Smart Home
Amazon Echo Hub Review: The Clear Buying Verdict
"Critics agree: the Echo Hub is an excellent touch controller for a busy Alexa smart home, but a mediocre media display."
No single aggregate score — here's what the reviewers agree on, below.
The short version
Reviewers consistently describe the Amazon Echo Hub as a focused, touch-first control panel rather than another entertainment-heavy smart display. Its customizable interface makes lights, locks and other connected devices easier to check and control, while the built-in smart-home hub covers several major standards. The trade-off is clear: it costs more than an Echo Show 8 despite having weaker speakers, no camera and fewer media features. It makes the most sense in an established Alexa home with more than a handful of devices.
What reviewers loved
- The customizable touch interface puts device status, groups and widgets within quick reach, reducing the need to remember Alexa voice commands.
- Built-in support for Zigbee, Thread, Bluetooth and Matter lets it serve as a central controller for a broad mix of compatible smart-home products.
- Its sleek, wall-mountable design looks more like a dedicated home-control panel than a bulky smart display, and the wall mount is included.
- Reviewers found smart-home management faster and more responsive than on the Echo Show 8.
- It retains useful Alexa speaker functions such as answering questions, checking weather and controlling devices by voice, while WIRED found the interface free of Echo Show-style ads.
What held it back
- The speakers sound crisp but lack bass, making the Echo Hub a poor choice for music and other media.
- At $179.99, it costs more than the Echo Show 8 despite dropping the camera and offering weaker speakers and streaming features.
- Reviewers encountered occasional slowness, interface glitches and inconsistent device-control layouts.
- Its 0.6-inch body is chunkier than its tablet-like appearance suggests, and tabletop use requires an optional stand.
Buy it if you already run an Alexa smart home with several connected devices and want one permanent, easy-to-use touchscreen for controlling them.
Skip it if you mainly want music, video, calls or general smart-display features, because the cheaper Echo Show 8 is better equipped for media.
What the reviewers say
WIRED says the Echo Hub takes the best smart-home features of the Echo Show and removes much of the clutter. Tom's Guide calls its touchscreen the most intuitive way to monitor and manage an Alexa home, particularly when there are more than a handful of connected gadgets. Trusted Reviews likewise found the touch-first interface faster than voice control in many situations.
The agreement is just as strong about its limits. Tom's Guide and WIRED criticize the sound, while PCMag and TechRadar point out that the cheaper Echo Show 8 has better speakers, a camera and stronger streaming capabilities. Trusted Reviews and TechRadar also report occasional interface inconsistencies, glitches or slowness. This is a specialist smart-home panel, not the best all-purpose Echo display.
The competition
Amazon Echo Show 8
It costs less and has better speakers, a camera and stronger streaming features. Choose the Echo Hub instead when faster, touch-led smart-home control is the priority.
Amazon Echo Show 15
This is the larger wall-mountable option for a shared family display, but PCMag lists it at $279.99 and says it looks more like a framed picture.
Brilliant Control
PCMag describes it as a similar dedicated smart-home control panel, but at $399 it costs more than twice as much as the Echo Hub.
Should you buy it?
Yes, if your Alexa setup has become too large to manage comfortably through voice commands and scattered apps. Reviewers agree that the Echo Hub's focused interface, broad smart-home support and wall-ready design make connected devices easier to monitor and control. Do not buy it as a kitchen television, video-calling screen or primary speaker; the Echo Show 8 is cheaper and better for those jobs. Disclosure: RightWei summarizes independent reviewers' hands-on tests and does not test review units itself.
Sources
RightWei aggregates and summarizes independent reviews — we link to the original hands-on tests so you can go deeper. We don't test units ourselves.