Streaming · Review

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus

Amazon gave the standard 4K stick a new name and not a lot else. Good news: it's still the one most people should buy.

Published 24 June 2026 · On test: 65" Philips Mini LED & LG NanoCell, TalkTalk gigabit

The one thing that decides everything: Fire OS vs Vega OS

Before you compare prices, know this: Amazon's Fire TV range is now split across two completely different operating systems, and it matters more than the few quid between models.

Fire OS is the older, Android-based system, and it runs on the 4K Plus (this stick) and the 4K Max. It gives you the full 30,000-plus app library and, crucially, it lets you sideload - install apps that aren't in Amazon's store. Think alternative launchers, Kodi, Jellyfin, retro-game emulators, a proper web browser, whatever you like.

Vega OS is the newer, leaner system on the cheaper 4K Select and the HD. It's quicker to navigate but locked to roughly 3,000 approved apps with no sideloading at all. If anything in your setup lives outside Amazon's store, a Vega OS stick simply can't run it.

The 4K Plus sits on the right side of that fence. That's most of why we recommend it.

What you're actually buying

This is the renamed standard 4K stick, and the rename is the biggest change. You get a quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 8GB of storage - modest on paper, plenty in practice for direct play and the odd transcode. Setup is the usual Amazon affair: plug into a spare HDMI, sign in, wait for the inevitable update, and you're away in about five minutes.

The remote is the standard Alexa Voice Remote - more on that below.

The remote

I judge every streamer's remote on one thing: can you grab it off the arm of the sofa at 11pm and hit the right button without turning a light on? The 4K Plus ships the standard Alexa Voice Remote and it half-passes. The layout is sensible and the shape is familiar, but the buttons aren't backlit and there's no remote-finder, so when it vanishes down the back of a cushion you're on your own. No headphone jack either. It's fine - but "fine" is doing some work, and the Max's newer remote, with its dedicated Recent and Settings buttons, is the nicer thing to hold.

Performance in normal use

For the money, it's hard to fault. Apps open quickly, 4K HDR content starts without a long stare at a spinner, and Wi-Fi 6 does genuine work keeping a high-bitrate stream stable on a busy home network. You'll only feel the ceiling if you keep a pile of heavy apps installed and hammer between them - that's the Max's territory, and we'll come to it. For one or two main apps and clean 4K playback, the Plus never feels slow.

The home screen, and a word on adverts

The honest gripe: the Fire TV home screen is busy with Amazon's own promos and sponsored rows. You can ignore most of it, but you can't fully switch it off. It's the trade-off for the low price.

Which - yes - we appreciate the irony of pointing out. So for what it's worth: this site doesn't do that to you. No pop-ups, no auto-playing video, no boxes sliding over the words you're trying to read. You came here to find out whether to buy a stick, not to fight a newsletter form. Anyway, back to it.

What I'd nick from another box

Live with the whole range for a fortnight and you start wanting to mix and match. From the 4K Plus, the thing I'd carry over from elsewhere is the Google TV Streamer's built-in Ethernet port - once you've run a box wired, going back to Wi-Fi-only feels like a step down on a busy network. I'd happily borrow the 4K Max's extra 8GB of storage too. Neither is a dealbreaker at this price, but that's the honest wishlist.

Who should buy this

Almost everyone. If you want a no-fuss main streamer that installs anything and plays clean 4K, this is the default - and at the lowest sensible price in the range. It's also the right "put one on every telly" stick, because it's cheap enough to buy two or three without wincing.

Who should skip it

Two camps. If you keep a stack of apps installed and want the snappiest possible experience, step up to the 4K Max for the faster chip and double the storage. And if your Wi-Fi is genuinely unreliable, look at a box with a built-in Ethernet port instead. Everyone else: this one.

Specs at a glance

Final word

The 4K Plus is the stick we'd tell a mate to buy without a second thought. It does everything the pricier Max does, just a touch slower, for less money - and it leaves the cheaper Vega OS sticks standing the moment you want to install anything off-piste.