Grok voice
Ranked 11 of 19 smart speakers by recommenders
People like its fast responses and intelligence, and find it less dumb than rival voice modes. The most common caveat is usage quotas that can cut off a conversation.
People like its fast responses and intelligence, and find it less dumb than rival voice modes. The most common caveat is usage quotas that can cut off a conversation.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 64%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Less dumb than other voice modes
“it's less dumb than the voice modes of other providers”
Comment from 4 May 2026 in “How OpenAI delivers low-latency voice AI at scale” “it's far better than the other voice models”
Comment from 5 May 2026 in “How OpenAI delivers low-latency voice AI at scale” Good speed and intelligence balance
“The speed + intelligence tradeoff is just right.”
Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “New Flagship Grok Voices” “Then recently it suddenly got very terse, way too terse, but also latency went way down.”
Comment from 12 Aug 2026 in “Grok 4.6” Improving steadily over time
“In my experience Grok's voice mode suffers the least from this, and it's been getting better over time.”
Comment from 12 Aug 2026 in “Grok 4.6” “Grok's voice mode is surprisingly good.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Siri is so bad at everything”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Quota runs out mid-conversation
“the mere risk of quota exhaustion mid-conversation makes me not risk starting convos with Grok”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Grok 4.7” “equally worried that I will run out of quota”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Grok 4.7” Terse answers and missed responses
“Then recently it suddenly got very terse, way too terse, but also latency went way down.”
Comment from 12 Aug 2026 in “Grok 4.6” “it annoyed me when grok voice recently stopped answering all of them”
Comment from 12 Aug 2026 in “Grok 4.6”
Other smart speakers people recommend
The four most recommended other smart speakers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Siri | 165 | 715 | 19% | 12 | 7 yrs23 owners | — |
| Amazon Alexa | 45 | 131 | 26% | 11 | — | — |
| Bose SoundTouch smart speakers | 37 | 18 | 67% | 1 | — | — |
| Google Assistant | 33 | 64 | 34% | 10 | — | — |
| Grok voiceThis page | 9 | 5 | 64% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
19 of the 20 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“hackernews is sleeping on this model”
“Grok's voice mode is surprisingly good.”
“equally worried that I will run out of quota”
“the mere risk of quota exhaustion mid-conversation makes me not risk starting convos with Grok”
“it's been basically unusable these past few weeks”
“Then recently it suddenly got very terse, way too terse, but also latency went way down.”
“In my experience Grok's voice mode suffers the least from this, and it's been getting better over time.”
“it annoyed me when grok voice recently stopped answering all of them”
“I've absolutely loved grok's voice mode since it came out”
“The grok voice chat is objectively decent.”
“The speed + intelligence tradeoff is just right.”
“The voices sound robotic and weird as always.”
“Now my computer can sound just like the people that make me turn off my radio!”
“hopefully as good as Grok voice”
“a wonderful improvement over not having these”
“I've been using grok voice chat for mock dialogs to help practice diplomatic and candid conversations.”
“it's far better than the other voice models”
“it's less dumb than the voice modes of other providers”
“Grok's voice chat is almost there - only things missing for me”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.