Amazon Alexa vs Surplife
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Amazon Alexa
Manage your smart home devices, control music, and organize your day with voice commands. This app allows you to set up and interact with compatible devices, discover new skills, and stay connected with others. It learns your preferences for a personalized experience.
- Manage Alexa-enabled devices
- Control music playback
- View and edit lists
- Set reminders and timers
- Discover and enable skills
- Connect with other devices
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Use the Amazon Alexa app to manage Alexa-enabled devices, control music playback, view shopping lists on the go, keep track of upcoming reminders, check on active timers and much more. When you enable hands-free with Alexa, you can talk to Alexa by simply saying “Alexa” when the app is on your screen. The more you use Alexa, the more she adapts to your voice, vocabulary and personal preferences. DISCOVER MORE • Get more out of your Echo device through personalized feature recommendations from Alexa • Discover and enable recommended Alexa skills • Pick up where you left off directly from the home feed with lists, shopping, or recently played Music and Books MANAGE YOUR DEVICES • Set up your Alexa-enabled devices, control or check status of your compatible smart lights, locks and thermostats at home or on the go • Create routines to automate your smart home devices MUSIC & BOOKS • Connect to music services like Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio. Choose a song or playlist and listen on your Alexa-enabled devices • Create speaker groups to play music across your compatible Echo devices for multi-room music ORGANIZE YOUR DAY • View and edit shopping and to-do lists on the go, get weather and news updates, manage timers and alarms, and more STAY CONNECTED • Use Drop In from your app to connect instantly with your compatible Echo devices, like a two-way intercom • Call or message supported Alexa-enabled devices, at no additional cost. By using this app, you agree to Amazon’s Conditions of Use (www.amazon.com/conditionsofuse), Privacy Notice (www.amazon.com/privacy), and all of the terms found here (www.amazon.com/alexaterms).
Surplife
Control your smart lighting devices with ease. Add and manage multiple lights from a single application, allowing you to adjust settings remotely from any location.
- Add multiple devices
- Control multiple devices
- Remote device control
- Easy device management
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Surplife is a smart lighting control APP. Add and control multiple devices to the App so easy. Remotely control devices from anywhere.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Surplife at none against Amazon Alexa's 2. Surplife also leads on review sentiment (54% vs 20%) and iOS requirement (15.5 vs 17.0). Amazon Alexa's advantage is ratings volume (5.9M vs 1.2K) and chart position (#13 vs #131). On price, rating, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Amazon Alexa sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Surplife asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Amazon Alexa against 4.5 for Surplife. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Amazon Alexa has 5.9M ratings behind it against 1.2K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 20% of Amazon Alexa's written reviews are positive against 54% of Surplife's.
Amazon Alexa ships an update weekly, Surplife fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Amazon Alexa | Surplife |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (5.9M ratings) | 4.5 (1.2K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 20.3% of reviews | 53.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 5.9M — better | 1.2K |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #13 — better | #131 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.5 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 501 MB | 479 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | AMZN Mobile LLC | 明长 周 |
Customer experience
Amazon Alexa
Surplife
User reviews
Amazon Alexa
From 5.9M App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Convenient for controlling smart devices
- 🚀 Helpful for managing reminders and playing music
- 👍 Alexa is a great companion
- 👍 Alexa is funny, nice, and kind
- 👍 Alexa is a lifesaver for the elderly
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🐛 Inconsistent voice recognition
- 🐛 Cluttered and unintuitive interface
- 🐛 Slow and unresponsive app
- 🐛 Alexa sometimes ignores commands or gives irrelevant responses
Surplife
From 1.2K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Convenient control
- 💡 Customizable lighting
- 👍 Responsive support
- 🚀 Reliable functionality
Room to improve
- 🐛 Connectivity issues
- 🐛 Inconsistent performance
- 🐛 Buggy app interface
- 🐛 Unreliable scheduling
- 🐛 Unresponsive customer service
Bugs and requests
Amazon Alexa
Reported bugs
6 issues- Alexa unable to link to Apple Music account
- Alexa unable to properly control smart plugs and lights
- Alexa unable to maintain connection with Bluetooth speakers
- Alexa unable to consistently set alarms and timers
- Alexa app crashing or becoming unresponsive
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- Alexa unable to recognize routines and commands
Requested features
7 requests- More customization options for routines
- Better integration with third-party apps
- Ability to control Alexa devices without voice commands
- Option to set custom sounds/music for alarms and timers
- Improved music playback controls in the app
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Ability to easily manage and organize smart home devices
- More advanced features for the elderly and disabled users
Surplife
Reported bugs
5 issues- Lights turning on/off randomly
- Inability to save custom settings
- App crashing or not opening
- Lights not responding to app commands
- Scheduling feature not working as expected
Requested features
5 requests- More holiday and theme options
- Ability to save custom scenes
- Improved app UI and navigation
- Multi-device syncing and control
- Integration with smart home platforms
In-app purchases
Amazon Alexa
- Amazon Kids+1 Month trial$6.991 Month
- Alexa+ Standard Monthly1 Month trial$19.991 Month
Surplife
No in-app purchases
