The Edit — Smart Home
Echo Show 5 or Echo Spot: Which for a Bedside
The Echo Spot is an alarm clock with a 2.83-inch screen and no camera. The Echo Show 5 is a 5.5-inch display with a camera and a shutter. Which suits a nightstand depends on whether you want video in the bedroom.
This guide is research-led: we have not handled these units ourselves. If you buy through our links we may earn a commission — it never changes a pick. How we choose
This page sets the Echo Spot against the Echo Show 5 for a nightstand, with 2 alternatives, ranked by rating and then by how many owners rated them on 6 October 2026. It reads Amazon’s published specifications against what owners report, as How we choose describes. Nothing here was handled or tested.
Best for A clock with no camera
Watch for Small screen for some
Best for Video calls from bed
Watch for Slow replies, crashes
Best for A child's room
Watch for Reliability complaints
Best for Voice-only alarms
Watch for No screen at all
The Echo Spot is a clock; the Echo Show 5 is a small screen
The Echo Spot has a 2.83-inch touch screen behind a half-circle of tinted glass, and it is built to show the time. The Echo Show 5 has a 5.5-inch touch screen, roughly twice the diagonal, and it is built to show things: recipes, video calls, camera feeds.
On a nightstand that difference decides most of it. A clock face you read from the pillow at 3 a.m. is the Spot’s whole job. The Show 5 can do it too, but it is a display that happens to show a clock.
Amazon Echo Spot (newest model), Smart alarm clock
46,124 ratings at 4.5, a smart alarm clock with a 2.83-inch screen and no camera, which owners like for its sound and its looks.
Current price shown on Amazon. We may earn a commission.
| Screen | 2.83-inch touch screen |
|---|---|
| Camera | None |
| Speaker | 1.73-inch, front-firing |
46,124 ratings at 4.5. Owners like the sound for its size, the look on a nightstand and how quickly it sets up. Its job as an alarm clock splits them: some call it an excellent one, others find the screen too small to read and report it showing the wrong time or dropping offline.
Buy it if
- A nightstand where you want no camera
Don't buy it if
- Anyone who wants video
No camera on the Echo Spot; a shutter on the Echo Show 5
A camera pointed at the bed is the question here, and the 2 devices answer it differently. The 2024 Spot leaves the lens out entirely. The Show 5 has a 2 MP camera with a physical shutter you slide across the lens, plus a button that cuts the microphones and camera together.
One design removes the worry; the other gives you a cover you have to remember to close.
Amazon’s Echo Spot listing states that the 2024 model supports nothing that needs a video stream. That rules out video calls, feeds from a doorbell or security camera, and Netflix, Prime Video or YouTube. Voice calls, Drop-in and Announcements between Alexa devices still work.
Buy the Echo Show 5 for video calls and the doorbell feed
The Echo Show 5 is the one of the 2 that can show who is at the front door, or take a video call from a grandparent, without anyone getting out of bed. That is the reason to choose it over the Spot.
Amazon Echo Show 5 (newest model), Smart display
72,656 ratings at 4.2, a 5.5-inch smart display with a 2 MP camera and a sliding shutter, which owners like for its screen.
Current price shown on Amazon. We may earn a commission.
| Screen | 5.5-inch touch screen |
|---|---|
| Camera | 2 MP, built-in shutter |
| Speaker | 1.75-inch |
72,656 ratings at 4.2, the most-rated of the 2 bedside screens. Owners like how the display looks and many call it worth the money. The complaint that recurs is responsiveness: slow replies, commands it fails to catch, and crashes. Sound quality splits them.
Buy it if
- Video calls and doorbell feeds from bed
Don't buy it if
- A buyer who hates a slow reply
For a child’s bedside, the Echo Show 5 Kids adds the controls
The Echo Show 5 Kids is the Echo Show 5 with parental controls and 1 year of Amazon Kids+ included. It is the version to buy if the screen is going in a child’s room rather than a parent’s.
Amazon Echo Show 5 Kids (newest model)
3,627 ratings at 4.1, the Echo Show 5 with parental controls and 1 year of Amazon Kids+, which owners say children enjoy.
Current price shown on Amazon. We may earn a commission.
| Includes | 1 year of Amazon Kids+ |
|---|---|
| Controls | Parental controls |
3,627 ratings at 4.1. Owners say children enjoy it and like the content made for them. Setup splits parents, and the complaint that recurs is a device that only answers some of the time, the same responsiveness worry as the adult Echo Show 5.
Buy it if
- A child's bedside, with limits set by a parent
Don't buy it if
- A parent who wants a simple setup
An Echo Dot outrates both if you never look at it
The Echo Dot rates 4.7 across 200,487 ratings, higher than either bedside screen, and it was on Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days deals page on 6 October 2026. It has no screen, so it ranks first here and still cannot do the job the page is about.
That tension is the honest answer for some bedrooms. If every alarm is set by voice and nobody wants a glowing face at night, a screen adds nothing.
Amazon Echo Dot (newest model)
200,487 ratings at 4.7, the screenless Echo speaker, which owners praise for sound and simple setup.
Current price shown on Amazon. We may earn a commission.
| Screen | None |
|---|---|
| Sold for | Bedrooms, dining rooms and offices |
200,487 ratings at 4.7. Owners praise the sound for its size and how simple it is to use. The recurring complaint is connection: music that stops on its own and a speaker that drops off Wi-Fi.
Buy it if
- Alarms and music by voice alone
Don't buy it if
- Anyone who wants to see the time
Alexa+ arrives on all 4, so buy for the screen, not the software
All 4 listings now say “Designed for Alexa+”, Amazon’s newer assistant. The software is shared across the range, so it is not a reason to choose one device over another. The screen and the camera are.
For a speaker for the rest of the house, smart speakers, compared ranks the range, and what Alexa+ changes explains the new assistant. For a doorbell to pair with the Echo Show 5, see video doorbells, compared.