re: What is the difference between Apple TV, Firestick and Chromecast?

Generally Boxes > Sticks, I've seen a lot of complaints on this board about performance issues with the cheaper sticks.

They all do more or less the same thing but each platform has it's negatives.

Chromecast - Doesn't come with a remote, it requires an app to control it. Some people don't mind, but this is a deal breaker for me as sometimes I'm busy doing other things on my phone or it's in another room charging.

Fire - Appears to be the platform of choice for Piracy. For people that steal content like it's not even stealing, a FireTV box with Kodi installed is the tool of choice here.

Apple - The main benefit are its ties into the Apple Ecosystem and the ability to cast your iPhone/iPad/Mac screen to it. The main negative is it doesn't have Amazon Prime Video, although you can stream to it through the app on your iPhone/iPad.

Roku - It's been around the longest and isn't tied to any particular platform so it seems to get access to everything but iTunes (Apple is the only platform with access to iTunes). I also like the remote on some of the higher end models that come with a headphone jack. The main negative is no Kodi and it's seems to be getting put to the back of the line for new Apps. It still gets them, just not first. Like PlayStation Vue was out for a few months before the Roku App was ready.