3 Of The Best Roku TV Stick Alternatives Actually Worth Using

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Roku's portfolio of streaming media players is a mainstay of countless buying guides focused on recommending the best streaming devices, and for good reason. The Roku OS, which does most of the heavy lifting in Roku streamers, is intuitive, simple, and easy to use. It doesn't expect you to go through a learning curve as your favorite streaming services are front and center, and you can easily personalize it to suit your needs. Moreover, it gives you access to all popular streaming services, media server apps, and more.

However, if some issues like the lack of support for controlling your smart home devices or the invasive ads in the interface put you off, there is hope for you. There are three main competitors to Roku in the cord-cutting and smart TV space: Amazon, Apple, and Google. All of them offer solid streaming media players that are great alternatives to Roku's media streamers. Let's find out more about these Roku TV Stick alternatives.

The third-gen Apple TV 4K is arguably the most powerful alternative to any of Roku's streaming media players. It's powered by the A15 Bionic, which is the same chip that powers the iPhone 13 series, the iPhone 14, and the iPhone 14 Plus, ensuring an absolutely lag-free and smooth experience. The Apple TV 4K runs on tvOS, which rivals Roku OS in terms of simplicity and ease of use. Another major benefit of buying the Apple offering is its ad-free interface, which is something you won't find on any other platform. If you're worried about your smart TV spying on you, the Apple TV box doesn't indulge in such practices. It doesn't include Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) either for added privacy.

As for other features — it supports 4K HDR streaming and has support for everything from HDR10+ to Dolby Vision. It can also process all major Dolby audio formats, including Atmos. Moreover, the bundled remote looks sleek, is rechargeable using USB-C, and isn't stuffed with sponsored streaming service buttons. You'll find all your favorite streaming services in the App Store, as well as casual games and useful apps, including media servers and VPNs. The latter isn't available on Roku. It can also be your smart home hub for HomeKit and Matter devices. You can choose from two Apple TV 4K variants: Wi-Fi only or Wi-Fi plus Ethernet. The latter also has 128 GB of onboard storage, which is double that of the Wi-Fi-only model.

The official Google TV Streamer (4K) is the best the world of Android/Google TV has to offer for most people. A spiritual successor to the company's Chromecast media streamers that have been discontinued, the Google TV Streamer is more of an Apple TV 4K-style tabletop device that's feature-rich and powerful. It'll serve as an excellent alternative to Roku TV Sticks. As the name suggests, it supports 4K streaming and can handle most HDR formats, including Dolby Vision and HDR10+. It also includes support for Dolby Atmos. Other features include a built-in Ethernet port for wired connectivity and 32 GB of storage. Plus, the presence of 4 GB of RAM and a quad-core MediaTek MT8696 SoC ensures you get a smooth experience. 

It runs on the Google TV operating system, which has built-in Chromecast support and apps for all popular streaming services, VPNs, casual games, and much more via the Google Play Store. Besides a streaming device, it can also function as a smart home hub for Google Home and Matter devices. Unfortunately — like most other smart TV platforms — the Google TV Streamer displays ads as part of its interface. However, you can remove most of these ads with the help of a third-party launcher. The Google TV Streamer retails for $100, and you can choose from two colors: Haze and Porcelain.

If you prefer a plug-in stick-type form factor, like Roku's various streaming sticks, Amazon's top-of-the-line Fire TV Stick 4K Max is your best bet. It connects to one of your TV's HDMI ports and brings Fire OS features to your TV. It's reasonably powerful and supports 4K HDR streaming, the same as our other recommendations. There is support for all popular HDR formats and Dolby Atmos surround sound. Fire OS is reasonably intuitive to use and has apps for everything from streaming services to VPNs to media servers.

Alexa is part of the OS to help you navigate or search the Fire OS interface with your voice and control any compatible smart home devices. Plus, Amazon's more advanced Alexa+ assistant with generative AI is available as an early access product. In other highlights, you can enjoy cloud gaming on the Fire TV Stick 4K Max with Amazon Luna or Xbox Game Pass. Moreover, the device has 16 GB of storage and support for Wi-Fi 6E connectivity. It will set you back by $60 at list price; however, it's often available at a discount, with the price reaching as low as $33.

The Nvidia Shield TV Pro is six years old, but it remains a solid streaming device choice for a niche segment of buyers, and an excellent alternative to the streaming sticks from Roku. We haven't kept it a part of our main recommendations because of its age and high pricing ($199), which hasn't officially gone down even after years of its launch. Most people don't need to spend this much for their regular Netflix or Disney+ streaming needs. However, if you're a local media enthusiast, someone who likes to rip their discs to store them in a media server, the Shield TV Pro makes sense. It can work as your Plex media server and even has two built-in USB 3.0 ports, allowing you to connect external hard drives, SSDs, USB TV tuners, or DVRs.

It also provides proper passthrough of lossless HD audio formats, such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, to your connected AV receiver or soundbar. Additionally, its Tegra X1+ processor is powerful enough to handle pretty much anything you throw at it. If you're a subscriber to Nvidia's GeForce Now cloud gaming service, the Shield TV Pro is a great way to enjoy it on your TV. Moreover, it's an excellent device for emulation apps. Another highlight of the Nvidia offering is its solid upscaling capabilities that can help if your TV isn't the best in this regard. Finally, it runs on the Android TV platform, and you'll be happy to know that it's still receiving software updates from Nvidia.

Roku streamers are quite popular and pretty great devices for general online streaming. However, they are not the only streaming media players in town and certainly not the most powerful. So, while looking for alternatives to the various Roku TV Sticks, we sought out some of the most powerful streaming devices offered by reputable brands that consistently deliver a solid experience. We focused on streamers that are well-reviewed and are either on par with or exceed the capabilities of Roku devices. All our recommendations can deliver 4K streaming with support for all common HDR formats, have access to a wide range of apps, and even include a capable voice assistant with support for controlling compatible smart home devices.