Which Smart TV platform is best?
Every Smart TV runs an operating system, its platform, and it shapes the apps you get, how fast the menus feel, and how many ads land on the home screen. The good news is that it matters less than the shops would have you think, and there is a cheap way out if you do not like the one your TV came with. Here is how the main platforms compare.
What a Smart TV platform is
The platform is the software behind the home screen and the app store, much like the operating system on a phone. Each big brand uses its own: Samsung has Tizen, LG has webOS, Hisense has VIDAA. Others license a shared platform, so Sony, TCL and many more run Google TV (formerly Android TV), and some sets and streaming boxes run Amazon's Fire TV or Roku. The panel is the same hardware whichever it is; the platform is just the layer you tap through to reach Netflix.
The main platforms, quickly
- Samsung Tizen is fast and polished, with strong app support. Its home screen carries ads.
- LG webOS is slick and easy, also well supported, and also shows ads.
- Google TV, on Sony, TCL, Philips and others, has the widest app selection, Chromecast built in, and Google Assistant, but can feel slower on cheap sets and leans hard on recommendations.
- Amazon Fire TV puts Prime Video front and centre and has the most ad-heavy home screen of the big ones.
- Roku is the simplest and most neutral, does not push one service over another, and has huge app support. It is also sold as a cheap streaming stick.
- Hisense VIDAA is light and quick, but has the fewest apps of the group.
What actually differs
Four things separate them. Apps: The big platforms all cover the mainstream services, but the smaller ones miss the occasional niche app, so check that your must-have app is supported. Speed: A cheap TV with a heavy platform can feel sluggish, while Roku and VIDAA stay light. Ads: Every major platform now puts some advertising on the home screen, worst on Fire TV and lightest on Roku. Updates: This is the quiet one that matters most over time, because a platform that stops getting updates slowly loses apps, and that decides how long the TV stays useful.
The escape hatch: A streaming stick
Here is the part that takes the pressure off the whole decision. If the platform your TV came with is slow, cluttered or missing an app, you do not have to live with it. A streaming stick or box, a Roku, an Amazon Fire TV Stick, a Google Chromecast, or an Apple TV, plugs into a spare HDMI port for around the price of a few coffees and gives you a faster, cleaner, better-updated interface on top of any TV. So do not choose a television for its platform. Choose it for the picture, and add a stick if the built-in software annoys you.
Questions people ask
Which Smart TV platform is best?
There is no single best; they are closer than the brands suggest. Roku is the simplest and most neutral, Google TV has the widest app selection, and Samsung's Tizen and LG's webOS are the most polished. All of them show some ads. Because a cheap streaming stick can replace any of them, it is better to choose a TV for its picture than its platform.
Can I change the operating system on my Smart TV?
Not the built-in one, no. But you do not need to: Plug in a streaming stick or box, a Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast or Apple TV, and use that as your interface instead. It is faster, cleaner, and kept up to date long after the TV's own platform has slowed down.
How do I tell which platform my TV uses?
The home screen and the remote usually give it away, but our What TV Do I Have test names the platform, its app store, and roughly which generation your set belongs to.
To see which platform, app store and generation your current TV has, run our What TV Do I Have test. And since the panel matters far more than the software, our OLED vs QLED vs LED guide is the better place to spend your attention when buying.