Amazon Fire TV stick 4K vs. Roku streaming stick+

The Amazon Alexa Voice Remote — (Image credit: WhatToWatch.com)

Choosing between the Amazon Fire TV stick 4K and Roku streaming stick+ really is more about choosing an ecosystem than hardware. There's near-parity between the two products, and the real question is about which trade-off you want to make.

For most people — looking for a basic streaming stick (rather than one of Amazon or Roku's top-of-the-line offerings) — one of these two devices is exactly what we'd recommend. (In fact, we'd argue that the Fire TV stick 4K is Amazon's top-of-the-line offering...)

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K

Great for cinematic streaming

Reasons to buy

4K resolution, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos

New and improved remote control

Great price

Reasons to avoid

Nothing

We rated this Fire TV device 4.5* as it's pretty much perfect. It offers a high-quality cinematic streaming experience, all for a super low, great value price. If you're going with Amazon Fire TV, this is the stick you want to get. Full stop.

Roku streaming stick+

Roku Streaming Stick+

Nearly every spec you need in one little stick

Reasons to buy

Easy to use

Inexpensive

Reasons to avoid

Lacks Dolby Vision support

Roku is inexpensive and easy to use. The streaming stick+ has easy access to YouTube and YouTube TV but lacks support for Dolby Vision HDR. Roku's platform remains beautifully simple to use, with access to pretty much all the content you want.

Both streaming sticks are almost identical when it comes to specs. Really, the only difference you need to know about is that the Roku Streaming Stick+ doesn't have support for the Dolby Vision flavor of HDR. It does support HDR 10, but Dolby Vision is just better. And if your TV supports Dolby Vision, then you want your streaming device to also support Dolby Vision.

In a nutshell? We'd recommend either one of these sticks. So pick the one that works best for you, and it'll work best for you.