Software Alternatives & Reviews

Roku VS OSMC

Compare Roku VS OSMC and see what are their differences

Roku logo Roku

Roku is a streaming player manufactured by Roku Inc.

OSMC logo OSMC

OSMC is a free and open source media center built for the people, by the people.
  • Roku Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-03
  • OSMC Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-27

Roku videos

New Roku Ultra Unboxing and Review

More videos:

  • Review - The best Roku of 2019: Reviewing every single Roku device
  • Review - Roku Express vs Premiere vs Streaming Stick+ | Review & Comparison

OSMC videos

Raspberry Pi OSMC Media Player

More videos:

  • Review - OSMC Raspberry PI Kodi Media Center Run Through
  • Review - OSMC Media Center Setup - A Roku Alternative

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Roku and OSMC)
Watch Movies Online
55 55%
45% 45
Video
31 31%
69% 69
Video & Movies
100 100%
0% 0
Media Player
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Roku and OSMC

Roku Reviews

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OSMC Reviews

10 Best Kodi Alternatives You Should Use (2023)
If you are searching for a simple alternative to Kodi, OSMc is a viable option. It is very similar to Kodi. OSMC is open-source software with wifi adapters. You can get some compatibility as it is supported in Raspberry pi, Apple TV and VERO. If you want the replacement for Kodi in a more neat interface, You must go for OSMC.
Source: techdator.net
15 Best Plex Alternatives [2022] – FREE and BETTER Options
OSMC is among the best Plex alternatives as a Debian-based Linux distribution that boots directly to Kodi Media Center. With OSMC it is easy to get started right away with very little tinkering. If you are a tinkerer, OSMC is the best open-source Plex alternative that allows you to make custom changes.
Best Kodi Alternatives for Free Streaming
OSMC is a free and open source operating system that makes heavy use of the Kodi project. Essentially, Kodi is how the user will interact with the operating system for the most part. The benefit of running OSMC instead of an operating system like Android for the purpose of using Kodi is the simplicity that OSMC offers.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, OSMC should be more popular than Roku. It has been mentiond 20 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Roku mentions (11)

  • New to Roku after finally cutting the cable cord, 2 questions.
    "Question 2: I bought two Roku Ultras" - You activate both Rokus on the same account on roku.com. I've had a Roku Ultra for some time and recently bought a Roku Express 4K for the guest bedroom for visiting relatives. When I activated the new Roku on my account it automatically duplicated all my apps on to the new one. But test each app, a few required me to log in on the new Roku. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Any fellow coders out there familiar with ripping encrypted HLS streams? I've found a site that is using every protection in the book to prevent stream ripping and would love to chat
    Can something similar be done on roku.com? I tried following your steps for this video https://therokuchannel.roku.com/watch/67ca18fb4816521db4f188855569c21e but I noticed the type is not hls but mp4. There was a file that started with index instead of ending with index but much more complex then the sample video used in the example above. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Just got this 50” roku sharp tv and tried setting up last night only to be met with this message everytime i try to click a channel. It’s saying there’s an “excellent” internet and wifi connection and yet nothing works on it. i have tried everything in the book including 2 factory resets i’m lost
    Did you reset the device & re-set it up on roku.com to be 'owned' by you? Source: over 1 year ago
  • No Search Bar?
    Certain features will be missing in unsupported countries. You can see our list of supported countries by navigating to roku.com and trying the county selector option at the bottom right hand of the page. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Unauthorized Roku charges through my Paypal account.
    Easier said than done with an elderly parent, but have your mom go to roku.com, reset her password, and give you the password. Then you should be able to go in and remove any payment method (presumably your PayPal), cancel any subscriptions, etc. Source: over 1 year ago
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OSMC mentions (20)

  • Is there something like "network attached monitor"
    The devices had a small daemon that would periodically send HTTP requests to the central web service and check if it needed to update the content it was displaying and would update content accordingly. The content was displayed through OSMC. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Pay me the buying power to afford the things you got at my age, and maybe then I'll buy these things...
    Downstairs is a Raspberry PI hooked to large hard drive (8TB). That runs OSMC and provides network access for all computers/phones in the house while being hooked up to the living room TV. The IPTV can run through it but I just watch that on my computer. Source: over 1 year ago
  • one day my friend
    Just put osmc on it and use it as media center. Depending on your hardware it can be pretty solid. And there is a lot you can configure. it's basically an os which boots direcly to kodi. Also it supports hdmi-cec so you can use your normal tv remote, it's awesome. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Plexamp v4.2.2 Released
    I have heard good stuff about https://osmc.tv/. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Can someone suggest a Smart TV like distro?
    From what I know there aren't many options for this use case, and those that I know of (like OSMC or Plasma Bigscreen) all run on ARM devices like Raspberry Pi, but not x86/64. I would recommend the same as other commenters: to just use a normal distribution and put something like Kodi on it. You could probably configure the system to automatically start up whatever UI you prefer to make it more seamless. Source: about 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Roku and OSMC, you can also consider the following products

Apple TV - New Apple TV running tvOS

Kodi - Kodi is an award winning free and open source media player that got its start on the Xbox console.

Netflix - See what's next. Watch anywhere. Cancel anytime.

LibreELEC - LibreELEC is ‘Just enough OS’ for Kodi, a Linux distribution built to run Kodi on current and...

Stremio - Watch videos, movies, TV series and TV channels instantly.

Emby - media server for personal streaming movies tv music photos in mobile app or browser for all devices android iOS windows phone appletv androidtv smarttv and dlna.