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Fire TV Stick vs 4K Max vs Cube

Amazon sells four devices that look nearly identical and cost wildly different amounts. Here is what the extra money genuinely buys, and the honest answer about which one most people should get.

The short answer

For most people the Fire TV Stick 4K is the right buy. It is fast enough not to feel sluggish, it handles 4K, and it is frequently discounted.

Buy the 4K Max if you use a lot of apps or your wifi is weak, because it has more memory and better wifi. Buy the Cube only if you genuinely want hands-free voice control or an Ethernet port. Buy the basic HD Stick only for a spare TV.

Fire TV Stick HD

The cheapest, and it shows. 1080p only, the least memory of the range, and it is the one people complain feels slow after a year of installing things.

It is fine for a bedroom or a kitchen TV. It is not fine as your main device, and the saving over the 4K model is usually small enough not to be worth the frustration.

Fire TV Stick 4K: the sweet spot

4K, HDR, Dolby Vision, and enough speed that the interface does not stutter. This is the one to buy unless you have a specific reason not to.

It goes on sale constantly. If it is not discounted today, wait a couple of weeks and it will be.

Fire TV Stick 4K Max

Same picture as the 4K, but with more RAM and Wi-Fi 6. In practice that means apps open faster and it copes better when your router is at the other end of the house.

Worth the extra if you keep many apps installed or your wifi signal is marginal. If neither is true, you will struggle to see the difference.

Fire TV Cube

The most powerful, and the only one with an Ethernet port, which is the real reason to buy it. A wired connection eliminates the buffering that wifi causes during live sport, and no amount of extra RAM substitutes for that.

It also listens hands-free like an Echo. If you do not care about voice and your wifi is solid, it is a lot of money for a modest speed increase.

What actually matters for live TV

If live sport is why you are buying, prioritise in this order: a wired connection (Cube, or a cheap Ethernet adapter on any Stick), then RAM, then processor. Buffering is nearly always a network problem, not a processor one.

An Ethernet adapter for a Stick costs about $15 and fixes more buffering than upgrading two tiers of device.

One thing all of them share

Every device in the range runs the same Fire OS and installs apps the same way, including apps that are not in Amazon's store. So the device you choose does not limit what you can watch. See our guide to installing apps on a Firestick.

Common questions

Is the 4K Max worth it over the 4K?

Only if you have weak wifi or keep a lot of apps installed. For most people the 4K is indistinguishable in daily use and often much cheaper.

Do I need 4K if my TV is 1080p?

No, but buy it anyway if the price is close. The 4K model is faster than the HD one regardless of resolution, and it will still be usable when you replace the TV.

Will a Fire TV Stick work in another country?

Yes. It is just an HDMI device and a wifi connection, which is why it is the standard choice for people moving abroad, since it fits in hand luggage. See watching UK TV abroad.

How do I stop it buffering?

Wire it if you can. An Ethernet adapter costs about $15 and solves far more buffering than any device upgrade. After that, restart it occasionally and keep storage free.

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