The Siri vs Alexa vs Google Assistant battle just took a fascinating new twist

Siri
(Image credit: Apple)

The Siri vs Alexa vs Google Assistant battle is hotting up, with a new report claiming to reveal the digital assistant most effective at responding to user questions.

According to respected Apple blog MacRumours, Google Assistant comes out on top when compared to rivals Siri and Alexa.

The tests were conducted by Gene Munster, Managing Partner at Loup Ventures, who posed 800 of the same questions to each AI helper in order to  "comprehensively test a digital assistant's ability and utility."

Siri vs Alexa vs Google Assistant: which is best?

Munster's tests were primarily engineered to cover digital assistant functionality on smartphones.

With that in mind, Siri was evaluated on an iPhone running iOS 12.4, Google Assistant on a Pixel XL, and Alexa using its iOS app.

The results were fairly conclusive, with Google Assistant answering 92.9% of queries correctly – compared to Siri's 83% success rate and Alexa's 79.8% performance.

Based across five core categories, some of the benchmark questions posed were:

  • Local - Where is the nearest coffee shop?
  • Commerce - Order me more paper towels.
  • Navigation - How do I get to Uptown on the bus?
  • Information - Who do the Twins play tonight?
  • Command - Remind me to call Jerome at 2pm today

Siri performed best across the command, local and navigation categories, but was undone by its showing in the information and commerce tests, where Google Assistant triumphed.

Munster stressed that "use cases vary", but it's still food for thought if you're looking to invest in one of the best smartphones and value the quality of your digital assistant's responses.

James Laird

A technology journalist with nearly 10 years of experience, James is the former News and Features Editor at Trusted Reviews, and has also served as regional Editor of Lifehacker. His articles have been spotted on sites ranging from The Sun to InStyle, but his true love is shiny things and the story behind them. An avid golfer in his spare time, you'll also regularly catch him hovering over the BBQ listening to Pearl Jam.