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In case you missed it, we polled our readers about the smart home technologies they use and love. The results are in and your favorite smart home brands have been revealed. As part of this survey, we also asked our readers about their smart assistants of choice and compared Alexa to Siri and Google Home.
This is an area that's changing quickly: Google is revamping Google Home devices with Gemini AI, and both Alexa and Siri are getting major upgrades for the AI age. While this is happening behind the scenes, millions of people are just looking for a quick download of the day's weather. So when you need to automate your home's lighting or figure out if you need an umbrella, which smart home assistant do you trust?
See the full Readers' Choice results and read on for a breakdown of our readers' favorite smart assistants.
Readers' Choice Awards 2025: Your favorite smart home brands
Your favorite smart assistants
Google is our readers' favorite assistant, with an overall satisfaction rating of 8 out of 10. Amazon's Alexa follows at 7.7 and Apple at 7.2. Google also received the highest rating for “most likely to recommend.” To see how brands performed in the different categories, click through the table below using the arrow keys or drop-down menu.
Speech recognition and response to prompts
Based on our readers' experiences, Google is ahead of the competition when it comes to speech recognition. It received a rating of 8.5 out of 10, while Amazon received a 7.7 and Apple received a 7.6. Survey respondents described their Google Assistant-enabled products as “reliable” and “fantastic.” One reported that Google Assistant always seems to find the answers to the questions asked.
Another Google user said that overall he was very satisfied, but that the assistant occasionally no longer understands anything or commands no longer work.
One respondent who uses Amazon products said: “Overall, I have found the Alexa system to be 99.9 percent reliable. In rare cases, it will not respond to a command to turn a light on or off. The answers to questions beyond general knowledge are not meaningful (Google is much better), but are sufficient for most everyday things.” Another said: “Sometimes Alexa activates, indicating it's on, but doesn't respond to my command.”
Destructible speed of light
In addition to voice recognition, Google also came out on top in answering questions and commands with 8 out of 10 points, while Amazon and Apple scored 7.1 and 7.2 points, respectively.
Programmable actions, routines and automations
Not enough respondents rated Google or Apple in programmable actions, so Amazon wins by default in this category. However, when it comes to routines and automation, Google is rated better at 8.2 than Amazon at 7.5.
One survey respondent said they like Alexa for routine tasks and integrations, but Google Assistant is better at answering questions.
One Alexa user reported that he has a morning routine that includes checking the weather, reading headlines, and turning on the office lights. The same person also uses Alexa to create shopping lists. They wrote, “The more I use it, the more things I can do.”
For another reader, the best experience with Amazon's smart assistant is setting up his smart home with Alexa and “connecting everything from lights to thermostats to smart plugs.” They enjoy the ease of being able to control everything with their voice, especially when their hands are full.
One Google user wrote: “Our entire house has Google displays, speakers, TVs built into Google TV, as well as third-party plugs, light bulbs, and the like. I recently upgraded to a Google Mesh router. Setting up the third-party devices can be a little tricky at times, but once everything is working, it's nice to be able to control everything right in the Google Home app.”
Likelihood of recommendation
Mashable readers are most likely to recommend Google Assistant with a rating of 8.2. It is followed by Amazon Alexa with 7.8, while Apple's Siri lags behind with 7.1.
Google users value the ability to change the assistant's voice, the security and convenience of voice commands, Google's music recommendations, and reliability.
Siri users called the assistant “great” and said it gave the right information they needed.
Several Amazon users said they “love” their Alexa devices. One wrote: “My family owns a few different models of Alexa devices… I would recommend Amazon Echo devices and will be purchasing more in the future.”