The Home Speaker is the wrong $99 Google Home gadget to buy in 2026

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With the launch of the Home Speaker, Google trimmed down its smart speaker and display lineup. The Google Home Speaker costs $99 and replaces the now-discontinued Nest Mini and Nest Audio speakers . If you’re in the market for a new smart home controller compatible with Google Home, the Home Speaker is your cheapest option. However, there’s another $99 smart home controller that is a better addition to your Google Home than the Home Speaker: the second-generation Nest Hub.

Google’s second-generation Nest Hub is somewhat of an afterthought in 2026 because of its age. The smart display was refreshed five years ago, but it shouldn’t be written off just yet. Google still sells and officially supports the Nest Hub, and it runs the same Gemini chatbot as the brand-new Home Speaker.

In fact, I put my Nest Hub up against the Home Speaker, and I always want the display to respond to my requests instead of the speaker. If I could only have one managing my home, I’d pick the Nest Hub over the Home Speaker.

The obvious advantage of a smart display is that it can play videos and show visual information. I enjoy casting video podcasts, streaming services, and YouTube videos to my Nest Hub to watch at my desk or in my kitchen. Plus, being able to glance at the weather, date, and time is always neat. Beyond content consumption and glanceability, the Nest Hub is also a better smart home controller than the Home Speaker.

The second-generation Nest Hub’s underrated hardware helps explain why. Aside from the 7-inch touchscreen display and 43.5mm full-range speaker driver, the Nest Hub also packs a trio of smart sensors. There’s a temperature sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a Soli sensor inside — none of which are found in the Home Speaker. While all three sensors are handy, the Soli sensor stands out. It detects movement and breathing, making gesture control, presence sensing, and even sleep sensing possible.

Otherwise, the Nest Hub and the Home Speaker are quite similar. Both smart home controllers use three far-field microphones for voice pickup, and they each have a physical mute switch. The Home Speaker has the advantage of a larger, omnidirectional 58mm full-range driver. It sounds better than the Nest Hub, although I’m not sure if sound quality alone is enough to convince me to leave features like ultrasound sensing, sleep sensing, and quick gestures behind.

As I used the Nest Hub and the Home Speaker side-by-side, I valued seeing visual confirmations that a smart home command was executed properly. When I changed the temperature setting on my Nest Thermostat using my voice, I’d see the change take effect on my Nest Hub screen. If I decide the temperature I requested isn’t quite right, I have a slider and manual controls automatically opened on the Nest Hub’s touchscreen. By comparison, having to use my voice for every Home Speaker command was tiring after a while — especially considering Gemini’s propensity to reply with long-winded answers.