Amazon
Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor
$69.99Cheaper
Released 2021
Best Air Quality Monitors · head-to-head
Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor vs PurpleAir Touch
A sourced, side-by-side comparison. Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor is cheaper at $69.99. Every spec and price links to its source.
PurpleAir
PurpleAir Touch
$209
Released 2023
Which is better: the Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor or PurpleAir Touch?
On the specs we track, they're closely matched. The Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor is the cheaper at $69.99.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Prices verified at capture; live price may differ.
Full spec sheet
✓ marks the stronger figure where "more" — or "less", for price and weight — is unambiguously better.
| Spec | Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor | PurpleAir Touch |
|---|---|---|
| US price | $69.99 | $209 |
| Brand | Amazon | PurpleAir |
| Released | 2021 | 2023 |
| Pm25 sensor | Yes | Yes |
| CO₂ sensor | No | No |
| Voc sensor | Yes | Yes |
| Radon sensor | No | No |
| Display screen | No screen - LED color indicator only | No screen - full-color LED ring (AQI color scale) |
| App connectivity | Yes | Yes |
| Power | Micro USB plug-in (5 W) | USB Micro plug-in, 5 V (adapter not included) |
| Release year | 2021 | 2023 |
Sources — Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor: amazon.com (verified 2026-06-20). PurpleAir Touch: www2.purpleair.com (verified 2026-06-20).
What's the difference between the Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor and PurpleAir Touch?
Where the two actually differ on the specs we track (2 of 7). Matching specs are omitted.
- Display screen: Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor No screen - LED color indicator only vs PurpleAir Touch No screen - full-color LED ring (AQI color scale)
- Power: Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor Micro USB plug-in (5 W) vs PurpleAir Touch USB Micro plug-in, 5 V (adapter not included)
What reviewers say
Sourced tester consensus for each — the "what people who used it think" layer, not just specs.
Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor
Three whitelisted hands-on testers—Tom's Guide, Reviewed, and TechHive—agree Amazon's ~$70 monitor is an inexpensive, easy-to-set-up tracker with no screen that lives entirely inside the cluttered Alexa app. None ran reference-grade accuracy benchmarks; all judgments are observational. TechHive panned its unfinished software in 2022; Reviewed and Tom's Guide warmed up once Alexa Routines matured. (3 sourced reviews.)
Praised: Quick, painless setup and fast (~7 min) calibration; Responsive and seemingly accurate at detecting pollutants (cooking, painting, chemicals, cologne triggered alerts); Inexpensive at roughly $70.
Flagged: No onboard display; data is buried in the cluttered Alexa app; Must stay plugged in via micro-USB — no battery or wireless option; Software felt rushed/unfinished, with limited Alexa answers and no Routines at launch.
PurpleAir Touch
No sourced tester review yet.