The best streaming sticks and devices of 2024

While current TVs come preloaded with a smart interface, many are clunky, don’t offer the latest streaming services and can lag months behind on updates to the services they do offer. The solution? Streaming sticks and boxes. These plug-and-play devices can enhance even the smartest TV and provide up-to-date access to the services you’re looking for. To help you find the best ones, we’ve spent countless hours with the top streaming boxes and sticks on the market, from Roku, Amazon’s Fire TV, Apple TV and Google Chromecast.

Best streaming device: Roku Streaming Stick 4K

$50 at Amazon

The Roku Streaming Stick 4K is our favorite streaming device because it’s the product of many iterative improvements over the years. The latest include a long-range Wi-Fi receiver built right into its power cable. That’s a helpful upgrade when this stick doesn’t allow for the dedicated Ethernet connections of pricier models we cover later in this guide.

Roku offers nearly every streaming service app you could think of or ask for, with everything from Amazon Prime Video to Shudder, plus the free content from The Roku Channel. We love how the Roku interface focuses on just the apps. If you prefer getting suggestions for what to watch, consider the Chromecast With Google TV. We prefer how the Roku Streaming Stick 4K, like all Rokus, offers a home screen built around a big grid of app icons.

Performance-wise, the Roku Streaming Stick 4K proved snappy. Jumping around between apps and shows, we did not notice any cringe-inducing lag. If you need speed? Check out the Roku Ultra or Apple TV 4K below.

But most people just need a streaming stick that works well, and makes the shows and movies they want to see look good. The Roku Streaming Stick 4K does just that, as Roku added the Dolby Vision premium HDR standard to this model (it also has HDR10+). These specs ensure optimal color quality and contrast, and helped make everything from “Squid Game” to “The Queen’s Gambit” look great in my testing. The Streaming Stick 4K also supports Dolby’s Atmos audio quality, which aims to provide more “immersive” sound.

Unlike some cheaper streaming devices, the Roku Streaming Stick 4K’s remote comes with TV controls for volume and power. This way, you don’t need to juggle both it and your TV’s remotes, and can just focus on what you’re watching.

The Roku Streaming Stick 4K also wins points for being ultra portable, as there’s always room for it in your suitcase (we never travel without one). Why would I do that? In my testing, Roku devices beat their competitors at signing into the weirdly complicated hotel Wi-Fi networks. This way, you’re never reliant on paying premium prices, and that Wi-Fi range extender will come in handy there because who knows where your hotel’s Wi-Fi is coming from.

Best upgrade streaming device: Roku Ultra

$88 at Amazon

We previously named the 2019 version of the Roku Ultra CNN Underscored’s best overall streaming device. With the 2020 version of the Ultra, Roku took another winning approach and made it even more attractive. From the moment you switch it on, the Roku Ultra presents one of the most seamless experiences of any streaming device we tested.

It was easier and quicker to locate preferred apps and services and to move those used most to a higher spot for even quicker access compared to other devices we tested. We were able to open Netflix, select “Parks and Recreation” and be in the world of Pawnee, Indiana, in about 10 seconds flat.

That swiftness is thanks to its quad-core processor and improved Wi-Fi, which makes the Ultra noticeably faster than other streaming devices we tested. Comparatively, the cheaper Rokus take a handful of seconds to open up an app and a few more seconds to start a stream.

Roku Ultra automatically upscales content to the highest resolution your TV can handle, up to 4K, and calibrates it to make sure it’s optimized for your screen. So if you’re streaming 720p content on a 1080p TV, it will upscale to that resolution, or if you have a 4K TV, it will deliver it at a full 4K resolution.

Content looks great, and with the addition of Dolby Vision HDR, the 2020 Ultra makes it look even better. In action titles, such as “Fast & Furious” and “Star Wars,” we didn’t experience any skips in fast scenes, and colors were vibrant but not overexposed. We previously knocked the Ultra a few points due to the lack of Dolby Vision, but with Dolby Vision joining Dolby Atmos on the Ultra, we have no more complaints.

Roku has access to some of the most popular streaming services: Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Sling TV, AT&T TV, Philo, Disney+, Apple TV+, Peacock, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video are all supported

The cherry on top is the included remote, which provides a simple layout with navigation buttons, voice functionality and volume controls. There’s a headphone jack built right in for personal listening (earbuds are even included in the box), and it has a speaker built in so you can ping the remote if it gets misplaced or lost in the couch cushions.

If you’re looking for a streaming box that’s fast, responsive and future-proofed with features, the latest Roku Ultra delivers at a reasonable price point of $88.

Best streaming device for Apple users: Apple TV 4K

$129 at Apple

The Apple TV 4K kicks things up a notch compared to the Roku Ultra, adding gaming and countless additional apps to the menu. It’s ideal for anyone in the Apple ecosystem who subscribes to Apple’s many services.

The upgraded 2022 model of the Apple TV 4K looks nearly identical to its predecessor. It’s the same small block with a white LED indicator on the front and power, HDMI and Ethernet (for the pricier model) connectors on the back. One of its biggest changes is a faster chip; inside is the Apple-made A15 Bionic in place of the A12. It proved faster during most everyday tasks in our testing, providing a fluid experience with near-instantaneous responsiveness — tvOS and the respective apps fly.

It can handle having multiple streaming services open all at once (much like how you can multitask between different apps on the iPad). You can quickly switch between Netflix and opt to open Disney+ without experiencing any slowdowns. At times, other devices we tested experienced delays when going back to the home screen, but this happens instantly on the Apple TV 4K.

The big and welcome change is a price drop for the entry-level model, down to $129 from $179. Want Ethernet, the Matter smart home standard and more storage? There’s a pricier model that costs $149.

Let us not forget Siri Remote. It’s a solid aluminum remote with a click wheel reminiscent of the iPod; you can click and hold or just touch it to control the interface. It’s much easier to navigate around the user interface than Apple’s previous remote. In supported apps you can even use the wheel to scroll back and forth through content. Quite handy. You also get dedicated buttons for back, play or pause, mute, the TV app and volume. Apple’s also finally included a power button that can turn your entire TV setup on or off.

The Apple TV 4K works flawlessly for anyone within the Apple ecosystem via an interface that will be familiar to anyone with an iPad or iPhone. For instance, when you need to fill in a text field (like a password or search box), you’ll get a notification on your iPhone that allows you to use that keyboard to type on your TV screen. It’s leagues better than locating and selecting one letter at a time with a TV remote. It can also autofill an email field for you, and you can access your iCloud Keychain to auto-complete logins to services. It worked like a charm when we tried it on Netflix.

The Apple TV 4K supports all of the major streaming services. Via the App Store, you can find Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Sling TV, Max, Peacock, YouTube, AT&T TV, Philo and tons of others. Countless gaming titles are available through Apple Arcade, while Fitness+ subscribers will be right at home with an app that displays workout metrics from the connected Apple Watch right on the big screen.

You can also cast content with AirPlay or AirPlay 2 from your iOS, iPadOS, macOS and watchOS devices — everything from viewing photos or videos from your iPhone to a YouTube video and even mirroring your display.

Like the Roku Ultra, Apple TV 4K will auto-scale content up to 4K Ultra High Definition, and it also supports HDR, HDR 10, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. If you currently have a 1080p HD TV, the TV 4K will present content at that resolution and calibrate it for your TV panel. There are minute differences between the calibrations Apple and Roku make, but either way you’ll get an accurate, clear and vibrant picture. The Apple TV 4K goes a step further with support for high-frame-rate content, but that’s basically future-proofing at this point, and only makes a difference right now in the Red Bull app, and only if you have a compatible TV. Don’t upgrade just for this.

You pay more for Apple TV 4K, but Apple users will enjoy the ease of control and added ability to game and access the full App Store for that extra money. At $129, it’s not the cheapest streaming device option, but it is the complete package with one of the best remotes we’ve ever used.

Best Fire TV streaming stick: Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max

$60 at Amazon

The new Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (which updates the 2022 model) gives folks more reason to upgrade from the standard (and super-popular) $50 Ultra HD stick. Now you get both upgraded specs and a standout new feature that makes it more competitive with the Apple TV 4K and Roku of the world.

That’s the Ambient Experience mode, Amazon’s version of Apple’s high-end screensavers that we’ve loved for years. Previously seen in Amazon’s Fire TV Omni QLED Series TVs, this setting allows you to turn your TV into a constantly shifting work of art, with everything from impressionist paintings to trippy motion graphics. Or even Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling’s Barbie and Ken, respectively, as stills from the “Barbie” movie can decorate your mojo dojo casa house. There are even aerial videos of stunning vistas.

Each category of works looks crystal clear and comes with multiple options it cycles through. We set ours to change once per minute to avoid any chance of OLED burn-in. If you’re as concerned about that as I am, you’ll probably not use Amazon’s little smart tiles, which include weather forecasts, tips and recommendations, and (our favorite) sticky notes to help you remember things (or passively send messages).

The other perks this year come in the specs section, with twice as much storage as before (16GB for all those Ambient Experiences and all your apps) and Wi-Fi 6E support for smoother streaming (on modern routers that enable more simultaneous connections).

And, of course, it’s still a solid way to stream shows and movies. It includes Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support for optimized HDR and sound, plus a remote with practically all the buttons you could ask for.

Best streaming device for casting: Chromecast With Google TV

$48 at Amazon

With a full operating system, a remote (yes, that’s worth a callout) and support for multiple video standards, the Chromecast With Google TV delivers a tremendous amount of value at $50. And on top of all that, you also have the ability to cast content straight from your phone.

The interface features four main categories: For You, Live, Apps and Library. Many of these are self-explanatory, but the real kicker here is that Google serves up recommendations from a plethora of services all in one spot. That means under For You, you’ll see suggested content that’s live on YouTube TV, a classic from Netflix and even new titles on Max or Peacock. So no clicking around to find content you want within different apps.

Under the Apps section is where you can find your streaming services and download the respective apps. All the big players and even smaller ones are here, including Netflix, Hulu, Plex and countless others. The latest streaming services on the block work out of the box on the Chromecast. YouTube is of course front and center, along with YouTube TV. The latter is Google’s cord-cutting solution, and if you use the platform, this is the streamer for you. It’s integrated directly into all the categories and has a dedicated guide found under the Live section. That tab also works with Sling and Philo, and adds in hundreds of channels from free TV services Haystack News, Plex, Pluto TV and Tubi. It will even place your favorite shows, as they’re airing, in the respective content recommendation tabs. On a Roku or the Apple TV, it’s just another app and doesn’t offer deep integration throughout.

Choosing content is as simple as selecting the tile and the Chromecast starting the stream. It all happens very swiftly, and the performance of this smaller dongle is on par with that of the Roku Ultra.

And rounding out the Chromecast With Google TV is the Google Assistant. You can ask for any query or question your brain can think of — and that extends to TV content. You can ask for a specific show or movie, and it pulls up a page about the title, including multiple ways to stream it.

After countless hours of bingeing content –— ahem, we mean testing — we can safely declare the Chromecast With Google TV to be a solid value at just $50. You’d be hard-pressed to get more value from the Fire TV Stick 4K (which is the same price).

Best budget streaming device: Roku Express

$30 at Amazon

Some may be confused by our inclusion of a streaming device that maxes out at 1080p, but in the age of rampant streaming service price hikes (we’re glaring at you, Disney+), we get it. Sometimes, you just need to put all the apps you want on a TV and call it a day, especially for older “dumb” TVs that max out at Full HD.

For these situations, we recommend the Roku Express. Once you figure out where to place this little curved rectangular box (it’s not a dongle, so it doesn’t hide behind your TV), you unlock a whole world of apps in that straightforward Roku interface we love so much. All the other $30-or-less streaming devices seem to make up for their prices by putting ads all over your screen, all of the time.

Then, there’s the improved remote. Unlike Roku’s past $30 streaming device, the latest Roku Express doesn’t require focused aiming for each click.

How we tested

While some of these are sticks and others are boxes, the core use case is to stream content to your TV. And we crafted categories that best reflect that core premise.

Under the Ease of Setup category, we focused on what came in the box and the process for getting the device working. In some cases, it was as simple as plugging it in and connecting to Wi-Fi; for others, we held a device nearby for fast pairing.

Performance tackled more areas, notably the ecosystem, quality across watching the content and available apps and services.

On the quality perspective, we calibrated each streaming device for the TV and then checked out the upscaling. Most importantly, we ensured that it reached 4K UHD or 4K Ultra High Definition as well as checked out the supported standards.

In terms of the build, we looked at the outside and the overall quality of the design. Did the materials live up to the price point? Was space wasted? And what did the controls and ergonomics of the remote mean for the user experience?

We tested all of these streamers with a range of TVs: a 55-inch LG C2 OLED, 55-inch TCL 6-Series, 55-inch LG CX55, 65-inch Sony A8H, 65-inch TCL 8-Series, 55-inch Vizio V-Series, 65-inch Vizio M-Series and 75-inch Vizio P-Series.

Others we tested

Fire TV Stick 4K

$50 at Amazon

Amazon recently updated its 4K Fire TV Stick, the default streaming device for many shoppers who just want 4K for a frequently discounted price. It provides Dolby Vision and Atmos and a crisp Ultra HD picture. Its performance got a little better this year, but it still isn’t much to write home about, though, and the Amazon Fire TV OS interface is something to be endured rather than enjoyed. You can also hack it to sideload stuff that Amazon doesn’t allow in its store. Don’t need 4K? There’s always the $40 Fire TV Stick (which maxes out at 1080p) and the $30 Fire TV Stick Lite (whose remote has no TV controls), both of which are frequently on sale. Want a better set of screensavers, more speed and better specs? Look at the $60 Fire TV Stick 4K Max.

Onn Google TV Streaming Box

$20 at Walmart

Somehow, there’s a $20 4K streaming device. Walmart’s budget version of the Chromecast With Google TV has its own quirks, though. It doesn’t work that well with the Google Home app’s virtual remote, showing an inconsistent interface (or no buttons at all). Oh, and it just feels cheap. But for that price? You might be willing to make the sacrifices. Don’t expect Dolby Vision or Atmos, though.

Amazon Fire TV Cube

$140 $120 at Amazon

We really enjoyed our time with the Fire TV Cube, but to a degree, it feels like it’s trying to be too much. The premise? It combines an Alexa smart speaker with a Fire TV streaming device. It’s a square box that’s taller than most streaming devices and has the classic blue light strip on the front. You can ask Alexa to turn on the TV, tune to Hulu or switch your input. It also promises upscaling, but we haven’t seen amazing results there. Performance-wise, it’s fast and it meets the quality standards with 4K UHD and HDR support.

Roku Streaming Stick 4K+

$69 at Amazon

Bucking trends, the “+” in this streaming stick doesn’t stand for a streaming service. Instead, it references the packed-in Roku Voice Remote Pro, the company’s excellent rechargeable remote that comes with its two programmable buttons. We’d rather control those four app-specific buttons. Still, this has the same streaming stick as our overall favorite streaming device, just for $20 more.

Read more from CNN Underscored’s hands-on testing: