The 4 Best Google Nest Smart Speakers of 2023

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We’ve updated this guide with reviews and recommendations for Google's entire line of Nest smart speakers.

With a simple voice command to a Google Nest smart speaker, you can summon the mighty power of Google Assistant to do your bidding: Call up your favorite music, podcasts, or audiobooks; get news, weather, traffic reports, and trivia; control other smart devices; and, in some cases, even view video. Since Google Assistant performs dramatically better on Google's own expansive line of Nest devices, we considered only them for this guide. Whether you want to ask Google to start blasting your favorite tunes, find a recipe for tonight's dinner, or control the smart devices in your home, we’ve picked out the best Google Nest smart speaker for your needs.

Unfortunately, Google Assistant performs inconsistently on non-Nest, aka third-party, speakers.

All Google Nest devices have voice-activated speakers, and some also include a screen to make calls, view video, access touch controls, display recipes, and more.

Decide where your speaker will live, then what functions matter most (such as audio quality) and whether you want a touchscreen display or a built-in camera.

All Google Nest devices have built-in microphones in order to function, and some have cameras. If you want to ensure privacy, you can block them.

Nena Farrell, who took over this guide in 2022, is an updates writer for Wirecutter's audio-visual and smart-home teams. Nena has been testing and reviewing home technology gear since 2016, and was previously an associate home editor at Sunset magazine, where she covered smart-home technology. She also designed the Sunset Smart Cottage, an interactive smart-home demonstration controlled by smart speakers.

Google's collection of smart-home devices, software, and apps is a swarm of often changing names that sometimes baffles even us. (Google Home is both an app and the name of Google's smart-home platform, but it was previously also the name of its smart speaker.) As of now, Google's physical smart-home devices, including all of its smart speakers and displays, are grouped under the Google Nest brand. All of the devices in this guide use the Google Home app for setup and control. (Google also sells a number of devices that rely on the Nest app, including security cameras, thermostats, and smoke detectors; we can't explain why this is the case.)

Google Assistant is Google's AI virtual assistant, which responds to the command "Hey, Google" when you’re using speakers powered by Google Assistant. It also exists in a Google Assistant app separate from Google Home, but you don't need it to use Google's devices.

The name of Google's smart speakers appears as just "Nest" in the Google Store, but on third-party retailers such as Best Buy and Target, the speakers are often referred to as "Google Nest." In this guide, we will refer to this ecosystem of smart devices as either "Google Nest" or "Nest" speakers and displays.

This guide is for anyone looking to add a Google Assistant–powered smart speaker to their home, whether for the first time or as an addition to an existing setup. We organized it to make it easy to choose the best device based on your needs.

If you’re new to this kind of device, a smart speaker is, well, a speaker that connects to your Wi-Fi network and responds to voice commands to play music and perform other tasks, including answering questions, telling you the weather, or controlling other connected smart devices such as lights and thermostats. Most smart speakers (including the ones reviewed here) also include Bluetooth, so they can play music directly from a smartphone, as you would with a portable Bluetooth speaker. Google also recently added Matter, a technology that enables easier connecting and control of smart devices, to all of its smart speakers.

For smaller homes and apartments, you might find you want only one or two Google Nest devices, since the microphones are powerful enough to pick up voice commands from a room away. In larger homes, you may want to enlist a fleet of Google Nest devices to act as a multiroom sound system, while also optimizing your ability to control smart devices.

If you’re just getting started with smart devices like plugs or light bulbs, adding a smart speaker that lets you use voice commands to control them is a logical next step.

If you’re a devout Google Photos user, Google's smart displays function particularly well as a digital photo frame. Smart displays also add a variety of additional features, including recipes, video chatting, and movie streaming, plus quick access to information like local weather and air quality data at a glance.

For those who have accessibility restrictions, such as mobility and sight limitations in particular, the ability to use voice commands can also be a valuable asset. For instance, smart speakers allow someone to make voice calls without needing to physically manipulate a device, but they also can be used as an intercom to communicate with other members of a household (or, when paired with a smart doorbell, with visitors on the front porch). We go into a little more detail on Google's accessibility offerings below. And we go into even more detail in our guides to using smart-home devices for seniors aging in place and for enhancing independence for people with disabilities and mobility needs.

We can't speak about smart speakers without addressing the fact that these devices have microphones and, in some cases, cameras, and there are plenty of people who simply aren't comfortable adding them to their home. (If you share those concerns, please read our Security, privacy, and Google section for details on what these devices actually do and don't do.)

For this guide, we considered only Google's Nest-branded smart speakers and displays. We have used Google Assistant on third-party devices, but we found that the experience was consistently worse compared to Google's own devices—many suffered from sometimes lengthy delays to voice commands and less reliable integration of features, or didn't receive updates or new features as quickly. With that experience in mind, we believe if you’re interested in a Google-powered speaker, the best choice is to choose from Google's own lineup. This guide is focused on comparing those devices: the Nest Audio, Nest Mini, and Nest Hubs (the latter was previously only covered in our smart-displays guide.)

As of November 2022, Google makes two smart speakers and two smart displays. All four have the same core abilities: to respond to voice commands and stream audio. And since each speaker uses the Google Assistant platform, they’re all compatible with the same smart-home devices and use the same app. All of them have a button to mute the microphone (and the camera for the Hub Max, though it isn't a physical shutter) and a physical volume control. They can all also function as a Bluetooth speaker. In our testing we considered both the speaker's performance as a smart device and its audio performance, along with features such as watching movies or following recipes on the display models.

In addition to the general Google Assistant features, we evaluated each speaker on the following criteria:

We timed setup for each speaker and display, noting any special steps that different models required. To gauge sound quality, we ran an identical list of music through each speaker and compared each one's performance with the next. We also linked all models and tested them as a multiroom wireless-speaker setup. We also linked our account to a Wyze Cam v3 (to test viewing a livestream on Nest Hub displays) and to smart plugs (to test smart-home voice commands).

On a more subjective level, we considered how each speaker could fit into a home and where it performed best based on its size, sound quality, and special abilities, such as whether it had a screen, recipe content, sleep tracking, and the ability to be a security camera.

This small speaker is surprisingly loud for its size, and it has all the features the Nest Audio does despite a much lower price.

The squat, puck-like Google Nest Mini (2nd Gen) is an inexpensive starting point for easily adding Google Assistant to your home or office. At half the price of the Nest Audio (and frequently even cheaper on sale), it still provides nearly all the same features, such as streaming music, controlling smart-home devices, and asking a variety of questions from the built-in Google Assistant. With a 3.9-inch diameter and only a 1.7-inch height, it's easy to add to any countertop, shelf, or console.

For its small size, the Nest Mini gets impressively loud, and it sounds pretty good for its price, capturing mids and highs nicely. But you do lose out in real bass punch. If you’re not worried about getting the best sound quality and you just want something convenient and unobtrusive, the Nest Mini is a fine choice. (If you are worried about the best sound quality, we recommend upgrading to the Nest Audio.)

The Nest Mini has four round lights that light up when it is triggered by a voice command. A button on the back mutes the microphone, and the lights glow orange-red to show it's not listening. Controls on the left and right sides lower and raise the volume. These tap controls are super sensitive—you won't want to place this anywhere you can accidentally brush the sides, as the device will likely react and start changing the volume.

The Nest Mini has a fabric-covered top and a plastic base that comes in four colors: Chalk (gray), Charcoal (heathered black), Sky (a light blue), and Coral (a pinky orange). They feel design-forward, and the colors can make for a fun addition to a room, too.

If you’re looking for an easy way to try out Google in your home, the Nest Mini is your best bet for its abilities and price. But if you’re looking for a better sound experience or more features, the other Google Nest speakers are a better investment.

Google's Nest Audio speaker produces pretty good bass for its size and can be paired for a stereo set or used with other Google speakers for multiroom audio.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $68.

The Nest Audio's sound quality is a clear step up from the other Google Nest smart speakers and provides a noticeably richer audio experience overall. The speaker responds quickly to voice queries and can pull from music sources such as Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, and Deezer after initial setup in the Google Home app (it doesn't offer as many services as an Amazon Echo, and it's missing major services like Tidal and Amazon Prime Music). The Google Home app can also connect with iHeartRadio.

You can pair this smart speaker with another Nest Audio to create a stereo pair, or use it in tandem with other Google Nest speakers for a multiroom audio setup. You’ll need to create speaker groups to request music on multiple speakers through voice commands (such as "Whole House" or "Living Room"), and groups are easy to set up and name as you see fit within the Google Home app. You can't easily switch the music from one speaker group to another, though; you’ll have to completely restart the playlist or album you’re listening to on that speaker group.

At just under 7 inches tall and with a slim, 3-inch base, the Nest Audio fits comfortably on bookshelves, countertops, and side tables without standing out—I was able to fit it on my thin fireplace ledge, for example, where most speakers (smart or not) wouldn't fit. The Nest Audio is covered completely in fabric for a similar look to the Google Nest Mini, and it comes in a similar set of colors. It has a physical switch on the back to turn the microphone off, and tap controls on either side to control volume.

The only Google Nest speaker with a camera, this smart display can make video calls, and its 10-inch display and built-in software are great for displaying follow-along recipes.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $147.

The Google Nest Hub Max touts a wide range of abilities beyond audio-only smart speakers, thanks to the generous digital real estate of its 10-inch touchscreen and 6.5-megapixel camera. The current weather and air quality index are displayed on the home screen at all times, and you can customize it to display your calendar, do double duty as a digital photo frame through Google Photos, stream video content, or pull video feeds from your smart security cameras—or become a security camera itself (more on that below). But where it excels most compared to the rest of Google's smart-speaker lineup is with video calls and recipes.

While there's another Google Nest Hub with a touchscreen, the Max is the only model with a camera. The 6.5-megapixel camera is good enough for a Zoom call (though not as amazing as the cameras in Amazon's Echo Show). The camera has a wide 127-degree field of view, and during Google Meet video calls it automatically pans and zooms in and out to follow you while you’re moving around the room. It also works with Zoom; however, the lens has a fish-eye effect that was disorienting for both sides of a video call, and it didn't pan or zoom as expected. It was, at least, easy to join a meeting: You simply say, "Hey, Google, join my Zoom meeting," and the Hub will connect to the next meeting on your Google calendar (or will prompt you to type in the code, if it doesn't see a calendar invite).

The Nest Hub Max doesn't have a physical lens cover for its camera, and so to toggle the camera on or off you swipe up from the bottom of the screen and touch "Camera." If you want complete privacy, there is a physical mute switch that electronically disables both the camera and microphone, similar to other Google Nest models.

Cooking recipes are available on both the Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max, but the Max's larger screen makes it much easier to read a recipe on screen. It has recipe search built in, and you can choose to call up specific cooking apps, including popular ones from Bon Appétit and Tasty. In our tests, a search for "beef stroganoff" brought up recipes from Betty Crocker, Food Network, and several other sites. The Nest Hub Max reads the recipe aloud, step by step, while also scrolling the written instructions on-screen. The austere text-on-a-white-background look of the Nest Hub Max recipes is clean and easy to see from a distance, though admittedly it did make us miss the beautiful food pictures that recipe books often include (though we didn't miss skipping over the standard 10-paragraph food bloggers autobiography).

The screen quality on the Nest Hub Max is clear and bright enough for not only recipes but also streaming video via services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Sling, Paramount+, and (of course) YouTube and YouTube TV. While the display isn't as bright or crisp as that of our digital photo frame picks, it can still double as a nice-enough digital photo frame if you’re a Google Photos user (or are willing to become one). It includes an Ambient EQ setting, which adjusts both the brightness and the color tone of the screen to match the mood of the room, and will switch to a dark, simple clock face when the room goes dark.

The biggest weakness of the Nest Hub Max is its sound quality. It's more than double the price of the Nest Audio, yet the lack of bass power is notable. It's fine enough for casual listening, but it won't impress audiophiles or lovers of bass-heavy tracks. But if you’re mainly looking for its screen capabilities, the Nest Hub Max is a great choice.

The Amazon Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen) and Google Nest Hub Max are the best smart displays. They have big screens for video chat, TV, or recipes, and great speakers, too.

This mini smart display has the same abilities as larger Google Assistant–enabled models, minus a built-in camera.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $70.

If you prefer a smart display without a camera (such as for basic privacy), or if you plan to place it in a sensitive room, we recommend the Google Nest Hub (2nd Gen). Like the Echo Show 5, the Nest Hub (2nd Gen) has a smaller footprint and screen than its pricier sibling—think 5-by-7 picture frame versus a toaster—so it's a better pick for a nightstand or a bathroom counter. The Nest Hub comes with the same smart-home, recipe, Ambient EQ, gesture-control, and Google apps functionality as the Nest Hub Max. But the Nest Hub adds a special feature: sleep tracking.

In our tests, the 2nd-gen Nest Hub could hear voice commands just as well as the competition, though its speakers didn't sound as nice or anywhere near as powerful as those of the Nest Hub Max. Its 1024×600 resolution display also isn't quite as crisp as that of the larger Hub Max's, but at this size it's perfectly legible and fine. The display also tends to be a bit dimmer, so while you can use it to display photos, they’re not as easy to see on the smaller, often darker screen. We also liked the clean white bezel and the small stand (which comes in colors like Charcoal and Mist).

The 2nd-gen Nest Hub is small enough that it feels right at home on a bedside table, especially as it doesn't have a camera and its touchscreen automatically transforms into a clock face when it isn't responding to a voice command. It also has a novel, optional sleep-tracking feature called Sleep Sensing that, when enabled, automatically tracks your sleep habits and relays the results every morning as you wake. While the setup process is a little lengthy, we were impressed with how accurately it captured sleep patterns, such as how often we fell asleep on time and how often we woke up. On one morning Google cheerfully told us it appeared we hadn't had enough sleep—a humbling if gratifying confirmation that there was a reason for feeling grouchy.

Although we prefer the Nest Hub Max overall for most other purposes, the Nest Hub is the better option for anyone who prefers an especially inconspicuous display, is staunchly against having a camera in their living space, or just wants to save some bucks.

Consider this model if you want to stream video from your security camera and control your smart-home devices onscreen, or if you want something that can double as a security camera.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $147.

If you’re more likely to double-check that the doors are locked, or you want an easy way to turn off the house lights from bed, the Google Nest Hub (2nd Gen) fits nicely on bedside tables.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $70.

If you’re looking for a smart speaker to make it easier to control smart-home devices, both of the Nest Hub smart displays work especially well. The Google Nest Hub Max is especially great due to its 10-inch touchscreen that allows you to access the controls of all your smart-home devices with a quick tap, instead of having to rely solely on voice commands. We found that ability particularly handy when you’re the last one up at night and want to avoid waking up someone else when trying to turn off the lights or ensuring the front door is locked. You can still use voice command as you usually would, but the screen allows for more options to control your home.

Another upside of Nest Hubs is that they allow you to view live video from smart security cameras and doorbells. A simple swipe to the left on the touchscreen pulls up the cameras with live feeds you can tap into. And if you want an extra eye on your home indoors, Google says you can even configure the Hub Max's built-in camera to also act as a motion-triggered security camera (note that in our testing, we had issues setting up this particular feature and will continue to troubleshoot.)

The Nest Hub Max's 10-inch screen is particularly comfortable and easy to use to control your smart home, and to view security feeds on the larger screen. The Nest Hub (2nd Gen)'s smaller screen means it's not as comfortable to view security feeds, but it makes for a convenient bedside companion to check that the lights are out as you tuck into bed.

A smart home can provide a lot of convenience and assistance to anyone with mobility needs and disabilities, as well as anyone choosing to age in place. The built-in features on the entire line of Google Nest devices can streamline a number of sometimes challenging tasks, and enable some to live more independently as a result. Besides useful features like automated reminders and daily or periodic alarms, and being able to make or take audio and video calls, the ability to use voice commands to control common consumer-grade smart devices like lighting, shades, and locks can be transformative.

More in-depth coverage of Google's accessibility features with its smart speakers can be found on the Google Nest and Home accessibility page. And we go into more detail on these topics in our guides to smart-home devices for aging in place and smart-home devices for people with disabilities and mobility needs.

It's a bit ironic to talk about security and privacy when you’re adding to your home devices with microphones and cameras that are all designed to listen and respond to you. There have been plenty of bumps along the way when it comes to consumer privacy for smart speakers like the Google Nest devices in this guide. But those features of microphones and cameras are also what make a smart speaker so useful, and it can't do what it should without them.

We reached out to Google and asked it to respond to an extensive questionnaire, in order to confirm issues we think should be of primary concern for any potential (or current) Google Nest speaker user. Many of these answers were available on its security pages for Google Nest and Google Assistant.

What specific user data does a Google Nest device and its companion apps collect?

Where is that data stored and what measures are taken to secure it; specifically, is it end-to-end encrypted, is it anonymized or user-specific, and is access to that data limited and monitored?

What, if any, data is shared, sold, or accessible to third parties or affiliated parts of your organization, including via API and other integrations?

Are your customers able to opt out of sharing some or all of their data—and if so, how?

Does your device contain inactive or active but unadvertised hardware such as sensors, cameras, microphones, or the like?

Many readers are concerned about how the manufacturing, shipping, and normal use of the products we recommend impact the world we live in. We take that seriously too, which is why we’ve asked the manufacturers of all our picks to answer some basic questions about materials, life cycle, and other sustainability issues. While our product recommendations are based completely on the criteria outlined in How we picked and tested, we offer this information to supplement the decision of any reader who uses environmental impact as a deciding factor in their purchases. We also recognize that this may not paint a complete picture of a product's supply chain and life cycle impact.

For this guide, we asked Google whether the packaging and/or the products in this guide use recycled materials, and whether the packaging and the products are recyclable. According to Google, all Made by Google products since 2020 include recycled materials; however, it hasn't specified what parts or percentages of Google Nest speakers that includes. Google also shared that the company is committed to eliminating plastic from packaging—in 2021, plastics accounted for less than 3% of packaging—and that all packaging materials will be 100% plastic-free and recyclable by 2025.

Google also commits to issuing critical bug fixes for products for at least five years after launch, and says that many of their products are useful beyond this period, so users don't have to upgrade and get rid of their existing Google smart speakers. Google also has a recycling program for its devices.

Coming in 2023, the Google Pixel Tablet will have a Charging Speaker Dock that can turn the tablet into a smart display, allowing you to to use it like you can Google's Nest Hubs. We plan to test the tablet and dock when they become available.

This article was edited by Jon Chase and Grant Clauser.

Nena Farrell

Updates Writer

Nena Farrell was an updates writer covering smart speakers, wireless TV headphones, tabletop radios, and digital photo frames, among other things. She was previously an associate editor at Sunset, and is currently a writer and reviewer at Wired.

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