Smart Displays / Amazon
Amazon Echo Hub (8-inch wall panel)
A wall panel with every radio Amazon makes and a speaker you will never use twice.
Overall score 6.3/10
Pros
- + Zigbee + Thread border router + Matter for $179.99 — the cheapest way to get all three from Amazon
- + The only Echo designed to sit flush on a wall with cable management in the box
- + No camera, so it can go in a hallway or bedroom without argument
- + Amazon actively rebuilt the interface in June 2026, so it is not a maintenance-mode product
Cons
- − The speaker is genuinely poor — do not buy this to play music
- − No camera means no Drop In video, no video calls and no indoor-camera duty
- − Power over Ethernet is supported but the PoE splitter is not in the box
- − No Z-Wave, so it will not replace a SmartThings or Hubitat hub
- − Costs the same as an Echo Show 8 that has a better screen, a 13 MP camera and the same hub radios
Amazon Echo Hub (8-inch wall panel) review: what the specs say
A wall panel with every radio Amazon makes and a speaker you will never use twice. At $179.99, Amazon's 2024 model sits in the middle of the range — the smart Displays we compare run from $79.99 to $399.99. It scores 6.3/10 overall, calculated from published specifications across 8 categories rather than from a subjective impression.
Its strongest showing is Smart Home Hub at 9.5/10 — zigbee, Matter and Thread border-router support — often the real reason to buy the bigger model. The weakest is Sound at 3.0/10, which is the trade-off to weigh before buying: if that is the specification you care about most, one of the alternatives below will serve you better.
Worth knowing before you buy: the speaker is genuinely poor — do not buy this to play music; and no camera means no Drop In video, no video calls and no indoor-camera duty. Every specification on this page comes from Amazon's own documentation or a verified retail listing — where a figure is not published, the table says so rather than estimating it.
Specifications and price last verified . Report an error
Full Specifications
| Voice Assistant | Alexa+ — Amazon's own FAQ states there is no free Alexa+ tier on Echo hardware: it needs Prime or a $19.99/mo Standard plan |
| Screen Size | 8 in |
| Resolution | 1280 x 800 |
| Touchscreen | Yes |
| Camera | No camera |
| Physical Camera Shutter | No camera fitted; microphone-off button only |
| Speakers | Mono speaker — Amazon does not publish the driver size; PCMag describes it as smaller than the Echo Show 8's and reviewers rate it as background-audio-only |
| Smart Home Hub Radios | Zigbee hub + Matter controller + Thread border router + Amazon Sidewalk — the most complete radio set Amazon puts in a display |
| Subscriptions Required | Alexa+ requires Prime or $19.99/mo; Ring Alarm arming works, but Ring video history needs a Ring subscription |
| Home-Screen Ads | Dashboard is user-built, but Amazon's sponsored-content rules still apply to Alexa surfaces and cannot be fully disabled |
| Video Calling | None — no camera. It can display other cameras' feeds but cannot originate a video call |
| Wall Mountable | Yes |
| Connectivity | Dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Thread border router, Matter, Amazon Sidewalk, Ethernet / Power over Ethernet |
| Material | Matte plastic panel with flush wall plate |
| Warranty | 12 months |
Compare Amazon Echo Hub (8-inch wall panel) With
Cheaper Alternative
Google Nest Hub (2nd gen) — $99.99
Premium Alternative
Amazon Echo Show 11 (2025) — $219.99