The 3 Best Smart Detectors for Your Home

• Built to work with Google's Nest Protect app
• Battery powered
• Carbon monoxide detection
• When battery is low, you get a notification on your phone

• Expensive
• Best for homes that already have a Nest

Google used to make its own $250 Nest branded smoke detector. It was decidedly not a hit, so the tech giant partnered with First Alert instead to make this nearly identical (in terms of functionality) product for half the price. If you're looking for the smartest smoke detector that's also capable of carbon monoxide alerts, this is far and away our top pick.

The alarm is fully battery operated (read: no wiring in) and installation is easy since it's built from the ground up to be compatible with Google's Nest Protect app. This mean it will automatically sync with any other Nest alarms you have around the house. If the batteries are low, you will get an alert on Nest Protect.

If you already have a smart home set up, this will slot easily into your life. It's expensive—especially if you are buying multiple—so we recommend it most highly to people who already have Nest devices in their home. If not, it's still bound to be the best smoke detector you've ever owned thanks to the part where you can control it entirely on your phone.

• Works with Alexa and Google Home
• Battery backup in case power goes out
• Air quality monitoring

• Requires standalone app
• Requires hardwiring

If over $100 for a single smoke alarm is giving you sticker shock, try these from Kidde. They get hardwired in (a relief for those sick of changing batteries) with an option for backup battery power if ever needed. It's not officially a CO detector, but it has air quality monitoring and will give you alerts if it detects volatile particles in the air. If you are into monitoring the purity of your filtered water, you'll love being able to constantly check in on your air quality, humidity, temperature, and more.

The Kidde app isn't quite as user-friendly as what Nest and Ring have going on, but once you get it set up it's easy enough and reliable. And in the case of a misplaced phone, the light on the detector is always glowing so you can look up and immediately know the status of the room. Green means good, red means fire, and the orange glow means time for tech support.

• Easy to install
• No apps
• Cheap
• Gets the job done

• No voice activation
• End-of-life warning is just a different pattern of chirps
• No carbon monoxide detection

If that is all way too much for you, it's still viable to get a regular-degular smoke detector. This one from First Alert (the same company that makes our top smart choice) is going to be your best bet. It's cheap and easy to install, with no distracting features that will confuse your grandpa. Is it annoying that the "end-of-life" warning is just a slightly different pattern of high pitched chirps than the smoke alarm itself? Hell to the yeah, brother, but that's the price you pay for the ease of low-tech.

So maybe do yourself a favor. Save the money, pick up a 3-pack of these for the home for $50, and rest assured that you have working smoke detectors throughout the house. Because at the end of the day all one of these really needs to do is detect smoke and beep. We promise this one does.

The other major competitor in this growing space is Ring. But if you're getting a "smart" detector, we wanted to make sure it can work as a standalone unit. That's why didn't recommend the Ring smoke and CO detector because it requires you already owning a Ring Alarm. If you happen to be in the Ring ecosystem, though, it's a great option for only $35.