Roku vs. Amazon Fire TV Review 202117 min read

So how one can you select? To begin, understand they’ve extra similarities than variations.

• Both are super-affordable, beginning at $30 for Roku and $40 for Fire TV.
• Both have entry to roughly umpteen zillion TV apps, together with the entire main ones. Most apps look and behave principally the identical on each.
• The newest fashions of Roku and Fire TV are just about equally fast, responsive, and dependable as long as you’ve got a solid internet connection.
• Both (apart from the most cost-effective Rokus) provide remotes with TV volume and power buttons to control TVs, so you possibly can ditch the remote that got here together with your TV.
• Both have a number of fashions, beginning with fundamental streamers as much as 4K-compatible variations with voice, gadget control, and headphone jacks built into the distance.

Best for Home Screen Navigation: Roku

If keeping track of things is important to you, a Roku might be a better option. This is because Roku allows you to arrange all of your apps on the home screen, just like you can on your smartphone. For example, if you use Netflix more than any other app, you may put it in the first row so you don’t have to waste time looking for it.

Apart from your apps, the Roku residence display screen also features all of the tabs on the left side of the screen. You can either explore the Featured Free category for completely free movies and TV shows, or go all the way down to Search to look for movies and TV shows. If you don’t remember the title of a film, you can also look for it by actor or director.

In recent years, Roku has established itself as a significant competitor to both Amazon and Google. It was also the first company in the UK to release a 4K streaming stick, the Roku Streaming Stick+, which supports 4K and HDR10. It’s a thinner device than the hefty Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, making it much easier to fit into your TV’s HDMI port.

The main distinction between Roku and Amazon is that Roku does not produce its own television shows. Instead, in the United Kingdom and the United States, Roku released a free, ad-supported TV streaming channel. Anyone with a Roku streamer has access to over 10,000 movies and TV programs of varying quality. Because Roku doesn’t have its own shows to promote, there isn’t any heavy-handed promotion of what to watch. As a result, there’s a far cleaner – and more ordered – content material finding platform than Amazon’s. It’s also simple and quick to navigate through a variety of streaming apps and menus.

Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV, Google Play, HBO, Hulu, Showtime, YouTube TV, Sling TV, Fubo, and NBC are all available on Roku. You also get Now TV (UK), Vudu (US), and Google Play, which aren’t available on Amazon’s Fire TV devices.

The free Roku software, which serves as a distant control, allows you to add control and stream media from your smartphone or tablet in addition to voice controls. There are some clever choices, such as the ability to listen to music discreetly using headphones so that other members of your family are not disturbed.

There is no HDMI extension cable in the field, unlike the Fire TV. You can get one for free from Roku’s website, but it isn’t the best option. The Stick+ is more convenient than the Fire TV because it is powered by your TV’s USB port.

Roku has a great foundation and a lot of extra features, but in the end, Amazon Fire TV outperforms Roku in terms of voice commands, Prime Video content, and overall efficiency.

Fire Stick

Amazon Fire TV additionally affords handy residence display screen navigation, however differently. Instead of permitting you to rearrange your apps, The Fire Stick exhibits you an inventory of your frequent and up to date apps. You may also maintain down the mouse button to enter an inventory of grasp apps.

Below your favorite apps, Fire Stick exhibits your suggestions based mostly in your beforehand seen motion pictures and TV exhibits. It additionally exhibits you new movies from Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu, or no matter channels you’re subscribed to. So, if you wish to keep up to date on new movies or uncover motion pictures from any style, the Fire Stick could be a greater choice for you.

Best Remote Control: Amazon Fire Stick

Both Roku and Fire TV embrace distant controls to your TV, so that you don’t should switch between the TV distant and the streaming gadget distant.

Roku

The Roku distant has a microphone button that permits you to seek for motion pictures and play them utilizing voice instructions. Roku additionally options shortcut buttons for well-liked channels, similar to Netflix and Disney. While these shortcut buttons will be actually useful, they can’t be reprogrammed for different channels. So, in the event you don’t use the channels in your Roku remote, these buttons can be greater than ineffective to you.

Fire Stick

The Fire Stick distant doesn’t have the shortcut buttons that include the Roku remote, nevertheless, it does have a mute button. More than that, the Fire Stick remote can control any soundbar, in comparison with Roku, which may solely control HDMI-supported soundbars.

The Amazon Fire Stick distant may be very smooth, and it feels higher in your hand. The Roku remote is clunky with huge, old-school buttons that may be laborious to push. Plus, the Fire Stick distant appears to attach simpler, which means which you could be additional away, and also you don’t even should level the remote on the display screen.

Best Voice Control: Amazon Fire Stick

Reaching for the remote will be such a trouble, particularly if you’re already snug on the sofa or your mattress. Fortunately, each Roku and Fire TV Stick will let you control your TV with voice instructions. However, in the case of Roku vs the Amazon Fire Stick, all of it is dependent upon which voice assistant you will have at residence.

Roku

Roku works with each Google and Alexa, however, Google doesn’t work with the Amazon Fire Stick. So, when you have Google Home sensible residence speakers, Roku is the higher choice for you.

However, you need to say “Roku” every time you ask Google to launch apps or play motion pictures on a Roku gadget. For instance, you may say, “Google, open Hulu on Roku,” or “Google, pause Roku.”

If you don’t have Google or Alexa, you may nonetheless launch apps and seek for content material utilizing the microphone button in your Roku distant or through the use of the Roku cell app. You can discover completely different genres, actors, or play TV exhibits on a selected channel. Just say, “Play Happy Feet on The Roku Channel,” and Roku will play the film for you.

Fire Stick

If you already have an Amazon Alexa smart home speaker, the Fire Stick is the perfect streaming device for you. Simply connect Alexa to your Fire TV Stick and you’ll be able to watch whatever you want without ever having to reach for the control.

Simply say, “Alexa, watch Friends,” and the Fire Stick will start playing Friends on its own. The Fire Stick even has a cool feature that allows you to rewind the movie by saying “Rewind 20 seconds.”

You may also use your Fire Stick to order Alexa to perform certain tasks. You may also use your remote to operate your other smart home devices, such as your smart light bulbs. You may also ask Alexa questions about the weather, and the results will be displayed on your TV. Alexa may potentially respond to you over the speakers on your television. So, in the case of Roku vs Fire Stick, it all depends on what kind of speaker you have installed. The Fire Stick, on the other hand, has better voice controls.

Best Apps: Roku

Roku

Aside from streaming motion pictures and TV exhibits, Roku and Fire Stick allow you to play video games as well. Roku permits you to play along with your video games along with your family and friends or by your self. You can try the Games web page on their web site and discover a whole lot of video games obtainable.

Likewise, you may switch to the Apps tab on the identical web site and flick through hundreds of various apps. There you will discover film guides, film and TV present channels, and even digital sceneries to play on your TV.

While Roku doesn’t help as many video games and apps because the Fire Stick does, you do get entry to The Roku Channel. This free app has a wide array of ad-supported motion pictures and collections. You may also discover lots of movies for kids and different free reside channels, similar to ABC News, WealthNation, and extra. So, in the event you’re into motion pictures and exhibits greater than video games, you would possibly need to go along with Roku.

Fire Stick

You can watch cable channels on a Fire Stick, similar to Cinemax and HBO, and also you even have entry to motion pictures from Amazon Originals. But you’ll should be an Amazon Prime member to get pleasure from these perks.

Fire Stick additionally has a website for video games and apps you may obtain on your TV. And, not like Roku, you may play extra video games with Fire Stick, a few of that are extra well-liked than those discovered on Roku. So, if one main purpose why you desire a streaming gadget is to play video games, you would possibly need to select a Fire Stick.

Content discovery

The flip side is that Amazon’s Fire TV interface is better at suggesting what to watch without making you jump in and out of different apps. Keep scrolling past the app list, and you’ll find row upon row of suggested movies and shows to watch. Most come from Amazon’s own Prime Video service, but you might also get recommendations from other apps, such as Netflix or HBO Now. While this approach can feel inscrutable—mostly because Amazon doesn’t let you customize the recommendations that appear—it is helpful for those times when you’re feeling indecisive.

Roku’s attempts at content discovery are much more conservative. There’s a “Featured Free” section on the home screen that spotlights free movies and TV shows to watch, but that doesn’t help if you want to know what’s new on Netflix or Hulu. And while Roku offers editorially-curated “zones” for different genres, you have to search and drill through several menu layers to access them. As a result, you’ll probably spend more time in the apps you know best instead of discovering what else is out there.