Overall Findings
Google Home and Alexa are fairly evenly matched on most points, with minor differences in hardware that aren’t likely to tip the scales for most people. The AI-driven virtual assistants are what make each platform interesting, and that’s where the most important differences come into play. Alexa has historically been the one to beat in terms of skills, especially third party Alexa skills, which add additional functionality. However, Google has made up enough ground in that department that you’re better off checking whether each system has the specific skills you need rather than making a choice based on how many skills each one offers.
Design: Nobody’s Winning Any Design Awards
The flagship Google Home looks more like a gel-filled air freshener than a piece of high tech kit, with a rounded base, sloping conical body, and slanted top. The smaller Home Mini is significantly less complex, inhabiting a flattened spherical body with fabric on top and plastic on the bottom. Other devices in the line use similar design cues, tending to shy away from sharp angles in most cases in favor of rounded corners. The flagship Echo started out looking like a matte-black Pringles can and eventually evolved into a stockier device with replaceable fabric and wood covers to better fit into a variety of home decors. The Echo Dot followed a similar path, starting out as a hockey puck and gaining a fabric surround to give it a slightly less angular look. Other devices in the line are similarly basic, like the mostly spherical Echo Spot and angular Echo Show.
Sound and Music: Quality Vs. Volume
The overall question of sound quality is more complicated than that, with the Home Max providing better bass response and less vibration than the Echo Studio, and the Echo Dot sounding a bit better than the Google Home Mini. In terms of compatibility with online streaming services, it’s a wash. Both ecosystems provide wide compatibility, except with each others own services. That is to say you can’t stream Prime Music on a Home and you can’t stream Google’s All Access on an Echo. Alexa devices win, hands down, in terms of wired connectivity, with 3.5mm jacks present on each device in the lineup. That isn’t a big deal if you prefer wireless connections, but it is an option that the Home devices just don’t have.
Voice Controls and Skills: Google Is Closing in Fast
In terms of voice options, Google Home wins out. Alexa is locked in to a single voice that sounds pretty good, but Google Home gives you a lot of different options if you want to mix things up. Both systems offer good speech recognition, although the Google Assistant-driven Home is better at answering general knowledge questions and parsing web-based queries. Alexa gets stuck if you don’t use specific wording, and it also relies on Wikipedia a lot more than Home does. For some questions, you need to add a skill as Alexa simply can’t answer them alone. In terms of third party skills that provide additional functionality, Alexa has held the lead historically. However, Google has closed the gap to the point where the distinction is no longer as important. If you need your virtual assistant to interface with a specific device or technology, or perform a specific function, check to see which platform has the appropriate skill before you choose a platform, as it’s no longer safe to assume Alexa will and Home won’t.
Smart Home Integration and Connectivity
It’s worth checking to see if your existing smart home devices are compatible with Google Home before investing in a bunch of Home and Home Mini devices, but Home can do pretty much everything Alexa can do in terms of controlling lights, thermostats, garage doors, and other smart home tech. There are also some differences in the way that Home and Alexa devices handle voice calling, and video calling in the case of the Echo Show. Home devices are capable of placing phone calls using voice over IP (VoIP), meaning you can use your Google Home to call a cellphone or landline using your internet connection. Echo devices can also make VoIP calls, but only using the Skype skill and the Skype to Phone service. You can also turn an Echo into a voice-controller speakerphone if you have a landline and use the Echo Connect peripheral. Echo devices also support drop-in calling, which Home devices don’t. This feature allows you to use your Echo device to call a friend or family member’s echo directly. This feature, while handy, can be disabled if you don’t want people dropping in on you unannounced.
