How to Choose Between Alexa and Siri

When it comes to virtual assistants, both Siri and Alexa have become well-known around the world. On one hand, Siri is readily available on Apple devices, while Alexa comes equipped with tons of Amazon devices, as well as other tech. If you have the choice between the two, it can be difficult to know which one will be most useful and convenient. I’m here to help make that choice a little easier.

How do these two assistants work?

Both Siri and Alexa work off the same basic ideas and systems. Both utilize voice recognition to determine what you’re saying, and they each use a natural language processing system (NLP) to understand the meaning behind the words and requests you speak. This allows the assistant to pick up on important context to try to provide the best response possible.

Both also rely heavily on machine learning to improve and understand our interactions better. You can train each one to better understand your voice and the context of your words, so that they can become better at assisting you in whatever you need them to do.

Compatibility is key

One really important thing to take into account when trying to decide which assistant to choose is compatibility with your other home devices. While Siri might have come first and is one of the more recognized voice assistants, it is only available on Apple devices, like the Mac, iPad, iPhone, and HomePod devices. It’s also available on Apple TV devices.

Alexa, on the other hand, can easily be accessed on a plethora of devices, including Amazon’s own Echo speakers, Android and iOS phones, and various tablets and computers via Amazon’s Alexa app. If you want the most compatible and widely accepted voice assistant, it’s hard to beat Alexa thanks to Amazon’s ongoing support of Matter. Apple is also working with Matter to make its devices work with more, but Siri continues to be an Apple-only feature.

Multi-user support

Another important point to take into account is whether or not you have multiple users who intend to use your virtual assistant. By default, Alexa can maintain and create voice profiles for various users without you having to do anything extra. This allows Alexa to respond more personally to various users, providing results that make the most sense for those users.

Siri also offers multi-user support, but it doesn’t allow you to automatically set this up. You’ll actually have to set up a voice profile for each user through recordings for it to provide more personalized experiences. This can still be really useful, but if you prefer letting the system handle it for you, then Alexa is a bit more streamlined in that area.

Features

Both Siri and Alexa provide an assortment of different features. However, each one does some things better than the other. For instance, Alexa is great as a shopping assistant, thanks to its unbridled access to Amazon’s massive catalog of online goods. You can easily order products directly from your Alexa assistant, which can be handy for some people. Siri, on the other hand, does not offer any integration with Amazon or other shopping apps, so you lose out on that functionality.

Response-wise, both virtual assistants can provide you with a ton of relevant responses and help you interact with the various parts of your smart home and smart devices. However, Siri definitely provides the most in-depth and well-informed answers and even gives you an easy way to look up more about it. Alexa, on the other hand, provides more straightforward and simple responses, though it also offers a way to expand on them. By default, Siri utilizes Google Search for its search engine, but Alexa works with Bing. This can be changed, but it’s something to keep in mind if you don’t know your way around the Alexa app and Siri settings.

Alexa also likes to randomly suggest things that you might want, like a new routine for your smart plugs, while Siri mostly responds only to what you ask of it. There are also a ton of installable plugins for Alexa, which you can’t get on Siri, though most of them are silly and aren’t going to change your usage of the device all that much.

Language support and audio quality

It’s impossible not to talk about language support and audio quality when you’re comparing virtual assistants. Part of the appeal of using these virtual assistants is that they support your language and work throughout the house via smart speakers and other access points, allowing you to listen to music and other audio while you do things around the house.

If you care about audio quality, then you’re going to find a lot higher quality speaker systems in the HomePod devices from Apple. This gives Siri a bit of a leg up when it comes to quality, as the HomePod is designed for better audio, while the Echo speaker is designed to bring Alexa to your home more easily. Smart speakers with Alexa can still sound great, though, so it ultimately depends on what level of quality you want.

When it comes to language support, Siri also has Alexa beat. Siri supports up to 20 languages, while Alexa is mostly available in the United States and the United Kingdom—though it also has multi-language support to a lesser degree.

Alexa vs. Siri: Which is best?

This question ultimately comes down to what kind of devices you want to purchase and how interconnected you want everything to be. Alexa can be a solid little smart assistant, but with Amazon talking about charging for it in the future, it’s unclear exactly how much of the current feature set may change going forward.

Still, for easy access to your Amazon account, Alexa is a solid option. If you already have a ton of Apple products, or if you just want to stick to one ecosystem, then Siri is a great way to do that.

Ultimately, Alexa offers the best compatibility with multiple types of devices, which makes it the best virtual assistant overall. Siri does a few things better, as I noted above, but it’s hard to beat out the compatibility that Alexa offers with all the devices that it works with. If you can’t choose, then you can always mix and match what you use each assistant for so you can take advantage of the features of both.