Prime Day is here, and if you're trying to choose between Amazon's Echo speaker deals, I'm here to help you choose between deals in both the UK and the US.
Stateside, the flagship Amazon Echo Dot is now $34.99 (was $49.99) at Amazon, which is $3 more than its most recent Black Friday price, while the brand-new Echo Dot Max is $64.99 (was $99.99); a record low price. In the UK, there's a similar margin between the two deal prices; the Echo Dot is now £29.99 (was £54.99) while the Echo Dot Max is £56.99 (was £99.99).
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I've been testing smart home devices for years, but long before that, I was already a huge fan of some of the best smart speakers. A few months ago, I reviewed the new Echo Dot Max, and was pretty impressed by its capabilities — just not the slightly lofty list price. Prior to that, the 5th-generation Echo Dot was the beating heart of my smart home set-up before newer Echo devices edged it out of rotation.
All that experience now fuels my fervid deal-hunting to helps shoppers (hopefully, like you!) choose the best device for them. Amazon Prime Day is the best time to stock up on Amazon's own gadgets, and with big savings on offer there's plenty to choose from in the Echo speaker deals department. Read on for my comparison.
(Not in the UK or US? See today's best deals in your region below)
Echo Dot (5th-gen): Pros and Cons
Earning 4/5 stars in our Echo Dot (5th-gen) review, the speaker hits a lot of the right notes. There's a powerful 1.73-inch front-firing speaker which offers surprisingly decent sound for its size, plus quick and easy compatibility with a wide range of music streaming services.
Neat and petite, the Echo Dot (5th-gen) is one of Amazon's best-selling Echo devices. It was released in 2022, so it's still pretty capable of keeping up with Amazon's more recent devices thanks to its AZ2 Neural Edge chipset; that includes offering Alexa+ compatibility as well as a well-rounded feature set.
There are plenty of other smart home features worth shouting about, too. The Echo Dot (5th-gen) is compatible with Zigbee, Matter, Thread Border Router, and eero Built-in, making it a versatile smart home hub. There's also a temperature sensor inside the speaker that can trigger automations and keep your home comfortabel. So, say you've got your Echo Dot (5th-gen) in a living room where your dog sleeps, and it gets a bit too chilly for your poor pup during the night, Alexa could trigger an automation to switch on the electric heater. No more freezing Fido.
If you want to upgrade from a 4th- or even 3rd-gen Echo Dot, the 5th-generation model isn't a huge step up; yes, you gain a temperature sensor and tap controls, but you lose the 3.5mm jack, which was removed in the latest model. A lot of users rigged their older Echo Dot devices up to more powerful speaker systems and may miss this utility, but a majority of customers probably won't miss it.
While the Echo Dot (5th-gen) is only three years old, Amazon tends to have a four to five-year product cycle, which means we could see a base model refresh in the next year or two. That's no bad thing; Amazon has historically supported its devices for years after release, but it's always worth considering when buying a new gadget how long it might see software and hardware support for. Still, it's hardly long in the tooth, so my hope is the release of the newer Echo Dot Max (below) will waylay a product refresh for a little while.
Echo Dot Max: Pros and Cons
Amazon's Echo Dot Max was fairly recently released, having been announced in September 2025 alongside the new Echo Studio (2nd-gen), Echo Show 8 (4th-gen), and Echo Show 11. It's a little larger than the standard Echo Dot (5th-gen) and adds a plastic front-facing control panel.
And yes, it looks like a Death Star. In its purple colorway it's a little tacky, but in Glacier White and Graphite it's still fairly slick, and I do love its new 3D knitted mesh covering, which elevates the build quality significantly
This fresh redesign and being built for Alexa+ already make the Echo Dot Max stand out, but this smart speaker also packs some surprisingly serious specs under the hood. Amazon's new AZ3 chip will power these Agentic AI experiences, but even standard Alexa requests are noticeably fast from my experience.
Its audio capabilities surpass anything we've seen in an Echo Dot before, including Amazon's first two-way speaker system with a 0.8-inch tweeter and 2.5-inch woofer. Plus, with Lossless High Definition and Automatic Room Adaptation, these speakers can adapt to wherever you place them and play your tracks with greater fidelity.
It's not all roses, as I highlight in my Echo Dot Max review. The audio performance is broadly clearer and brighter than the Echo Dot, but it's not quite as powerful, and for some listeners, that might be a priority.
However, when paired up with up to four more Echo Dot Max or Echo Studio devices, the sound transforms to something way more impactful. During Prime Day, that becomes a far cheaper way to score a great surround sound system.
Which one is right for you?
To be clear, this isn't an apples-to-apples comparison; the Echo Dot is three years old, whereas the Echo Dot Max isn't even a year old yet. This is the second major discount we've seen for the Dot Max, and while it is significant, we could see up to 50% off in years to come.
Still, this record-low price with a sizeablle discount edges the Echo Dot Max into the top spot for me as far as Prime Day Echo Speaker deals go. It is, without a doubt, one of the best Alexa speakers that Amazon has ever released, and especially if you're considering investing in an Echo Studio to make use of Amazon's new Home Theatre feature, it's a no-brainer. This speaker comes with Alexa+ Early Access out of the box, too, so it's one of the easiest ways to try out Amazon's new agentic AI.
That being said, the Echo Dot is a fantastic all-rounder at a low low price and is probably the wiser purchase for the a sizeable chunk of shoppers this Prime Day. If you don't care for high-fidelity audio and don't plan on building a full sound system, its audio performance is commendable for its small size. The sensors and smart home connectivity are great, and it's seeing fantastic discounts; though it's worth noting that in both the UK and the US it's still a ways off its lowest-ever sale price.
More Prime Day deals in the US
- Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
- Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
- Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
- Beauty: 50% off toothbrushes & hair tools
- Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
- Garden: tools, mowers, planters from $24.99
- Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
- Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
- Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $186
- Patio: outdoor furniture, rugs & decor from $19.99
- Sports: 50% off fitness gear, treadmills & clothing
- Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34
More Prime Day deals in the UK
- Amazon Prime: sign up for a 30-day free trial
- Amazon Devices: Fire TV, Ring & Blink from £24.99
- Amazon Haul: up to 30% off
- Apple: AirPods Pro 3 for a record-low price
- Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja, Tefal & Sage
- Beauty: up to 60% off Philips & Oral-B
- Essentials: household goods from under £10
- Fashion: up to 50% off
- Headphones: up to 50% off
- Laptops: from £149.99
- Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £125
- Toys: up to 25% off Lego and Tonies
- TVs: from £129.99
- Vacuums: up to 40% off Eufy & Roborock
- Wearables: Garmin & Huawei from £36.99
