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In case you missed it, we surveyed our readers about the smart home tech they use and love. The results are in and your favorite smart home brands have been revealed. As part of that survey, we also asked our readers about their preferred smart assistant, pitting Alexa against Siri and Google Home.
It’s a space that’s changing rapidly, with Google revamping the Google Home device with Gemini AI, and both Alexa and Siri getting significant upgrades for the AI age. While this is going on behind the scenes, millions of people are simply looking for a quick download about the day’s weather. So, when you need to automate your home’s lights or find out if you need an umbrella, which smart home assistant do you trust?
Check out our complete Readers’ Choice results, and keep reading to learn about our readers’ favorite smart assistants.
Readers’ Choice Awards 2025: Your favorite smart home brands
Your favorite smart assistant
Google is our readers’ favorite assistant with an overall satisfaction rating of 8 out of 10. Amazon’s Alexa is close behind with 7.7, and Apple’s with 7.2. Google was also given the highest rating for “most likely to recommend”. To see how brands scored in different categories, click on the chart below using the arrow keys or the dropdown menu.
Voice recognition and response to signals
According to the experience of our readers, Google is ahead of the competition in voice recognition. It received a rating of 8.5 out of 10, while Amazon got 7.7 and Apple got 7.6. Survey respondents called its Google Assistant-enabled products “reliable” and “amazing.” One said that Google Assistant always finds answers to the questions it asks.
Another Google user said they were very satisfied overall, but sometimes, the Assistant stops understanding or commands stop working.
One respondent who has used Amazon products said, “Overall, I’ve found the Alexa system to be 99.9 percent reliable. On a rare occasion, it won’t catch a command to turn the lights on or off. Its answers to questions beyond trivia aren’t strong (Google is much better), but it’s good enough for most everyday things.” Another said, “Sometimes Alexa activates, indicating it’s on, but doesn’t respond to my command.”
mashable light speed
Apart from voice recognition, Google also scored 8 out of 10 in response to queries and commands, while Amazon and Apple scored 7.1 and 7.2 respectively.
Programmable actions, routines and automation
Not enough respondents rated Google or Apple in Programmable Actions, so Amazon wins by default in this category. However, for routines and automation, Google is rated higher at 8.2 compared to Amazon’s 7.5.
One survey respondent said they prefer Alexa for routine items and integrations, but the Google Assistant is better at answering questions.
One Alexa user reported that he has a morning routine that provides a weather report, reads news headlines, and turns on his office lights. The same person also uses Alexa to create shopping lists. “The more I use it, the more things I find I can do,” he wrote.
For another reader, his best experience with the Amazon Smart Assistant is when he set up his smart home with Alexa and “connected everything from lights to thermostats and smart plugs.” They enjoy the ease of controlling everything with their voice, especially when their hands are full.
One Google user wrote, “We have Google displays, speakers, TVs integrated with Google TV, and third-party plugs, bulbs, and the like throughout our home. Just recently, I upgraded to a Google Mesh router. Setting up third-party devices can be a bit tricky sometimes, but once everything is working, it’s nice to be able to control everything in the Google Home app.”
likely to recommend
Mashable readers are most likely to recommend Google Assistant with an 8.2 rating. Amazon Alexa follows with 7.8, while Apple’s Siri follows with 7.1.
Google users appreciate being able to change the Assistant’s voice, providing security and convenient voice commands, Google’s music recommendations, and reliability.
Siri users called the assistant “amazing” and said it gives them the proper information they need.
Many Amazon users said they “love” their Alexa devices. One wrote, “My family has a few different models of Alexa devices…I would recommend and purchase more Amazon Echo devices in the future.”