Can I Use An Amazon Fire Stick On A Roku Tv

Roku vs. Amazon Burn Tv set Stick: Which is best for you?

(Image credit: Roku/ Tom'southward Guide)

Picking a new streaming device often brings you to debate Roku vs. Amazon Fire Tv Stick. And while Amazon is eager to discount its Firesticks, cost is not the only gene to accept into consideration when you lot make your purchase.

While Roku and Fire Idiot box both have a ton of apps, there are some notable differences between the 2 platforms. Which ane is the best streaming device for your household will depend on a few different decisions

Later on reading our in-depth Roku vs. Amazon Fire TV Stick faceoff, yous'll take a pretty good idea about which family unit of streaming devices you should buy into.

Here's everything y'all need to know to determine between Roku vs. Amazon Fire Boob tube.

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Roku vs. Amazon Burn Television receiver Stick: Streaming devices

Both Fire Idiot box Sticks and Roku devices start at $29. For that coin y'all go the Roku Express or the Fire Television Stick Lite, and each has its own set of drawbacks and perks. The Burn TV Stick Lite's comparative win comes with its Alexa-enabled remote, merely its excessive promotion of Prime Video may rub people the wrong way. Every bit for the Roku Limited, information technology's got fairly snappy operation for its cost, only its remote bespeak quality isn't perfect and required some actress intent in our testing.

Going slightly more expensive, you lot meet that Roku has Amazon vanquish when information technology comes to UHD streaming. Amazon'southward $40 Fire TV Stick maxes out at 1080p, while the cheaper $35 Roku Premiere streams in 4K. While the Premiere has the aforementioned remote event equally the Express, information technology'south even so a ameliorate purchase than the normal Burn TV Stick.

All of Amazon's Fire Sticks merely hibernate behind your Telly, and that'south a great design feature — they exist without reminding yous that they're at that place. Your feel with the Roku Express and Premiere might not be as effortless, as they're so low-cal that they may take a hard time sitting on a surface evenly.

Those who can spend $l will get the best streaming device either company makes: the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K and the Roku Streaming Stick Plus (the all-time streaming device in our book). Both stream in beautiful 4K HDR and offer speedy navigation and voice-enabled remote controls, and hide behind your Goggle box, like all of Amazon's Firesticks.

And then, to help united states of america determine this shut fight, we took an average of the ratings we gave the Roku and Burn down TV devices. Roku'south Streaming Stick Plus (4.five stars), Premiere and Express (three.five stars each) averaged out to 3.8 stars, beating the 3.3-star average from Amazon'south 3 Firesticks: Fire TV Stick Lite and Fire Television Stick (iii stars each) and Fire TV Stick 4K (four stars).

Winner: Roku

Roku vs. Amazon Fire TV Stick: Domicile screen and interface

The Roku is the out and out winner when it comes to streaming device domicile screens. Folks who like their Burn down Stick may detect it equally a convenient way to watch a lot of video from Amazon — the home screen promotes a lot of Prime Video and Amazon Channels content — but it lacks in customization.

This is a problem for anyone who bought their Fire Tv set Stick because of its affordability but discovers they don't want to watch what Prime Video is offering. Because now you're getting a face total of Prime Video content.

Amazon has rolled out a slightly updated interface to its non-4K Firesticks, but it'south not enough to alter our mind. Certain, the interface looks slightly prettier, only it'south still heavy on Amazon content and light on the ability to customize and control what you meet.

Roku has a much cleaner and simpler home screen: a grid of icons that yous can rearrange and a list of bill of fare options. This is all we really need, and it allows yous to see more than apps at once than you would on the Burn TV, where you scroll through a carousel.

Winner: Roku

Roku vs. Amazon Fire TV Stick: Apps and channels

Amazon Burn down Sticks and Roku devices tin can access a lot of content. 42Matters claims that Fire TV has xi,101 apps, simply Roku has 21,011 apps. But virtually people don't demand that many apps, much less a small fraction of those large amounts. The story of apps on streaming devices is more about what's missing.

Long-fourth dimension streaming device owners have often spent some time dealing with the lack of a new streaming service here and there. This is often because it takes time for companies to iron out contracts, as we the consumers lose. For example, YouTube Tv took a lot longer to land on Fire TV than other platforms — finally arriving in 2019.

2020 saw both Peacock and HBO Max launch, and both took their sugariness time to state on Roku. And while HBO Max made it to Fire Television Sticks, Peacock is still non on Fire Goggle box. The Walmart-endemic movie streaming service Vudu is not on Fire TV either.

When the Tom's Guide staff nerveless a list of 33 popular apps (and iii niche apps) that we need on our streaming devices, nosotros institute that Roku had all merely one of the niche apps (NJPW World, a Japanese pro wrestling app that's simply on Fire Telly). The Fire TV lacks Peacock, Vudu and the built-in media role player (with DLNA) that you lot get on Roku. That media player is also categorized as a niche app that many could live without, instead using Plex (available on both platforms).

Peacock's absence on Firesticks could exist a big deal for yous, simply it'south not a large problem (still). Perchance that changes when the WWE Network is only available on Peacock in mid-march.

Winner: Tie

Roku vs. Amazon Fire TV: Special features

The Burn down TV devices benefit from Amazon's Alexa skills and connected smart home devices. That means you tin check your smart home-connected alive cameras effectually the house, view the weather forecast and even order a pizza, all with your voice. These features work on all Fire Sticks.

Roku has third political party options such as IP Photographic camera Viewer - Pro (opens in new tab), but information technology's all the same much more of a device meant for streaming than existence a part of your smart home. That being said, the Roku platform supports both Google Banana and Amazon Alexa for commands.

Winner: Amazon Burn TV

Roku vs. Amazon Fire TV Stick: Scorecard

	Roku	Amazon Fire Boob tube
Streaming devices	✓
Home screen	✓
Apps and channels	✓	✓
Special features		✓
Total	3	2

Roku vs. Amazon Burn down Tv Stick: Verdict

And at that place you lot have it, our battle of the Roku devices and Amazon Burn down Sticks has a winner. When it's time to stream, you desire to go with Roku.

This Roku vs Amazon Burn Television set Stick face-off has clearly explained how the former wins. It's got the cheaper 4K device, better hardware overall and an interface that yous command (and not one that just spams you with Prime Video content).

On top of that, Roku is not lacking anything in the apps department (thank you HBO Max), not that Fire TV's missing Peacock is a huge flaw. Sure, folks plugged into the smart home lifestyle may prefer the connectivity of the Firesticks and the Amazon ecosystem, but in our volume yous buy a streaming device to stream content — and that's why Roku gets the win.

Henry is a senior editor at Tom's Guide covering streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the by vii years. Prior to joining Tom'due south Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He'south besides covered the wild world of professional person wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.