Alexa steps out of the Echo: Amazon brings Alexa+ to the web with Alexa.com

Amazon’s AI assistant is finally escaping the Echo.

At CES 2026 in Las Vegas, Amazon announced Alexa.com, a new web interface for its overhauled assistant, Alexa+. The site is rolling out now to Alexa+ Early Access users, turning Alexa into something that looks and feels a lot more like ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini — but with a heavy focus on the home and family.

Alexa, but in your browser

Alexa.com lets you use Alexa+ from any browser once you sign in with your Amazon account. Early Access customers can:

• Explore complex topics in chat form
• Generate content
• Build trip itineraries
• Pick up tasks started on Echo speakers and screens

The site includes a sidebar so you can jump straight back into things like:

• Adjusting the thermostat
• Checking your calendar
• Reviewing shopping and to‑do lists
• Managing smart home devices

It’s the same Alexa+ brain that powers Amazon’s hardware, just no Echo required.

Amazon has already sold more than 600 million Alexa-powered devices worldwide. But the company knows a hardware-only strategy won’t cut it in an AI era dominated by web-first assistants. If Alexa+ is going to compete, it has to be everywhere: in the home, on the phone, and now in the browser.

A more chatbot‑style Alexa app

Alongside Alexa.com, Amazon is pushing a redesigned Alexa mobile app. Internally, the company calls it a more “agent-forward” experience.

Practically, that means the app now opens on a chatbot-style interface. You could always talk to Alexa in the app, but that used to be buried behind other controls. Now, chat is the main act, and traditional smart home controls and settings are pushed into the background.

The goal is obvious: make Alexa+ feel less like a voice remote for your lights and more like a general-purpose AI you can talk to anywhere.

Amazon’s pitch: the AI for your family life

Where Amazon thinks it can stand out from ChatGPT, Gemini and others is the same place Alexa first found traction: the home.

Alexa+ still does all the usual smart home tricks — turning lights on and off, changing the temperature, running routines — but Amazon is pushing deeper into everyday family logistics. On Alexa.com and in the app, Alexa+ is designed to:

• Update the household calendar
• Manage shared to‑do lists
• Make dinner reservations
• Add items directly to Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods carts
• Find recipes and save them to a personal library
• Plan family movie nights with personalized recommendations

The assistant is also picking up more third‑party integrations. Amazon has recently added Angi, Expedia, Square, and Yelp, on top of existing services like Fodor’s, OpenTable, Suno, Ticketmaster, Thumbtack, and Uber.

Turning Alexa into a home “hub” for your data

To really own the home, Amazon wants Alexa+ to become the place where all your family’s information lives.

The company is asking users to connect personal documents, emails and calendars so Alexa+ can track everything from school holidays and soccer practice to doctor’s appointments — even details like when the dog got its last rabies shot or the date of the neighbor’s backyard BBQ.

Unlike Google, Amazon doesn’t have its own productivity suite to mine for this kind of data. Instead, it’s relying on tools that let you forward and upload files to Alexa+.

That upload-and-forward flow is now part of Alexa.com as well. Once data is in, it can also show up on Echo Show displays around the house, where family members can see and manage it.

If Amazon can convince people to trust Alexa+ with that level of personal detail, it could become a powerful differentiator — and a sticky one.

“Seventy-six percent” of Alexa+ use is unique, Amazon says

Daniel Rausch, vice president of Alexa and Echo at Amazon, argues that Alexa+ is already doing things rivals can’t.

“Seventy-six percent of what customers are using Alexa+ for no other AI can do,” he told TechCrunch.

He points to kitchen use as an example:

“You can send a photograph of an old family recipe to Alexa and then talk through the recipe as you’re cooking it in your kitchen, substitute ingredients for what you have around the home, and get the job all the way done.”

The remaining 24% of usage looks more like classic chatbot territory — the same sorts of tasks people might use other AIs for. To Amazon, that’s a sign users are starting to shift more of their AI queries to Alexa+.

Adoption numbers — and complaints

Alexa+ remains in Early Access, but Amazon is already seeing meaningful scale. According to Rausch:

• Over 10 million consumers now have access to Alexa+
• Those users are having 2–3× more conversations with Alexa+ than with the original Alexa
• They are shopping 3× more via Alexa+
• They are using recipes 5× more than before
• Heavy smart home users are turning to Alexa+ 50% more for smart home control compared with the original Alexa
• 97% of Alexa devices in the field already support Alexa+

Online, though, the narrative isn’t all rosy. Across social media and forums, users have posted examples of Alexa+ misunderstanding prompts or making obvious mistakes.

Rausch argues that these failures are over‑represented in public discourse. He says the share of customers who try Alexa+ and then opt out is in the low single digits — “effectively … almost none,” in his words.

Amazon is also keen to stress continuity. Rausch says all of Alexa’s original capabilities and “tens of thousands” of services and devices it already worked with are carried over into Alexa+.

What’s available now

For now, Alexa.com is only open to Alexa+ Early Access customers, and you’ll need to sign in with your Amazon account. Early Access itself has been expanding since Amazon first unveiled Alexa+ early last year.

Once you’re in, the web experience mirrors what Amazon is trying to do everywhere else: one AI front end, consistent across devices, that can:

• Chat like a modern AI assistant
• Reach into your smart home
• Tap your shopping history
• Orchestrate the messy details of family life

The big question is less about features and more about trust. Amazon is asking to sit at the center of your home, your devices and your personal data. With Alexa.com, that pitch is no longer tied to a smart speaker on the kitchen counter — it now lives in your browser tab, right next to every other AI gunning for that same role.