# Roku streaming device

14 Hacker News commenters recommended Roku streaming device and 18 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 10 years (4 owners).

**Verdict:** People recommend it for a consistent, fast, clean interface and a cheap price; the main caveat is ads and settings changed after updates.

## Why people recommend it

- Consistent, fast, clean interface (2 comments): "The Roku UI has been consistent, fast, and clean for 10 years now." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50167369)) "the software is just that great" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48548686))
- Cheap, works well (2 comments): "Get a $20 roku or google tv stick or whatever you're comfortable with" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46220872)) "The $29 (on sale) Roku stick I hooked up to it works fine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48547600))
- Better UX than competitors (2 comments): "It literally does everything else better imho." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48545518)) "In some ways its UX beats Apple." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48544506))

## What people warn about

- Pushes ads and promoted content (4 comments): "They routinely override the user-defined navigation to include whatever new content they are pushing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48546344)) "apparently roku decided selling devices wasn't lucrative enough so they started selling ads instead" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49675231)) "they sell Roku devices below costs to advertise to you" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46318772))
- Fox acquisition sours owners (3 comments): "My Roku stick is now owned by extreme right Fox Corporation." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49119401)) "If this goes through, my Roku is going to the Goodwill." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48549142)) "wouldn't buy another after this news" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48549415))
- Needs tweaking to be usable (2 comments): "They close or lock down hidden features that people find to make it better, it's not user friendly." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845957)) "now you have to go out of your way to make the software not shitty" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48544626))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Apple TV 4K](https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-tv.md): 323 recommend
- [Nvidia Shield TV](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nvidia-shield-tv.md): 113 recommend
- [Apple TV 4K](https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-tv-4k.md): 93 recommend
- [Roku streaming player](https://hackerapproved.com/p/roku.md): 20 recommend
- [Amazon Fire TV Stick](https://hackerapproved.com/p/amazon-fire-tv-stick.md): 19 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Roku+Streaming+Stick&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Official site](https://www.roku.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Roku streaming device", https://hackerapproved.com/p/roku-streaming-device/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).