Best Nest and Google Assistant Devices

The Google Nest Hub (formerly the Home Hub) is a great way to kick off a Google-centric smart home. It uses Google Assistant to respond to all of the same voice commands as a Google Home smart speaker. The touchscreen will show you extra info when you ask about the weather, search for restaurants and so on. Plus, you can use this smart home hub to watch videos or scroll through family pictures.

If having an extra screen in your house would annoy you, the Google Nest Mini makes another good smart home starting point. Google’s small smart speaker is now in its second generation and offers all of the same Google Assistant-enabled voice commands as the rest, plus helpful extras like intercom functionality and stereo pairing with multiple Minis. Control compatible gadgets, search the web, play music and use its other features just by asking. The audio quality of the Nest Mini is surprisingly good, especially in this second-gen model.

Changing the temperature of your thermostat with a voice command is a cool trick that never really gets old. Lots of smart thermostats work with Google Assistant. Check out our smart thermostat best list for options. Since Google owns Nest, the third-generation Nest Learning Thermostat is the obvious choice here, but I’ll give the nod to the Ecobee3 Lite.

The Wyze Cam is easy to recommend. It’s affordable, it works well, cloud storage is free for 14 days — and you have the option to use a microSD card for local storage if you want.

The Arlo Pro 4 is an excellent outdoor security camera with solid performance and versatility. With a slew of strong features, dependable design and a competitive subscription service, the Pro 4 is our favorite outdoor camera of 2023. At its retail price of $200, it isn’t the most affordable device on the market, but it’s available for a lot less online.

SimpliSafe’s wide variety of accessories rival professional options from companies like ADT. The starter kit is a reasonable $245. Unfortunately, you have to pay for remote app access, but $28 a month nets you that and professional monitoring.

Speaking of locking down your home, the easy-to-install August Wi-Fi Smart Lock fits over your existing deadbolt. Built-in Wi-Fi lets you control it remotely and with voice recognition, so you can tell Google Assistant to lock your door.

Wrapping this up with another one from Nest,  the Nest Doorbell is a top-notch wireless device with excellent specs and unique perks. While its predecessor Nest Hello (now called the Nest Doorbell (wired)) is still available for purchase, the battery-powered option has a more impressive design and better performance, making it an upgrade on almost every level.

Once you set up control points with a smart display or a smart speaker, it’s time to figure out what smart devices you want. A smart light bulb is a good first step, and the Wyze Bulb White works particularly well with Google.

A smart plug is a great way to efficiently add connectivity to dumb devices. Plug in a lamp or fan, and you’ll be able to control it with an app. The TP-Link Kasa Smart Plug offers smartphone app controls and Google Assistant compatibility. Plus, the design is attractive and doesn’t block adjacent outlets.