Smart Displays / Amazon
Amazon Echo Show 5 (3rd Gen, 2023)
The cheapest real Echo Show — and the cheapest one that still has a camera shutter.
Overall score 5.4/10
Pros
- + Keeps the physical camera shutter that the 2025 Echo Show 8 and 11 dropped
- + $89.99 buys a real touchscreen, a camera and a clock radio
- + Small enough for a nightstand, unlike every Echo Show above it
- + Genuinely better bass than the 2nd-gen Show 5 it replaced
Cons
- − No Zigbee and no Thread border router — the cheap Shows are not smart-home hubs
- − 960 x 480 across 5.5 inches looks soft next to the 2025 models
- − Three-year-old hardware still sold at near-launch price outside sale events
- − 2 MP fixed camera has no auto-framing; video calls are Alexa-ecosystem-only
- − Sponsored home-screen content cannot be switched off
Amazon Echo Show 5 (3rd Gen, 2023) review: what the specs say
The cheapest real Echo Show — and the cheapest one that still has a camera shutter. At $89.99, Amazon's 2023 model sits among the cheapest we cover — the smart Displays we compare run from $79.99 to $399.99. It scores 5.4/10 overall, calculated from published specifications across 8 categories rather than from a subjective impression.
Its strongest showing is Privacy Hardware at 8.0/10 — physical camera shutters, hardware mic cut-offs and how much sensing runs by default. The weakest is Smart Home Hub 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: no Zigbee and no Thread border router — the cheap Shows are not smart-home hubs; and 960 x 480 across 5.5 inches looks soft next to the 2025 models. 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 | 5.5 in |
| Resolution | 960 x 480 |
| Touchscreen | Yes |
| Camera | 2 MP fixed front camera |
| Physical Camera Shutter | Yes — physical sliding shutter, plus a combined mic/camera off button |
| Speakers | One 1.75-inch full-range driver (mono) |
| Smart Home Hub Radios | Matter over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE Mesh only — no Zigbee radio and NOT a Thread border router |
| Subscriptions Required | Alexa+ requires Prime or $19.99/mo; Amazon Music Unlimited / Spotify etc. billed separately |
| Home-Screen Ads | Sponsored cards appear on the home screen; Amazon's own help page says these ads cannot be turned off, only swiped away |
| Video Calling | Alexa-to-Alexa calling and Drop In only; Skype support died with Skype itself in May 2025 |
| Wall Mountable | No |
| Connectivity | Dual-band Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy Mesh, Matter over Wi-Fi |
| Material | Fabric-wrapped enclosure with plastic screen bezel |
| Warranty | 12 months |
Compare Amazon Echo Show 5 (3rd Gen, 2023) With
Cheaper Alternative
Amazon Echo Spot (2024 release) — $79.99
Premium Alternative
Google Nest Hub (2nd gen) — $99.99