Why the Amazon Echo Dot is my top pick for a value smart speaker

Amazon has a wide range of Echo speakers. All the names sound the same, meaning that choosing the right Echo for you can be confusing. We’ve looked at some of the best Alexa devices here at Good Housekeeping, as well as the best smart speakers, and there’s a common theme to these roundups: the Amazon Echo Dot comes out on top.

I’ve been using the Amazon Echo since it first launched in the UK in 2016. Through various iterations of smart and connected devices, I’ve always used the Echo Dot to control my smart home. I’m almost embarrassed to say how many I have; this compact and affordable smart speaker is so convenient the Echo Dot is an easy addition to any home.

The Echo Dot is a compact speaker, shaped like a sphere measuring 10cm in diameter. It’s powered by a mains plug and you set it up with the Alexa app on your smartphone. There are buttons on the top allowing volume adjustment, a button to launch the Alexa voice assistant and a mute button. You can also tap this latest version of the Echo Dot to pause whatever is playing.

Around the base of the Echo Dot is a coloured light ring, which will show orange during setup, blue when talking to Alexa, yellow when there’s a notification or message, red when it is muted, green when you’re on a call or purple when in do not disturb mode.

Amazon Echo Dot

Key specifications

Connections	Wifi, Bluetooth, Matter, Eero Builtin
Speaker	1.73inch frontfiring
Power supply	Mains
Dimensions	10 x 10 x 8.9cm
Weight	340g

You’ll need to have an Amazon account to use the Echo Dot, but the setup process is quick via the Alexa app, taking you stepbystep through the process of connecting it to your wifi network. There are some further settings in the Alexa app you can tinker with, but once connected, interaction is designed to be through voice.

There’s a small speaker inside the Echo Dot along with the microphones that will detect your voice when talking to Alexa. The sound quality is surprisingly good for a speaker so small. While it won’t compete with the best wireless speakers in terms of quality, it’s loud enough and clear enough for daily listening, whether that’s streaming music and podcasts, digital radio or listening to audiobooks through a service like Audible.

Versatility is the key thing about the Amazon Echo, allowing you to ask for information – like “Alexa, what is the weather like today” – through to listening to your favourite radio programmes try “Alexa, play BBC Radio 4” for example.

It is possible to stereo pair the Echo Dot if you have two of them for better audio, it can also be grouped with other Echo speakers so everything plays the same music at the same time. These features are all accessed through the Alexa app.

There are no physical connections on the Echo Dot, but it does support a range of wireless connection options. It offers Bluetooth, so you can connect it to a Bluetooth speaker if you wish, or you can use Bluetooth on your phone or laptop to connect to your Echo Dot.

It’s also compatible with Spotify Connect which is a clever option. If you subscribe to the Spotify streaming service, you’ll be able to select the Echo Dot as the speaker from within the Spotify app, making control really easy. You can also pick your preferred default music streaming service in the Alexa app.

Beyond that, the Amazon Echo has a lot of smart home features. I mentioned above that I use the Echo Dot to control my smart home and that’s because Alexa will support a wide range of smart home standards. You can link to things like your smart lights, video doorbell or robot vacuum cleaner through the Alexa app, allowing voice control over those devices too.

That means, that aside from playing music and getting information about the weather, or the news, you can ask Alexa to clean the house, dim the lights and set your security system – all using voice. If you’ve invested in an Eero mesh system then the Echo Dot can also act as a wifi extender that boosts connectivity around your home.

The latest Echo Dot also contains a temperature sensor, so it can report the temperature of a room and if you’re an advanced user, you could use that sensor to turn on a radiator if the room gets too cold.

There is a downside, of course. The Echo Dot is an Amazon device and Amazon still wants to sell you things. You can use the Echo Dot to directly buy stuff from Amazon using your voice and that might not be something you want, especially if you have kids talking to it. You can turn this off in the settings and that’s well worth doing, otherwise it’s too easy to buy things by mistake.

There are other parental controls you might want to investigate if you have young children too, perhaps limiting the times at which it will respond or blocking explicit lyrics in music. These are wrapped into Amazon Kids, supporting the Amazon Kids Plus subscription service too, which is great if you plan to put this in a child’s bedroom.

If you’re interested in entertaining the kids, the Echo Dot Kids, which comes in cute Owl and Dragon designs (you can add a fun stand too), could work. You might also consider the Echo Dot with Clock – it is the same overall device, but with a display on the front, making it a great bedside companion. After a saving? Look at the Echo Pop.

Finally, after that seems like a very long list of functions, there’s calling. Alexa Calling allows you to talk to other Echo users and if you have more than one Echo in your home you can use it to make announcements. Yes, that’s why I have so many Echo devices, so I can call the kids down for dinner.

The features, performance and value for money make the Amazon Echo Dot a great way to make your home smarter with the power of Alexa.

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.