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Best for Most
Roku Streaming Stick 4K
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Faster Wi-Fi and Hands-Free Remote
Roku Ultra (2022)
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If You Don’t Have a 4K TV
Roku Express HD
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A Step-Up Express With a Better Remote
Roku Express 4K With Voice Remote Pro
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Rokus continue to remain our favorite TV streaming devices. They’re super easy to use and offer a wide array of streaming channels. Their displays aren’t fancy, but they offer just what someone needs: quick, direct access to their favorite streaming services. However, figuring out which one to buy is not so easy.
There are currently five Roku streaming devices available, plus TVs, soundbars, and ones sold exclusively at certain retailers (not to mention older models still floating around places like Amazon). Rokus tend to have similar names and look nearly identical, with small changes happening every year or so, and it can be difficult to suss out the differences. We’re here to help. If you’re like us, you want the best Roku for the least amount of money. We’ve broken down the features on the ones we think you’ll actually want to own, starting with the most basic model.
Updated March 2024: We’ve updated this guide with the latest Roku models.
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Photograph: Roku
Best for Most
Roku Streaming Stick 4K
Roku’s Streaming Sticks are the ones we recommend most. This model allows you to stream in Dolby Vision, and because of its size, it plugs directly into your TV’s HDMI port without dangling underneath the screen. They’re also not too expensive—you’ll usually find this 4K model for around $50.
It comes with a voice remote so you can hold the microphone button to ask it to play specific titles, but it doesn’t have hands-free voice control like some other models.
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Photograph: Roku
Faster Wi-Fi and Hands-Free Remote
Roku Ultra (2022)
Roku’s posh Ultra has the strongest dual-band Wi-Fi of the bunch plus an Ethernet port for wired connections if necessary. It can stream in Dolby Vision and supports HDR10+. The remote here has hands-free voice. You can turn this feature on or off via a slider on the side. Like any other voice assistant, you can ask it to pull up a show, or if you misplace your remote, just ask Roku where it is to set off a beep. This came in handy more than once while testing.
There’s also a headphone jack so you can watch TV shows in private while other folks sleep—the Roku-branded headphones are surprisingly decent and come with a few eartips.
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Photograph: Roku
If You Don’t Have a 4K TV
Roku Express HD
Think of the Roku Express like the express checkout lane at the grocery store—easy, but somewhat limited if you’ve got a big order. It’s for people with a standard HDTV (not 4K Ultra HD). It has the same Roku menus and channels as the other boxes, but it lacks extras like voice search and the ability to control your TV’s volume from the remote. The remote control uses infrared (IR) to communicate (instead of another wireless standard), so it must be in the visual sight of the Roku box to work.
If you bought your TV in the past couple of years and it cost more than $300, there’s a good chance it’s 4K (Ultra HD) and has HDR (high dynamic range). That just means it has four times more pixels on its screen than a standard HD television. HDR means that scenes like sunsets look brighter, while shadows are darker—in other words, you get better, more realistic contrast.
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Photograph: Amazon
A Step-Up Express With a Better Remote
Roku Express 4K With Voice Remote Pro
The Roku Express 4K is a step up from the HD model above. It allows you to play high-resolution 4K content in HDR10 (if your TV supports it). This particular bundle is an Amazon exclusive and comes with the Voice Remote Pro, so you can control your TV with your voice without clicking a button. You can use headphones here too, but it doesn’t come with a pair like the Ultra does.
There is another Roku Express with all the same features except for the hands-free remote (which means it also loses the headphone jack) for $10 less.
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Photograph: Amazon
These Rokus Are Also Soundbars
Roku Soundbars
If you’re looking to upgrade the streaming capability and audio quality of your TV in one fell swoop, either of Roku’s Streambars are great all-in-one solutions.
The Streambar ($130) is just 14 inches long, so it’s ideal for smaller rooms and TVs, or if you simply want something better than your TV’s speakers. The Dolby audio on this little device upped the volume from my TV and made conversations clearer. There’s also Night Listening mode, quieting explosive sounds so you won’t wake up the whole house. The remote includes volume and power buttons plus voice control.
The 32-inch Streambar Pro ($179) is better for larger living rooms or TVs. It’s equipped with four 2.5-inch full-range drivers, delivering bigger, bolder sounds for movies and music. (The smaller Streambar has four 1.9-inch drivers.) This one also has a remote with two programmable buttons and a headphone jack for private listening, so you don’t have to sacrifice sound quality when the rest of the house is asleep.
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Photograph: Roku
Roku Plus Series
We typically don’t love smart TV interfaces, which is why we recommend streaming devices at all. But, Roku’s TV uses the interface we know and love, which makes it an easy, one-stop shop.
We’ve long been fans of the TCL TVs with Roku built in, but now the streaming brand is making its own TVs in-house, and we like the Plus Series. The Quantum Dot-enabled (QLED) panel and full array local dimming give it excellent colors and solid blacks. TLDR: You can easily find something to watch thanks to Roku’s simple interface, and it’ll look good too. It also works with Homekit, Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant.
Serious gamers may prefer a TV with a higher refresher rate, but at 60 frames per second, the Plus Series is fine for most consoles. WIRED senior editor Parker Hall noted that this TV’s legs are particularly wide. Depending on where you’re putting it, you might need to wall mount it or try an aftermarket pedestal mount. There are new plus models coming for 2024, and we will update this guide as we test them.
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Photograph: Roku
How Roku Differs From Other Streaming Services
What is Roku?
Even the best smart TVs benefit from a separate streaming device to accommodate all the apps you want in an easy-to-navigate interface. Roku is not the sleekest, but it’s reliable and the easiest to set up and use. It includes Peacock and Max, which it was previously lacking, so it now connects to all the major streaming services. Because so many people use Roku, it typically gets quick app updates.
My biggest gripe with Roku is that its search is not always accurate in pinpointing exactly which streaming services carry a particular title, especially whether it’s free or not. If you have trouble using the built-in search, you can always use Google on your phone to find whether something is streaming somewhere you subscribe, but that’s annoying.
You do have other options that we break down more in our Best Streaming Devices guide.
- Google Chromecast with Google TV for $50 is the best runner-up to consider if you don’t like Roku. Unlike previous Chromecast models, it has an actual remote. I found this interface to be the best, making it super simple to browse across all streaming services at once.
- Apple TV for $130 is expensive, so it’s best if you already buy movies and shows from Apple’s library or subscribe to Apple TV+. But it does provide a nice viewing experience.
- Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K for $50 and Stick 4K Max for $60 work well, but as you could probably guess, its menus are heavily geared toward Amazon Prime content.
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