Here’s How to Score a Free (or Cheap) Amazon Smart Speaker for the Holidays

Black Friday deals have been rolling out long before Black Friday – the day after Thanksgiving – with big-time retailers including Best Buy, The Home Depot and Walmart offering huge discounts early.

But if you’re looking to step up your holiday gift-giving game to a smart speaker from Amazon, the only thing better than “cheap” is “free.” And if that speaker comes as a bonus for another buy, heck, the gift receiver could be you. We won’t tell..

To that end, we went looking for some ways to find this somewhat-elusive bargain. (If it were easy, it wouldn’t be fun?). Some of them involve signing up for additional or outside services. Some involve buying another product from Amazon. And another depends on whether you’re lucky enough for Amazon to reach out to you with a really big deal. Bear in mind the Amazon smart speakers in question aren’t the latest. With one exception, they’re the 3rd generation Echo Dot. Still, good stuff, particularly for the price.

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For instance, if you buy a Christmas tree through Amazon, you may be eligible to get a free Amazon Echo Dot (3rd generation) along with an Amazon smart plug. When shopping online for Christmas trees from Amazon, hover over the “extra savings” message. A pop-up message will read “add both to cart.” Your tree, the Echo and the plug will go into your cart and the promo code will automatically be applied at checkout.

You could also score an Echo Dot (3rd generation) for 99 cents and one month of Amazon Music Unlimited for $8.99. You have to sign up for auto-renewal on Amazon Music Unlimited, and note that the deal is only available to “eligible or new subscribers only.” You have to sign into your Amazon.com account to see if you’re a fit.

Looking for a new internet provider? Verizon has a deal where you can get a free Echo Show 10 if you sign up for 5G Home Plus Internet. That will run you $35 a month.

The biggest deal of all lurks out there for some lucky Amazon Prime subscribers. Amazon is offering a select few the ability to buy a $40 Echo Dot (3rd generation) for $1. That’s right, $1, no subscription strings attached. For this promotion, Amazon is reaching out to certain subscribers via email or in advertisements that pop up on the Amazon website home page. We weren’t able to get the deal because we didn’t get an email or see this specific advertisement on Amazon’s home page. Poor us. However, our friends at Tom’s Guide were able to get the $1 deal just by putting in the coupon code at checkout. We wish you luck in your quest for a $40 Echo Dot (3rd generation) for just a buck.