Amazon Echo Dot 5th-gen vs Echo Dot 4th-gen

Newest release, packed with features

Amazon Echo Dot (5th Gen)

The sound quality is better than it ever has been, with the same capabilities as its bigger, more expensive siblings. It’s the one to choose.
Pros

Improved sound

Temperature sensor

All the fun of Alexa
Not as feature-rich, but still quality

Amazon Echo Dot (4th gen)

The older speaker offers much the same experience and Alexa is just as capable — but there are fewer features, and it doesn’t sound as good.
Pros

All the skills of Alexa

3.5mm connection

Might have more discounts

From Echo Pop to the wall-mountable Echo Show 15, the Echos come in all shapes and sizes. However, one of the most popular smart home hub devices is the Echo Dot. It hits the perfect sweet spot between price and performance, so you can put Alexa in almost every room if you wish. The Echo Dot has seen quite a few changes since it was first launched in 2016 — what started life as a short puck, as if the top had been sliced off the original Echo, has experienced quite a few glow ups.

By the third-generation, it gained a fabric exterior that made it look much smarter than the previous two versions. The biggest change came in 2020, with the introduction of the 4th-gen Echo Dot. This changed the shape from a cylindrical puck to an almost spherical design with a flat base. And then in 2022, the 5th-gen Echo Dot was released, the most recent version of the device.

How does the newer 5th-gen Echo Dot compare to the 4th-gen version? If you already own a 4th-gen Echo Dot, is it worth the upgrade? We went head-to-head with the 4th-gen Echo Dot vs 5th-gen Echo Dot to see what the differences are.

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Price, availability, and specs

The Echo Dot (4th-gen) launched in 2020 at a price of $50, before being updated by the Echo Dot (5th-gen) at the same price of $50.

Amazon devices fluctuate in price a lot, however, through various sales like Prime Day and Black Friday, so the Echo Dot 5th-gen is often available for less. It’s also one of Amazon’s most popular devices and is widely available through retailers.

You might find that the Echo Dot 4th-gen is now harder to find and even more expensive through Amazon, because it’s the older device. Although on some third-party sites, like eBay, you can still find a good deal. The 4th-gen is likely not going to be a new purchase for most readers, but if you already have this speaker, we aim to answer whether you should upgrade to the 5th-gen, or if you can stick with your current speaker for a few more years.

Take a look at the specs to see what the key differences are.

	Amazon Echo Dot (5th Gen)	Amazon Echo Dot (4th gen)
Dimensions	100 x 100 x 89 mm	100 x 100 x 89mm, 328g
Woofer Size	1.73in	1.6in
Connectivity	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Matter	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3.5mm, Matter
SMART ASSISTANTS		Alexa
OTHERS	Temperature sensor, Accelerometer	None

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Design and build

Aesthetics and then some

The design of these speakers is pretty much the same, with identical dimensions, but you’ll notice that the Echo Dot 5th-gen is heavier, most likely because it’s got more tech inside. That weight doesn’t make any real difference, as the device will just be sitting on a shelf in your home.

While both are fabric-covered spheres with the Alexa light ring around the base of the device and four buttons for control on the top, there’s a difference around the back of the device. Yes, despite the spherical shape, there is a back and front to these speakers, with the plastic of the base raising up the back half. Here you’ll find that the new model only has a power connection, while the 4th-gen has a 3.5mm audio output as well, allowing you to attach it to speakers or headphones with a wired connection.

Both speakers are available in Charcoal and Glacier White colors, but the Echo Dot 5th-gen adds a new Deep Sea Blue option. Both are also available as the Echo Dot with Clock too, with the newer device offering a more detailed display. Visually, there’s not a lot of difference.

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Sound quality

Notable improvement

The big change is in the audio quality that each Echo Dot can produce. The speaker inside has been upgraded, with the 5th-gen Echo Dot having a slightly larger driver. This is a single-speaker system, and the 1.6-inch driver in the 4th-gen Echo Dot has always sounded good for its size. However, the 5th-gen Echo Dot has a 1.73-inch driver and, as we found in our review of the latest Echo Dot, the new speaker results in richer audio, for a better experience overall.

An Echo Dot sits next to a house plant and Funko pop.

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Features and hardware

Sensors and app-support

Both of these devices are built around Alexa, Amazon’s smart assistant. That service is universal, so you’ll be able to access the same features and information or interact with your smart home in the same ways. In both cases, your settings are controlled by the Alexa app on your phone.

One big difference is that the 5th-gen Echo Dot has additional sensors. This includes a temperature sensor, which will be able to give you a temperature reading for the room the Echo Dot is in, which mirrors the feature on some of the larger Echo devices. That temperature sensor can also be leveraged by Alexa Routines. For example, you can create a routine to turn on the fan if the room gets to a certain temperature, or a routine to turn on the heating if it gets too cold.

The other addition is the accelerometer. This allows tap interactions in addition to the buttons on the top of the device. You can tap to snooze an alarm or tap to pause music, for example. These tap gestures won’t be worth with the 4th-gen Echo Dot.

Both devices can be used as part of a stereo pair, can be added to groups, and can utilize many of the other popular features of Alexa, such as Alexa Calling. Both the 4th-gen and 5th-gen Echo Dot can also become part of an Eero network, extending the mesh network for better connectivity if you have other Eero devices. Both the 4th-gen and 5th-gen Echo Dot are Matter compatible, too, although they don’t offer Zigbee support, which can be found in the 4th-gen Echo, Echo Plus, Echo Show 10, Echo Studio, and Echo Hub.

4th-gen Echo Dot vs 5th-gen Echo Dot: Worth the upgrade?

Catch it if you can

Amazon Echo Dot 5th gen vs Echo Dot 4th gen side by side.

The differences between these two speakers are minor, but the 5th-gen Echo Dot opens up a range of possibilities through the addition of new sensors that the 4th-gen Echo Dot can’t match. The newer Echo Dot also sounds better and has more tech inside. If you’re buying new, you’ll find that the older Echo Dot is harder to track down, so it’s an easy recommendation for the Echo Dot 5th-gen.

Editor’s Choice

Amazon Echo Dot (5th-gen)

If you already own a 4th-gen Echo Dot, however, there’s no huge reason to upgrade. The temperature sensor and accelerometer are nice to have, but most people buy the Echo Dot to use as a smart speaker, and aside from a slight lift in sound, the experience here is going to be very similar. You may be better off holding fire until the 6th-gen is released. The longest gap between generations has been three years so far, so with the 5th-Gen Echo Dot being released in 2022, the next generation may not be that far away.