When choosing a new streaming device, the debate often comes down to Roku versus Amazon Fire TV Stick, and while Amazon is eager to discount the FireStick, price is not the only factor to consider when making a purchase

While both Roku and Fire TV have plenty of apps, there are some notable differences between the two platforms Which one is the best streaming device for your home depends on a few different decisions

After reading our in-depth Roku vs Amazon Fire TV Stick showdown, you should have a you will have a pretty good idea

Here's what you need to know to decide between Roku and Amazon Fire TV

Both the Fire TV Stick and Roku devices start at $29 For this amount, you can get either the Roku Express or Fire TV Stick Lite, each with its own drawbacks and perks; the Fire TV Stick Lite has an attractive Alexa-enabled remote control, but Prime As for the Roku Express, it has fairly snappy performance for the price, but the remote's signal quality is not perfect and required special intent in our testing

At a slightly more expensive price, we find that the Roku beats the Amazon when it comes to UHD streaming; Amazon's $40 Fire TV Stick is up to 1080p, but the cheaper $35 Roku Premiere streams at 4K The Premiere has the same remote control issues as the Express, but it is still a better buy than the regular Fire TV Stick

All of Amazon's Fire Sticks are great design features that simply hide behind the TV and exist without you even noticing they're there; the Roku Express and Premiere are so light that it can be difficult to place them evenly on a surface [Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K and Roku Streaming Stick Plus (the best streaming device in our opinion) Both stream in beautiful 4K HDR and offer speedy navigation and voice-activated remotes

So to decide this close race, we took the average of the ratings we gave the Roku and Fire TV devices, with Roku's Streaming Stick Plus (45 stars), Premiere, and Express (35 stars each) averaging 38 stars, Amazon's three Firesticks averaged 33 stars above: the Fire TV Stick Lite and Fire TV Stick (3 stars each) and the Fire TV Stick 4K (4 stars)

Winner: Roku

When it comes to streaming device home screens, Roku is the outright winner; those who like the Fire Stick may find it useful for watching lots of Amazon videos-the home screen is a great place to watch Prime Video and Amazon Channels, which advertises a lot of content - but it lacks customizability

This is a problem for those who have purchased a Fire TV Stick at an affordable price but don't want to watch what Prime Video has to offer That's because they'll end up with a face full of Prime Video content

Amazon has rolled out a slightly updated interface to the non-4K Firesticks, but not enough to change our minds Sure, the interface looks a bit prettier, but it is still Amazon content heavy and light on the ability to customize and control what you see

Roku's home screen is much cleaner and simpler: a grid of sortable icons and a list of menu options This is really just what you need, and allows you to see more apps at once than on a carousel-scrolling Fire TV

Winner Roku

Amazon Fire Stick and Roku devices offer access to a lot of content; according to 42Matters, the Fire TV has 11,101 apps while the Roku has 21,011 But most people don't need that many apps, much less a small fraction of such a large number The streaming device app story is more about what's missing

Longtime streaming device owners have spent a lot of time dealing with the lack of new streaming service offerings here and there This is often due to the time it takes for companies to adjust their contracts to the detriment of us consumers For example, YouTube TV took much longer to land on Fire TV than other platforms, finally arriving in 2019

Peacock and HBO Max both launched in 2020, but both took longer to land on Roku And while HBO Max has appeared on Fire TV Sticks, Peacock has yet to appear on Fire TV Walmart-owned movie streaming service Vudu is also not on Fire TV

Tom's Guide staff gathered a list of 33 popular apps (and three niche apps) needed for streaming devices, and found that with the exception of one niche app (NJPW World, a Japanese wrestling app only available on Fire TV), Roku has them all The Fire TV does not have the built-in media player (with DLNA) that Peacock, Vudu, and Roku have This media player is also classified as a niche app, with many people using Plex (available on both platforms)

The lack of Peacock on Firesticks may be a big problem for you, but it is not a big problem (yet); that may change when the WWE Network becomes available only on Peacock in mid-March

Winner Tie

Fire TV devices benefit from smart home devices connected to Amazon's Alexa skills This means that you can check live cameras connected to smart home devices throughout your home, watch the weather forecast, and even order a pizza, all with your voice These features work with all Fire Sticks

Roku has third-party options like the IP Camera Viewer - Pro, but it is more of a streaming device than part of a smart home Nevertheless, the Roku platform supports both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa commands

Winner Amazon Fire TV

And the winner between the Roku device and the Amazon Fire Stick is decided If you enjoy streaming, the Roku has the edge

This Roku vs Amazon Fire TV Stick matchup clearly illustrates how the former wins It has a cheaper 4K device, better hardware overall, and an interface that you can control yourself (not the kind that crams Prime Video content)

On top of that, Roku lacks nothing in the apps section (thanks to HBO Max) Sure, smart home lifestyle practitioners may prefer the connectivity of Firesticks and Amazon's ecosystem, but in our opinion, they buy streaming devices to stream content, and that's why Roku wins