In a bid to drive sales during coronavirus lockdown - or perhaps because new models are right around the corner - both Amazon and Google have rolled out some serious price cuts for their smart speakers and displays.

Google has the Home smart speaker priced at just $29 for a limited time. That's a $70 saving on the normal $99 price, and means the larger, louder Home is cheaper than the smaller and less powerful Nest Mini. Students can save a further $10 using their StudentBeans discount code at checkout.

Read More:

• How to build a smart home for less than $100
• How much does it cost to turn the average house into a smart home?

Nest Mini only $29 at Best Buy

The Google Home has exactly the same access to the Google Assistant as all other Google and Nest smart speakers and displays. This means you can ask the product to read out the news and weather, add items to your grocery and to-do lists, check your calendar, play music, and control a huge range of smart home devices.

Google's own online store has the Home priced at $29, while BestBuy has a similarly aggressive discount, pricing the Home at $30.

The Echo Show 5 is now $50, down from $90Amazon

Meanwhile, Amazon is also pushing for sales of its own smart home products. The Echo Show smart display with Alexa is currently priced at $49.99 for the five inch model, down from $89.99. The larger Echo Show 8, which offers the same Alexa integration and feature set, but with a bigger screen, is currently $79.99, down from $129.99.

That's a saving of $40 and $50 respectively, and means you can bring Alexa with a touchscreen into your home at a lower price than ever before. Both models are available in black or charcoal, and can be bought alongside Amazon's $10 smart plug.

Whether you choose Google Assistant or Alexa, both of these products offer an excellent way to start building your smart home, or for adding a second speaker/display to your home.

Check out The GearBrain, our smart home compatibility checker to see the other compatible products that work with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa enabled devices.

Echo Show 5 – stay connected and in touch with Alexa - Charcoal

Echo Show 5 – stay connected and in touch with Alexa - Charcoal

List Price: $49.99

New From: $49.99in Stock

Used From: $37.49in Stock