Purchased by me
Four small Echo speakers, one Alexa. The Pop is the basic one, the Dot is the great all-arounder, the Spot adds a screen, and the Echo sounds the best. So here’s which one fits which person.
Amazon Echo lineup (Pop, Dot, Spot, Echo)
The verdict
Buy it if
you want the best all-around Echo for most people, in which case the Dot is the one I’d get.
Skip it if
you specifically want a screen (get the Spot) or the biggest sound (get the full Echo).
What’s good
- Most features carry over as you move up the line, so even the cheap Pop does the core Alexa stuff.
- The Dot punches way above its size on sound and adds a temperature sensor and eero Wi-Fi extender.
- The Spot’s screen makes it a genuinely nice nightstand clock, and no camera watching you.
- The full Echo sounds huge and doubles as home theater speakers with a Fire TV or Fire Stick.
The catch
- Only the Dot has the temperature sensor and the eero Wi-Fi extender. The Pop and Spot skip both.
- The Spot sounds more like the Pop than the Dot, so you trade a little sound for the screen.
- The full Echo is big. Same look as the Dot, just much larger on the shelf.
The lineup, top to bottom
The Pop is the smallest and most basic. Sound is good, but it sits at the bottom of the range. You get volume up and down and a mute button on top, which is plenty for simple questions, smart home automations that don’t need a temperature sensor, and using it as an intercom.
The Dot is the big step up. It sounds so much better than the Pop, with more bass and volume than you’d expect out of something that small. It adds a temperature sensor for smart home automations, works as an eero Wi-Fi extender, and gives you an action button you can program in the Alexa app. For most people, this is the one.
The Spot and the full Echo
The Spot sounds a lot like the Pop, but it adds a display on the front that shows weather, temperature, time, and date, plus some other interactive bits. I like it as a bedside speaker because you get a screen without a camera pointed at you, so it makes a really nice nightstand alarm clock. The trade-off: it doesn’t sound as good as the Dot, and there’s no temperature sensor or Wi-Fi extender.
The full Echo is the big one. It looks like the Dot but much larger, and it sounds huge. It’s the best in the group for music and works great as a smart speaker with a Fire Stick or Fire TV. It’s also got a 3.5mm jack on the back so you can plug it into other audio equipment. If sound is your thing, this is it.
How it did in testing
This is a quick run up the whole small-Echo lineup, not a lab test. Here’s what each one is actually good at so you can match it to how you’d use it.
Short version: the Dot is my pick for most people, but the Spot and the Echo each win for a specific reason.
| Test | What happened | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Echo Pop | The smallest and most basic. Sound is good but the lowest in the range. Volume and mute buttons on top. | Simple questions, smart home, intercom. |
| Echo Dot | Sounds much better than the Pop, with bass that surprised me for its size. Adds a temp sensor, eero Wi-Fi extender, and an action button. | The great all-arounder. |
| Echo Spot | Sound is close to the Pop, but it adds a front display for weather, time, and date. No temp sensor or Wi-Fi extender. | Best as a bedside clock. |
| Amazon Echo | Much bigger and sounds huge. Best sound in the group, and it has a 3.5mm jack on the back. | Best sound and home theater. |
Which one I’d buy
For most people it’s the Dot. It sounds far better than the Pop, adds the temperature sensor and the eero Wi-Fi extender, and gives you the programmable action button. To me it’s the best all-around Echo.
Buy the Pop if you just want the simplest speaker. The Spot if you want that screen on a nightstand. The Echo if you want the absolute best sound and a speaker you can wire into other gear or use for home theater. I try not to just tell you what to buy, so match it to what you’ll actually use it for.
