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You astir apt stream most, if not all, of your content. The champion streaming instrumentality makes that process easier. If you've purchased a new TV recently, it apt has a built-in streaming interface. Some of these are fine, but a stand-alone streaming instrumentality tin connection a amended experience. We’ve tried them all—from Roku, Apple, Google, Amazon, and adjacent a inexpensive Walmart-owned brand—so you don’t person to, and we’ve separated each of our favorites by what they bash best.
To trial streaming devices, I enactment however casual oregon analyzable the setup was, from the archetypal plug-in to signing into each our favorite streaming services, and past I ticker TV! I watercourse a batch of contented successful wide adjacent erstwhile I'm not investigating a caller device, but for astatine slightest a week, I ticker a fewer hours of movies, TV shows, and YouTube videos each day, installing and deleting apps, and playing astir with immoderate further features wrong the instrumentality itself oregon connected the remote.
Check retired all our location theatre guides, similar the Best Roku Devices, Best Streaming Services, Best TVs, Best Soundbars, Best TV Antennas, and Best Projectors.
Updated June 2025: We've added the caller Roku Streaming Stick 4K.
Why You Need a Streaming Device
If you conscionable bought a astute TV, you whitethorn beryllium wondering: Why wage other for a streaming device? TV makers are acold amended astatine manufacturing beauteous screens than they are astatine gathering bully software. So unless that TV was a Roku TV oregon a Google TV, you should see an outer streaming device. Chances are precocious that your TV's house-made apps are slow, poorly designed, and retired of date—and that's if it has the apps you want.
The streaming apps for Roku, Google TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV are typically the champion you'll find, and if they're breached they get fixed precise quickly. LG, Samsung, and immoderate fig of different TVs travel with their ain interfaces, but I suggest you disregard them.
Which TV OS Should You Choose?
Roku is our favourite streaming OS due to the fact that it has conscionable astir each streaming app determination is, and the setup is hassle-free. You don't person to beryllium technologically savvy to fig it out. Roku besides isn't made by 1 of the large tech companies. Even though it has moved to see location information successful its lineup, the institution survives connected however good its streaming instrumentality level performs.
Chromecast utilized to eschew an interface altogether, but much caller versions person Google TV built in. Though casting is nary longer its main draw, these devices are fantabulous astatine letting you nonstop web pages oregon different contented straight from your smartphone (it's easiest connected an Android phone), which is rather handy. You tin besides bash this with Apple TV's AirPlay 2 functionality, but you request an iOS oregon macOS device. Chromecasts are officially being discontinued though you'll inactive spot immoderate astir astatine assorted retailers. Going forward, Google volition beryllium focusing its efforts connected Google TV and products similar the Google TV Streamer.
Google TV, formerly called Android TV, is Google's existent streaming OS. It's been astir for years, but it nailed the acquisition successful 2020. With its newest Google TV Streamer 4K, we stopped seeing the bugs and problems that utilized to plague the platform, and it includes fundamentally each streaming app retired there, arsenic good arsenic YouTube and Spotify. You tin inactive formed conscionable arsenic easy arsenic similar connected the archetypal Chromecast dongles.
Amazon Fire TV is geared toward those who truly bask Amazon's ecosystem, and it volition rapidly constituent you to its content. It besides has a large dependable interface. Unfortunately, it sometimes feels similar an advertisement for Amazon worldly much than a divers ecosystem of apps and content. If you bargain oregon rent a batch of movies from Amazon and subscribe to Prime, the Fire TV is appealing. If not, spell with a Roku.
Apple TV has a slick interface and Apple's accustomed gloss. The institution wasn't updating its models oregon its interface each that often, but we've seen improvements implicit the past fewer years. If you person a location afloat of Apple worldly and bask AirPlay, you whitethorn arsenic good implicit your collection.
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