24-02-2025
Best Smart Displays of 2025
There are many smart devices on the market that can enhance your home, such as smart speakers, security cameras or light bulbs, transforming your comfy home into something comfier and smarter. But controlling everything can be a little daunting, which is why a smart display is a good investment. Plus, the displays themselves also have unique and useful features that can work on their own.
There are plenty of displays to choose from: big players like Google and Amazon dominate the market, with each releasing numerous generations of gadgets -- each better than the last -- that have made them favorite smart display choices for many.
Most recently, we've seen the Amazon Echo Show 8 and the Amazon Echo Hub, with the Echo Hub adding simplicity to controlling the smart home. Google has the Google Nest Hub (formerly the Google Home Hub) as well as the Nest Hub Max, which adds face- and gesture-tracking capabilities along with a larger screen. You can also check out the Google Pixel Tab, which doubles as a smart home display and Android tablet.
However, to identify the best, CNET's experts tested and reviewed smart displays for the home. We worked with a collection of smart devices, watched videos, set alarm clocks and more. Whether you want to add a smart display to your existing setup or are just starting your smart home and find the touchscreen appealing, here are the best models available. We'll update this list periodically.
Whether you want to add a smart display to your existing setup or you're just starting your smart home and you find the touchscreen appealing, here are the best models available now. We'll update this list periodically.
The latest version of the Nest Hub with Google services arrived in 2021, and it's a great entry point for the category. It's the smartest and best overall, making the low price even more appealing.
Thanks to the built-in Google Assistant, the Nest Hub responds to all of the same voice command options as the Google Home Mini smart speaker. The Google smart display touchscreen is a little small at seven inches, but the adaptive brightness makes pictures look particularly great. Google will even customize a slideshow of family pics as your screensaver.
You can also control your smart home devices, like your smart doorbell, with an intuitively designed control panel. Unlike most of the other smart displays (and unlike its big brother, the Nest Hub Max), the Nest Hub doesn't have a camera, but that might be a bonus if you have privacy concerns and want to put it on your bedside table.
The second-generation smart home hub model includes Sleep Sensing and Quick Gestures thanks to Google's Soli mini radar. The colorful fabric design on this Google Assistant smart display allows the device to blend in anywhere, although the tablet touchscreen comes in handy if you want step-by-step help through a recipe in the kitchen.
See at Best Buy
For a long time, the Nest Hub occupied pride of place on this list, thanks to its photo display aesthetic, pleasant user interface and more naturalistic voice assistant. It lacks the built-in camera for easy video calls found on the Echo Show 8. Add that to Amazon Alexa's growing smarts, and the Show 8 has been upgraded to share the "best display" honor with the Nest Hub. Both are great smart displays.
With the Show 8, Alexa will respond to your voice control and voice commands, plus you can use the tablet screen to play games, browse recipes, watch movies and Prime Video trailers, control your smart home and more. The 8-inch touchscreen is small enough to stay out of the way but big enough that you won't have to squint. In the mornings, Amazon's sunrise alarm feature can help ease you out of your sleep with a screen that starts getting brighter 15 minutes before your scheduled wake-up time. The camera also comes with a physical shutter for privacy.
Google Assistant still makes better use of the touchscreen than Amazon -- in particular, the cooking directions and smart home controls are better -- but the Echo Show 8 is close enough, and it comes with a camera for video chats. In short, the Show 8 is Amazon's best smart display yet.
See at Amazon
If you want a 10-inch touchscreen powered by Alexa, the third-generation Amazon Echo Show 10 is the latest and greatest in smart display technology. With a motorized base, the Echo Show 10 can follow you around the room during video calls or while you're watching video content on the device. The 10.1-inch tablet HD display looks good, and the device comes with a 13-megapixel front-facing camera, plus a physical shutter for privacy. Amazon also added adaptive color to this Echo device model.
You can use the Echo Show 10 as a smart home security camera and view it remotely in the Alexa app. Group video calling is supported for up to seven people, and Drop In lets you make a call directly to your display from anywhere with the Alexa app. Occupancy and vacancy-based routines can trigger other smart home devices when the Echo Show 10 senses someone entering or leaving the room.
This Alexa device is Amazon's priciest smart home hub display and the most feature-filled smart screen. We think most people will still get by just fine with the Echo Show 8 for considerably less money, but if you're after Amazon's boldest smart display yet with the impressive sound to go with it, this is the way to go. That room-filling sound comes from 2x 1-inch tweeters and a 3-inch woofer to ensure that the audio from the Echo Show 10 is just as elevated as the display itself.
See at Amazon
The Amazon Echo Hub is truly a smart display because though it does have speakers, you likely won't use them for a party. Instead, the 8-inch display is designed to be a central control point for managing your favorite Alexa smart devices. The easy-to-navigate dashboard allows you to control individual devices or an entire room. This device has been great in my home, with my wife and children less familiar with everything that is set up in our home. This way there's a simple way to see what smart devices are available.
In addition to being a smart home management device, it also functions as an Alexa speaker, allowing you to use voice commands to do everything else you'd expect from a typical smart speaker. The Echo Hub can even be a digital photo frame to show all your favorite memories. But thanks to sensors on the device's front, as you approach it, the screen will show you smart home devices and be ready to help you out.
See at Amazon
Google Nest Hub Max: At over $200, the Nest Hub Max ups the Google Assistant's screen size from 7 to 10 inches and offers better sound quality than before. The real story is the addition of a sophisticated camera that can track movements and gestures, or identify faces to show you personalized info on the screen. It's an impressive combination of hardware and software, but the Google Nest Hub Max comes with privacy concerns. For most people, we think the original, camera-free Nest Hub is a lot closer to the smart display sweet spot.
Amazon Echo Show 5: The Echo Show 5 is the cheapest of Amazon's displays, and it features most of the perks of the Show 8. Its resolution is lower than the Show 8 and its screen is smaller. While it features a tap-to-snooze alarm feature that makes it perfect for a bedside alarm, its sound quality isn't close compared to its bigger siblings.
Amazon Echo Show (second-gen): The original Echo Show helped popularize the smart display back in 2017 and the second-gen Show improved on it in every way with better design, sound quality and a more useful screen. It's a good premium counterpart to the attractive $40 entry point of the Echo Show 5, although it's a little tricky to find in stock at the moment. The second-gen Show has great sound quality and a 10-inch screen. The touchscreen just isn't as useful as similar models with Google Assistant.
Lenovo Smart Display 10: If you want a 10-inch touchscreen powered by Google Assistant, Lenovo's smart display looks elegant and features the same smarts as the Nest Hub. There are three different Lenovo smart display models with 10-, 8- and 7-inch screens. The 10-inch Lenovo smart display has a bamboo back that's particularly well-suited for the kitchen.
Lenovo Smart Clock: This smart alarm trims out a lot of the functionality of smart displays. There's no camera and you can't watch videos. You can customize alarms and scroll through screens with weather and commute info. Thanks to a recent update, you can also look at personal pics and the Smart Clock will scroll through selected albums from Google Photos as your screensaver. It's cute and tailored for your nightstand, but it's more of an upgraded alarm clock than a full smart display.
We have options on this list that offer both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa as the voice assistant available to help with questions and smart home controls. It is important to pick the smart display that best matches what you already use. If you have an Echo device already in your home, then going with an Echo Show will seamlessly integrate into your home. But if you have a Google Home device, then you'll want a Google Assistant display. If you currently have neither, then go with the one that satisfies your personal preferences best.
If you plan to use the smart display primarily for controlling your smart home, and you use Alexa, then you'll likely want to go for the Echo Hub. But if you want more of an all-around device that will work great for watching videos, then perhaps a Google Hub Max, Echo Show 10, or Echo Show 15 would best suit your needs.
You'll want to consider where you'd like to place this smart display. While something like the Echo Show 8 (2023) or Google Nest Hub (2nd gen) don't need much room, the Echo Show 10 does. But if you go with the Echo Hub or Echo Show 15, you can mount those on the wall with the included hardware to free up more space on your table or counter.
For smart home users, the smart display will function as a sort of visual dashboard, showing you all your connected devices and their statuses. You can view cameras and doorbells on your smart display screen, as well as make video calls, watch online content, view recipes and ask general knowledge questions. There are other fun features like books, games, puzzles and holiday easter eggs. Smart displays also double as digital photo frames and helpful clocks and calendars.
A smart display admittedly doesn't do as much as your Android tablet or iPad. You won't be able to download any apps or view every single streaming platform. It isn't portable, either. Smart displays are focused on being hubs or command centers for your smart home. It's a device you'll plant on one shelf or countertop and likely leave it there for its entire life.
Well, that depends. If you're interested in smart home tech, a smart display is a helpful way to view everything you're setting up and controlling within your home. If you like making video calls, smart displays are a good way to do so without sacrificing your phone or laptop battery. If a smart home isn't really your cup of tea or if you're hesitant to put more cameras, microphones and voice assistants in your home (we wouldn't blame you), then a tablet or small laptop will meet your needs.
