Amazon Fire TV Cube (2019) vs. Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K: Which should you buy?

Fire TV Stick 4K

The Fire TV Stick 4K is arguably the best value in streaming devices. You get 4K, HDR, Dolby Vision, and an Alexa Voice Remote at a compelling price.

All-New Fire TV Cube (2019)

The Fire TV Cube (2019) has upgraded internals from last year's device for increased speed and performance. It also added some key features like Local Voice Control for on-device processing and Dolby Vision support.

Amazon makes some of the most popular streaming devices available, and today we're comparing two of its most popular: the Fire TV Cube vs. the Fire Stick 4K. These two feature-rich devices do a lot of the same things but are clearly for different use cases. Which use case will fit your viewing habits?

Amazon Fire TV Cube vs. Fire TV Stick 4K: Side-by-side comparison

There are some pretty noticeable differences between the Fire TV Cube (2019) and the Fire TV Stick 4K, but there are also quite a few areas where there features overlap. Let's take a look.

The Fire TV Cube (2019) has more storage, memory, and a faster processor than the Fire TV Stick 4K, plus an Echo experience with hands-free voice control. Will those differences be enough to sway you from one to the other?

Amazon Fire TV Cube vs. Fire TV Stick 4K: Which Fire TV streamer should you get?

As you would expect, the larger Fire TV Cube (2019) has better specs than the smaller and older Fire TV Stick 4K. It also should come as no surprise that these updated specs allow for an enhanced Alexa experience. For example, the Cube has something called Local Voice Control, which takes advantage of a new processor to handle an increasing number of simple requests on-device (like navigating the Fire TV interface).

Its eight far-field microphones have been improved to hear your voice commands better when the TV is in use (rather than being drowned out by the TV speakers). It can be used as a stand-alone Echo device to control your smart home, it can be paired with other Echos for a multi-room speaker system, and you can speak to it without needing to use your remote: All-in-all, a pretty useful streaming box.

However, as Android Central's Phil Nickinson pointed on the AC podcast, the smaller stick has several things going for it that we think should convince you to choose it over the more premium Cube.

For starters, the Fire TV Stick 4K is a less-conspicuous device that you can tuck behind your TV and forget it is even there for that uncluttered, minimalist look. Additionally (and most importantly), the Fire TV Stick 4K is cheap. For less than half the price of the All-New Fire TV Cube (2019), you get almost all of the same high-end specs, plus a chunk of change to spare. With that savings, you can easily pick up an Echo Dot (4th Gen) for hands-free Alexa support and TV control, and still have money left over to subscribe to a few Amazon Channels or rent or buy some TV shows and movies on Prime Video. That's what we'd call a value Alexa device!