If you’re looking for the most affordable Echo, then the Amazon Echo Pop is it. This dinky smart speaker offers all the benefits of Alexa and it won’t cost you more than £50. It’s closely related to the Echo Dot, but there are a few key differences to be aware of before you make your choice.
I’m a big fan of Alexa and have used Amazon Echo speakers since they launched. I use them for entertainment, controlling my smart home, setting alarms and to quickly get answers via voice. The Echo Pop is ideal if you want to give Alexa a try, or to add Alexa’s skills to more rooms of your house without spending too much.
The Echo Pop has an interesting design. It looks like a spherical Echo Dot has been sliced in half, making it a really compact speaker. It’s 99mm wide and stands 91mm tall, meaning you don’t need a lot of space for it, so it’s easy to add to a desk or shelf. The speaker itself has mesh across the front and the rest of the body is plastic.
It doesn’t look as premium as the Echo Dot, which is covered in mesh all over. It does come in a range of colours, however, with the “Lavender Bloom” being the most interesting.
The black model I have is pretty discreet, but I think the lighter colours offered by Amazon look better and make more of a statement in the home. There is another option, in the form of Echo Pop sleeves – Amazon sells these silicone cases so you can easily change the colour to make it a bit more interesting.
All Echo speakers use colour lighting to reflect their status. On the Echo Pop, this is reduced just to a small section at the top of the leading edge of the speaker, which again, isn’t as impactful as the ring of coloured light that you get from the Echo Dot. Yes, these are just minor points about aesthetics, but when it comes to design, I prefer the Echo Dot.
There are three buttons on the top of the Echo Pop, allowing volume control and to mute, so that you know it’s not listening to you. There are no other physical connections, just the power socket on the back. When it comes to wireless connectivity, this speaker is equipped with wifi and Bluetooth, but it also supports the Matter smart home standard, so it can control compatible devices – like a smart light bulb – without the need for a separate hub.
The setup of the Echo Pop is as easy as other Echo speakers. You’ll need to use the Alexa app on your smartphone which will link the Echo Pop to your Amazon account and your wifi. Then you’ll be good to go.
There’s a single speaker in the Echo Pop and while the design of the Pop doesn’t make for audio that’s as rich as you’ll get from the Echo Dot, it’s surprisingly good and capable of pushing out enough volume to not get lost in a room.
It’s better suited to radio and Audible books than it is pure music where you might want something that’s a little more immersive. Given the low price of this speaker, though, there’s little to complain about.
What the Echo Pop really gives you, however, is access to Alexa at the lowest price. Alexa has a full range of skills, from answering questions about the weather or general queries, through to being able to control smart home devices you might have.
You can also use your Echo Pop to make calls to other Echo devices, either in your home or someone else’s home. I’m a big fan of the broadcast function. It means you can make an announcement that comes from all your Echo speakers at the same time – it’s great for calling the kids down for dinner.
Speaking of kids, the Echo Pop is a popular choice with children and there are some additional settings in the Alexa app that will let you schedule when your Echo will work, as well as turning on Amazon Kids+, which is designed for children. It’s also worth turning off the “voice purchasing” option in the Alexa app, unless you really want to use your voice to buy things from Amazon.
I’ve found that the microphones on the Echo Pop work well, so it’s responsive to my commands. The compact nature of the Echo Pop makes it a great choice as a bedside companion and alarms can be snoozed by tapping the speaker. It doesn’t offer the taptopause function that the Echo Dot does and it doesn’t offer a temperature sensor either, which makes for a couple of hardware differences between these two devices.
The thing that really sells the Echo Pop is the price – especially when it has one of its regular discounts in a sale like Prime Day or Black Friday.
In terms of design and performance, I’d rather pay a little more for the Echo Dot, but if you want to cheaply add another smart speaker to your home then the Echo Pop is perfectly capable and a great choice for smaller spaces.
Chris Hall is a freelance journalist who specialises in consumer technology, pursuing a passion that started over 20 years ago. In 2008 he took on a fulltime Reviews Editor position at technology website Pocketlint.com, before stepping up to EditorinChief in 2012. Chris led coverage over a 15year tenure, exposing him to every gadget, system and technology you’d ever want to know about.
Chris left the EditorinChief position at Pocketlint.com in 2023 having published over 4,000 articles on consumer technology. His experience covers everything from smartphones and headphones to cars and computers. Chris doesn’t just test for reviews, he lives with a lot of technology, building a smart home and looking for a simpler solution to a connected home. This is much to his family’s irritation, because everything is always changing, especially the remote controls.
As a freelance writer, Chris has contributed to The Telegraph, T3.com, TechRadar and Autocar while launching his own technology website The Disconnekt – writing news about the latest technology, guides to help people make the best choices when shopping for technology, as well as reviewing extensively.
Chris has appeared on BBC News and Sky News, BBC Radio and The Times Radio talking technology, and even once played a part on The Apprentice. Chris has also been an expert judge at the GSMA Global Mobile Awards and the Uswitch Awards.
When not writing about technology or rearranging the technology in his home, Chris can be found on his bike, trying to get lost in the Surrey hills.