The $129 Apple TV was an excellent, if expensive, streaming device. At $199, you really need to check if another device can give you more bang for your buck. Take Google TV Streamer for example. At $99, it’s a full $100 cheaper than the recently repriced Apple TV 4K, and yet we still called it the “best all-around streaming device” in our buying guide. Google TV Streamer outputs 4K at 60 frames per second, just like Apple’s set-top box, and supports all the important HDR and audio formats. It’s not as fast as the Apple TV 4K, but it’s definitely not $100 slower.
Like the Apple TV 4K, it offers voice support through Gemini, and our experts think Google TV is the best smart TV interface thanks to the way it brings together content from different apps into one intuitive menu. However, you’ll have to put up with more ads than you would on the Apple TV 4K’s relatively ad-free home screen, which is certainly one of the biggest benefits of going with Apple.
There are also a number of Amazon alternatives, all of which are now significantly cheaper than the Apple TV 4K. Amazon’s set-top box equivalent is the $140 Fire TV Cube. Given the existence of Amazon’s plethora of Fire TV Sticks, you don’t often hear the company talk about the Fire TV Cube these days, but it does have some useful premium features like hands-free Alexa voice control, Wi-Fi 6E support, Ethernet, and an HDMI input for connecting other entertainment devices.
Fire TV Cube outputs images at 4K/60fps and meets all Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and Dolby Atmos requirements. Apple TV 4K offers a sharper picture, but with the Fire TV Cube you get excellent app support and a slick interface. That is, as long as you can live with the fact that Amazon will bombard you with self-promotion every time you turn it on.
If you’re just looking for a media streamer, the Fire Stick TV 4K Max is now ridiculously cheaper than the Apple TV 4K at $60, and often sells for much less. While the Fire TV Cube lacks premium features as a pure streaming device, it has everything that matters: Dolby Vision and all the other HDR on board, Dolby Atmos audio, and even the built-in Xbox Game Pass cloud streaming app. 16GB of storage is a lot less than a premium streaming box like the Apple TV 4K, but who needs that much space anyway?