You may already know that Amazon makes a bunch of great smart displays, but which Echo Show is best? Well, we’re here to break it down so you can make a purchase with confidence.
This guide will talk you through each option without any showy praise or sugarcoating. After all, you’re bringing this device into your home, so you want to make sure it’s going to be the right fit.
Right now, we recommend the Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen) for its perfectly accommodating size, plus helpful features like a 13MP camera, spatial audio, and auto-panning that ensures you’re always in the frame.
At a glance
Best overall
The Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen) is the most balanced smart display on the list, coming complete with a vibrant HD display, Alexa voice control, spatial audio, and a 13MP camera with auto-framing.
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Best value
The new Echo Show 5 (3rd Gen) boasts a compact 5.5-inch display with improved cameras and sound quality, plus it’s available in a stylish Cloud Blue variety.
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3. Echo Show 5 (3rd Gen) Kids
Best for kids
Available in multiple kid-friendly designs, the Echo Show 5 (3rd Gen) Kids comes packed with fun, age-appropriate content plus loads of customizable parental controls. It’s also regularly on sale, so look around for a discount before you buy.
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4. Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen)
Best features
The Echo Show 10 is unique in that it comes with a rotating base that’ll follow you around the room, plus you get an excellent camera and speakers out of the deal.
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Best display
The largest Amazon smart display on the market, the Echo Show 15 boasts HD streaming support and multiple mounting options, and it can double as a Fire TV.
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Best for travel
Sure, this isn’t technically an Echo Show device, but pair this versatile Amazon tablet with the right standing case, and you’ll have a perfectly portable smart display.
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Best overall
The Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen, 2023) sits right in the middle of the Echo Show line. It takes some of the best features from the high to low ends. For example, it’s in between the smaller size of the Echo Show 5 (3rd Gen) and the arguably unwieldy size of the Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen). Sound quality is fantastic, with stereo speakers that support spatial audio, and it’s thanks to the two 2.0″ neodymium stereo speakers with a passive bass radiator. Plus, it has the same 1280×800 display as the larger Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen) for a higher pixel ratio per inch.
The Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen) continues to build on Amazon’s renewed interest in consumer privacy. It features a built-in camera shutter and a microphone/camera off button that allows users to physically confirm the device is not watching or listening to them. It also keeps the on-screen Privacy Hub controls that the first Echo Show 5 introduced.
The Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen) now ships with better smart home integration, with support for Zigbee, Matter, and Thread. Setting up and controlling your smart home devices with the Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen) should be a breeze, thanks to Amazon’s Certified for Humans program. This program promises to introduce “struggle-free, tinker-free, and stress-free” devices that pair quickly and easily with Alexa and Echo products.
There are some tradeoffs with this device, however. Like the more extensive Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen), the Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen) includes a 13MP front-facing camera that can keep you or the subject always in the frame, which is perfect for great video chatting. However, the display cannot rotate to follow your gaze when you move about the room. While the audio is a step up from the Show 5 (2nd Gen), it doesn’t have a woofer, which the Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen) has. Despite these tradeoffs, we think this will be the perfect Echo Show device for most people.
Best value
When it was originally introduced in early 2019, the Echo Show 5 was praised by customers and reviewers alike because it put an Alexa-enabled smart display into a more affordable and more convenient package. The Echo Spot had previously filled this niche, and while the Spot was beloved, it didn’t have great specs and was priced too high.
The first-generation Echo Show 5 was the first of Amazon’s smart screen devices to include physical covers and switches to control what Alexa could see and hear, which eased many concerns about having Alexa in more sensitive areas of the home.
The Echo Show 5 (3rd Gen) is almost in that price range where many people will take a chance on an impulse buy, especially once it’s discounted in one of Amazon’s inevitable sales events. It’s the perfect size for a bedside clock or desktop display, and now it even comes in a gorgeous Cloud Blue color.
As great as this little device is, it’s not all roses. It’s not the best device for video chatting, as it packs a measly 2-megapixel camera on the front (which itself was an upgrade from the previous version’s 1MP camera), and there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack.
Best for kids
Following its successful lineup of kid-focused devices like the Amazon Fire kids tablets and the Echo Dot Kids Edition (2022), Amazon decided to bring the smart display form factor to a younger generation.
As with Amazon’s other Echo devices, the Echo Show 5 (3rd Gen) Kids speaker has a fun color pattern to it (Galaxy), and it comes packed with age-appropriate content and parental controls in the form of Amazon Kids and Kids+. Like the regular Echo Show 5 (3rd Gen), this kids’ device does come with a 2MP camera for video chatting and intercom drop-in calls from mom and dad. Still, it also features a physical camera cover and mute buttons to go along with its other built-in privacy features.
Kids can ask Alexa for homework help, set alarms, and even have Alexa read them bedtime stories. You can purchase the speaker by itself or in a bundle with an adjustable stand or an Echo Glow smart light.
Best features
Amazon introduced the first-generation Echo Show in 2017, and while many applauded the smart screen capabilities of the device, the biggest complaint was its physical design. The product was stark with sharp lines and a boxy look, and its display was set at a weird angle. Amazon addressed nearly all initial design complaints with its second generation, making a softer, more plush-looking smart display which it kept for a few years. Yet the Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen) saw the device’s most radical transformation ever.
The Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen) is great for watching videos or listening to music since it features the best speakers and screen technology in the entire product line. You can tell that Amazon wanted the device to be featured prominently in people’s homes since it also added the best front-facing camera of all the Echo devices for those all-important drop-in sessions with grandma or upcoming Zoom meetings with colleagues.
Those viewing experiences and video calls are made all the better, thanks to the Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen)’s motorized display, which can rotate to follow you, keeping you in the frame and assuring that you don’t miss anything while you’re moving around your space. That motor won’t annoy you because it is perfectly silent, allowing the fantastic-sounding directional audio to shine through. The speaker setup on the Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen) is the best yet on an Echo Show device, and you’ll have no problem jamming to your favorite tunes in the kitchen while cooking dinner.
Like its predecessors, the third-generation Show includes a Zigbee hub for improved smart home device integration. Besides, it packs Amazon’s new AZ1 Neural Engine, which allows it to process voice requests and perform its innovative motion tracking entirely on the device, resulting in a speedier and more secure experience.
Amazon also thought through the privacy and security implications of a rotating camera. For starters, there is no facial or person recognition: all tracking is abstracted and only processed on the device. In addition, you can ask Alexa to stop following you or close the camera cover to stop the motion tracking, and the device also features a physical mute button.
Aside from the rotating screen’s novelty, the most significant drawbacks to the Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen) are its size and price. While it’s smaller than the Echo Show 15, it has one of the largest footprints of any Echo Show smart screen speaker, and it’s more than twice the cost of the Echo Show 8.
Best display
Released in December 2021, the Amazon Echo Show 15 boasts the largest screen yet with a 15.6-inch display and is being marketed as the perfect organization tool for active families. In addition to being a stellar canvas for managing smart home devices, calendars, and shopping lists, the Echo Show 15 is also perfect for streaming entertainment content. An added bonus? You can control all these features by both touch and Alexa.
In addition to being five inches larger than the Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen), the Echo Show 15 can be mounted in both portrait or landscape mode and looks super-polished thanks to a thin 1.4-inch photo frame, making it Amazon’s best smart photo frame to date.
Another perk of the Echo Show 15 is the introduction of widgets, which provide shortcuts to tools such as Shopping List, Maps, Sticky Notes, To-Do List, Weather, and more. You’ll also find that the latest Echo Show device makes navigating dinner time even more accessible by giving users direct access to delivery options from Domino’s, Whole Food Market, Amazon Fresh, and Blue Apron. And if you like to be a little more adventurous in the kitchen, you can access recipes from apps such as Epicurious, Tasty, and Allrecipes.
You’ll also be able to tune into your favorite music or podcasts via Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Spotify and multitask using the picture-in-picture feature. While it’s worth pointing out that the Echo Show 15’s two 1.6-inch rear-firing speakers aren’t much better than those featured on previous Echo Show devices, they’re still more than adequate for daily use.
Amazon’s latest device’s camera and image quality seemed to fall short of the Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen) and Show 8 (2nd Gen), both of which come with a 13MP camera with auto-framing. In comparison, the Echo Show 15 features a 5MP sensor. But we’re hopeful Amazon will offer software improvements over time.
Even so, the Echo Show 15 is a solid option for Alexa ecosystem loyalists looking for a good-sized, multi-functional smart display that’s easy to navigate and won’t necessarily be used regularly for video calling.
Best for travel
Okay, so this one is cheating a little bit, as the Fire HD 8 Plus (2022) isn’t technically an Echo Show device. However, if you’re willing to combine the Amazon tablet with one of the many kickstand covers out there, it just might be the most practical Echo Show alternative for Amazon Alexa households.
The Fire HD 8 Plus (12th Gen, 2022) is Amazon’s latest and greatest tablet, with its best screen, battery life, wireless charging, and increased RAM. You can do all the tablet-y things that you can do on other tablets, such as read books and comics, watch all manner of video content, play games, and even have video calls through Zoom and Skype.
When paired with a wireless charging dock or kickstand case, you can set the Fire HD 8 to Show Mode, where the tablet becomes a de-facto Echo Show smart speaker. With hands-free Alexa, you can control your smart home and get information at a glance, even from across a room.
While this setup gets you more flexibility than a traditional Echo Show device, that comes at a bit of a premium. With a stand, this is still priced competitively with the Echo Show 8 and the Echo Show 5. While the Echo Show 5 (3rd Gen) costs $30 cheaper than the Fire tablet, you still save $10 over the Echo Show 8.
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Amazon realized it was onto something when it created the first Echo Show device and the Echo Spot, and each subsequent generation and product in the line has improved where it counts. There is now an Echo Show to fit just about any space and budget, and the quality of the microphones, speakers, and screens continues to improve. Plus, it acts as a smart home hub too. For our money, the Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen) is the best choice for most people because it makes the right tradeoffs when it comes to size, specs, and price.
That said, the smaller Echo Show 5 and larger Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen) are great products in their own right. Many people may consider getting an Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen) for the main room in their home and putting an Echo Show 5 in an office or bedroom.
If you are already in the Amazon Echo system, then you’ll love these devices. However, you also might want to consider the latest Amazon Echo Show 15. Measuring 15 inches, the Echo Show 15 display is five inches larger than the Echo Show 10.
When comparing the Echo Show 15 vs. Echo Show 10 (3rd Gen), it’s also worth pointing out that the newer device can be mounted on a wall in portrait or landscape mode and can recognize family members and pull up relevant content like calendar appointments via on-device processing. While the built-in camera and speakers aren’t much better than previously released Echo Show devices, the Echo Show 15 is easily Amazon’s best smart photo frame to date.
If you haven’t yet taken the plunge, any of these smart screens are a great place to start getting one of the best Alexa speakers available, and many of them will be getting the new Matter smart home device communication standard update in the near future.