens on Reviewed

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