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Short answer: TiviMate Premium is the one to buy if you want the most polished live TV app on an Android TV box or an Android-based Fire TV, and you'll use its guide, recording and multiview every week. OTT Navigator is the one to try first if you watch a lot of catch-up, like tweaking every setting, or want to spend as little as possible, because its free version does more than TiviMate's. Both are Android-only players, and neither includes channels.
At a glance
TiviMate vs OTT Navigator
| Most polished | TiviMate |
| More free features | OTT Navigator |
| Catch-up fans | OTT Navigator, narrowly |
| Recording from the guide | TiviMate Premium |
| Runs on | Android and Fire OS only, for both |
Price: paid vs free with premium
Both apps follow the same basic model. You can install and use them for free, and you pay to unlock the rest. What differs is how much the free version does and how the upgrade is sold.
| TiviMate | OTT Navigator | |
|---|---|---|
| Free version | One playlist, guide, basic playback | Broad, many settings unlocked |
| Paid tier price (US, Oct 2026) | About $10/yr or $30–$35 lifetime | Around $1/month or about $20 lifetime |
| Devices | Up to 5 per Premium account | Check the in-app terms |
| Where you pay | Official TiviMate Companion app | Official in-app purchase |
| Channels included | None | None |
TiviMate's lifetime price has risen several times, from $19.99 a few years ago to $26.99 in late 2022 and higher since. OTT Navigator's premium figures above come from recent third-party listings and we couldn't confirm them against an official price list, so treat both as a guide and read the price on the purchase screen.
The real gap is in the free tiers. TiviMate's free version is deliberately narrow: one playlist, and the features people talk about (recording, catch-up, multiview, multiple playlists) sit behind Premium. OTT Navigator gives away far more, so many people use it for months without paying. That makes OTT Navigator the cheaper way to find out whether you need paid features at all.
Interface and day-to-day feel
TiviMate looks and behaves like a good cable box. The guide is the home screen, the layout is clean, the remote does what you expect, and you rarely need to visit settings after setup. Family members who don't care about apps can use it without help. That polish is the main thing you pay for.
OTT Navigator is denser. There are more menus, more options per screen and more ways to arrange channels and lists. Power users love this, because almost any behavior can be changed. Casual viewers can find it busy, and the default layout takes some adjusting before it feels as calm as TiviMate.
Stability is closer than forum arguments suggest. Both apps are mature, updated regularly and play the same streams equally well when the source is good. Most "this app buffers, that one doesn't" stories come down to different buffer settings or a weak Wi-Fi link. Before blaming either app, wire the box with Ethernet or move it to 5 GHz Wi-Fi, then compare again.
Hardware makes a bigger difference than the app. Both run comfortably on a Fire TV Stick 4K Max, an onn 4K Pro or a Google TV Streamer. On older 1GB-RAM sticks, OTT Navigator's extra options and TiviMate's larger guides can both feel sluggish with big playlists, and neither app can fix that.
Both apps are designed for TV remotes and also run on Android phones and tablets. Neither runs on Apple TV, iPhone, Roku, smart TVs without Android, or Amazon's newer Vega OS sticks such as the Fire TV Stick 4K Select.
Catch-up and the guide
Catch-up, sometimes called archive or timeshift, lets you play a program that already aired, as long as your provider keeps an archive and passes it to the app. Both apps support it. Neither can create catch-up that your provider doesn't offer.
OTT Navigator has a long-standing reputation for handling catch-up well, including the different archive formats providers use, and it makes jumping back within a program easy. In TiviMate, catch-up is part of Premium and lives right inside the guide: scroll left to a past show and press it. For most people both work fine; OTT Navigator gets the edge for archive-heavy viewers and for offering it without an upgrade.
On the guide itself, TiviMate is smoother to scroll and simpler to read. OTT Navigator's guide is capable and customizable, but feels more like a tool than a TV listing.
Recording and multiview
Recording. TiviMate Premium schedules recordings straight from the guide, including recurring ones, and saves to internal storage, USB drives or a network folder on supported devices. It's one of the most reliable parts of the app. OTT Navigator also offers recording, but it isn't the center of the app in the same way, and how well it works depends more on your device and settings. If you want something close to a DVR, TiviMate is the easier buy.
Multiview. TiviMate Premium can put several channels on one screen. OTT Navigator has its own multi-screen mode as well. Either way, hardware matters more than software: a Shield TV Pro or Google TV Streamer will handle it, a budget stick will struggle. TiviMate's version is the more comfortable one to control with a remote.
Recording rights depend on your service. A licensed provider may restrict recording in its terms, and antenna channels from your own tuner are the cleanest source to record from.
Playlist handling
Both apps accept the common formats licensed services hand to their customers: M3U playlist links and Xtream-style logins, plus XMLTV guide links. Both can load several sources, though TiviMate only allows that with Premium.
Where they differ is control. OTT Navigator lets you tune nearly everything about how a playlist is parsed, grouped and displayed, which helps with messy or very large lists. TiviMate keeps it simpler: hide groups, reorder channels, build favorites and pick a guide source, and it generally just works.
If you're feeding the app from your own antenna, both can take an HDHomeRun's built-in M3U lineup or a Channels DVR playlist. That's the most reliable legal source of live local channels, and it's where TiviMate's recording becomes most useful.
Verdict by user
| Who you are | Pick |
|---|---|
| Family that wants it to "just work" | TiviMate Premium |
| One TV, one playlist, light viewing | TiviMate free or OTT Navigator free |
| Watches a lot of catch-up | OTT Navigator |
| Records shows weekly | TiviMate Premium |
| Tinkerer with messy or huge playlists | OTT Navigator |
| Four or five Android TVs | TiviMate Premium lifetime |
| Tight budget, several playlists | OTT Navigator |
Buy this if, skip it if
TiviMate Premium
Buy it if you want the calmest, most cable-like experience, you'll record from the guide, or you can spread one license over several Android TVs. The lifetime license pays for itself against the yearly plan in about three years.
Skip it if one playlist and the free guide already cover you, or if you'd rather have every setting at your fingertips.
OTT Navigator premium
Buy it if you've used the free version for a while, you like it, and you want the remaining extras. At its price it's a low-risk upgrade.
Skip it if the free version already does what you need, which for many viewers it will. And skip it if the busy interface annoys you after a week; that won't change with an upgrade.
For both apps: buy only through the official in-app purchase. "Unlocked" or modified versions passed around online are a security risk to your device and accounts.
Our pick
For most households, TiviMate Premium is the better purchase. It's the app you can hand to anyone in the house, and its recording and guide are the best in this category on Android.
OTT Navigator is the better free app, and the better choice for people who enjoy configuring things or depend on catch-up. Our advice: install both, give each a few evenings with the same playlist, and only pay once you know which one you open without thinking.
Quick answers
Is OTT Navigator better than TiviMate? It's more flexible and its free version does more. TiviMate is more polished and has better guide-based recording. Most families prefer TiviMate; tinkerers often prefer OTT Navigator.
Is OTT Navigator free? Yes, with an optional premium upgrade. Recent listings put premium at around $1 a month or about $20 lifetime in the US; check the in-app price.
How much is TiviMate Premium? About $10 a year or $30 to $35 lifetime in the US as of October 2026, for up to five devices, bought through the official Companion app.
Which one is better for catch-up? Both work if your provider supports catch-up. OTT Navigator has the edge for archive-heavy viewing and doesn't require a paid upgrade for it.
Do they work on a Fire TV Stick? On Android-based Fire OS models such as the 4K Max and 4K Plus, yes. Not on Vega OS models such as the Fire TV Stick 4K Select.
Do either of them come with channels? No. They're players. You need a playlist from a licensed service, your own tuner, or another legal source.
Prices are approximate US figures as of October 2026; OTT Navigator's premium price comes from third-party listings and the price on each app's purchase screen is the one that applies. Features vary by app version and device, and this comparison is based on documented features rather than lab testing. Checked October 2026.