Amazon Alexa Everything you need to know about the heart of the Echo You wouldnt have the Amazon Echo (or Echo Dot, or Echo Show, or whatever) without Amazon Alexa. Heres what you need to know about the two. Amazon Echo. Or Alexa. Theyre one and the same, really. That is, an Amazon Echo without Alexa really isnt any more than just a speaker. And Alexa without a speaker is just ... Well, nothing. Confused yet. I dont blame you. Lets explain the difference this way: Echo is hardware, Alexa is software Amazon Echo � and all of its permutations � is hardware. Alexa is software. She (and I have zero problem if you refer to Alexa as a she ) is the brains behind the Echo, and all the things you can do with it. And because shes software, shes available on more than just Amazons own devices. Anyone can put Alexa on anything. You can make your own Alexa speaker for just a few bucks and a little bit of nerdy know-how. There are third-party Alexa speakers that look like Amazons own Echo D...