For almost a decade, Amazon and Google competed to put smart speakers and cameras into as many homes as possible. The devices were sold cheaply, sometimes at a loss, because the theory was that once you had the device, you were hooked. You would buy things on Amazon. You would use more Google services. The device was the foot in the door.
That theory never really paid off. Amazon's device division lost over $25 billion between 2017 and 2021. Google's Nest business has also struggled to turn a profit. The "foot in the door" turned out to be an expensive foot.
So both companies have arrived at the same new plan: charge a monthly fee for the AI features that make these devices actually useful.
Google launched Google Home Premium in late 2025, starting at $10 a month. The advanced tier costs $20 a month. Features like detailed camera alerts (the kind that tell you "a person in a red jacket left a package" rather than just "motion detected"), video history search, smart home automation, and the more conversational Gemini assistant all sit behind that paywall. A basic version of the assistant remains free, but the features that justify the hardware are not.
Amazon's version is called Alexa+. It costs $20 a month for anyone who is not an Amazon Prime member. Amazon has been rolling it out since early 2025, and it rebuilt Alexa from the ground up to handle more complex, natural conversations.
At Google I/O 2026 this week, Google announced it is pushing this model much further. It introduced a program called "Gemini built in," a ready-made package that allows third-party hardware makers, think budget camera brands, speaker manufacturers, and security system companies, to embed Google's AI directly into their own products. Walmart is already a partner, launching affordable cameras under its Onn brand. AT&T will use the same system inside its home security service.
This matters because it means the subscription model is not staying inside Google's own Nest ecosystem. It is spreading outward. Any device that runs "Gemini built in" will likely require a Google Home Premium subscription to unlock its full capabilities. Google has also connected over 800 million third-party devices to its Home platform, and those devices will get conversational AI controls automatically, with the premium features again sitting behind the paid tier.
For consumers, the direction is clear: the free smart home assistant era is ending. The devices people already bought with the assumption of free service are being converted into subscription access points. That is a real change in what ownership means.
For businesses, the more interesting part is the distribution play. Google is not just selling subscriptions directly. It is letting telecom companies and ISPs bundle Google Home Premium into their own plans. That mirrors how cable companies once bundled set-top boxes and internet. If your internet provider starts bundling AI home features into a package deal, the price becomes invisible, and Google locks in recurring revenue without ever needing to convince you to open a separate subscription.
There is a real consumer risk here too. When the value of a smart device depends entirely on a cloud subscription, the company controls whether that device keeps working. Google already ended support for its first- and second-generation Nest thermostats, stripping the smart features from hardware people paid good money for. The more features move behind subscriptions, the more that risk grows.
The subscription model works best when the value keeps improving. Both Google and Amazon are betting their AI gets good enough, fast enough, that people will pay rather than switch off. That is not guaranteed. But the free-assistant era is effectively over.