Which is better, Terrarium TV or Kodi? There’s been a movement of people quitting Kodi and switching to this Android APK. How justified are those people?
Let’s take a look at the pros and cons between Terrarium TV and Kodi.
Recent Movement from Kodi to Terrarium TV
The past couple years have been a roller coaster ride for Kodi users. The result was lots of people just giving up and leaving Kodi behind. Terrarium TV was one of the best alternatives to using streaming add-ons on Kodi, so many users started using that instead.
I even wrote an installation tutorial and review on Terrarium TV. At the end of that post, I shared my thoughts on some deal-breaker features it was missing for me.
Since then, I’ve been reading more and more comments from people saying they switched to Terrarium TV.
I hope to share some insights with you so you can make an educated decision about your choice of TV streaming apps.
Pros of Terrarium TV
- Nice Interface Out of the Box
- Self-Update Prompt
- Well-Maintained Code and Frequent Updates
- Trakt.tv Integration with Collection and Watched History
- Quick Resume Player from Standby
Cons of Terrarium TV
- Advertisements
- Lack of Trakt.tv Lists Integration
- Lack of Recent Episodes from Favorites View
Pros of Kodi
- No Advertisements
- Lots of Add-ons to Choose From
- Add-ons Auto-update in the Background
- Full Trakt.tv Integration with Lists
- Ability to Customize the Interface
- Recent Episodes from Favorites View
Cons of Kodi
- Possibility of Add-ons Breaking
- Lack of Quick Resume Player from Standby
Breakdown of the Factors in Terrarium TV vs Kodi
Let’s take a look at each of these factors that you may see in the Pros list of one and in the Cons list for the other.
Advertisements
The most obvious difference that most people notice between Terrarium TV and Kodi is the advertisements.
In Terrarium TV, there is a mobile footer bar display ad along the bottom of the entire app, and there is a 15 second unskippable video ad every time you finish watching a video.
Meanwhile, Kodi is completely ad-free.
Winner: Kodi
Maintenance and Updates
Both Terrarium TV and the best Kodi streaming add-on at the time get excellent maintenance and frequent updates. So, usually, this would be a tie.
However, I have to admit, Kodi add-ons have a track record of getting shut down or abandoned, so if that happens to your favorite Kodi add-on, then the updates stop. So, we’re going to have to give this one to Terrarium TV.
Winner: Terrarium TV
Availability of Alternatives
On the other side of the same coin, if either one of these get shut down or abandoned, the Kodi user is much more likely to already have an alternative add-on installed and ready to use. Meanwhile, the Terrarium TV user would be pretty much out of luck and would have to switch to something else entirely… probably back to Kodi.
Winner: Kodi
Trakt.tv Integration
Trakt.tv integration is by far my favorite feature in a Kodi streaming add-on, like in the Incursion Kodi add-on for instance. I browse the Trakt.tv website on my phone, search for shows, and add them to my lists. I have lists for Dad Shows, Family Shows, and Kid Shows.
In Kodi streaming add-ons, I can browse each of those lists separately. Meanwhile, in Terrarium TV, it doesn’t support Lists, so it just syncs your whole “Collection” as your favorites (which is much less helpful).
Winner: Kodi
Appearance
Terrarium TV has a really nice look and feel right out of the box. It’s an Android app, so it does have the look of an Android app.
Kodi has a nice look and feel with its default Estuary skin. But if you don’t like it, you can always pick from a ton of custom skins that will make your Kodi look however you want it to. Due to this ability to customize the look of Kodi, I think Kodi is the winner here.
Winner: Kodi
Navigation
Terrarium TV has a very intuitive navigation experience. Not much to complain about.
Kodi, however, is a bit more difficult to navigate out of the box. Since it does so much more than just Video Add-ons, you need to go to Add-ons > Video Add-ons > pick your Add-on > then navigate the folder structure inside of that add-on. Even with the ability to customize the home screen (which is pretty cool), it’s not out of the box, so I’ll give this one to Terrarium TV.
Winner: Terrarium TV
User Interface
Terrarium TV has an Android app interface meant for touch screens that is not as nicely suited for a lean back TV experience with a remote control.
Kodi has nailed down the lean back TV experience and is built for the remote control interface.
Winner for Mobile: Terrarium TV
Winner for TV: Kodi
Recent Episodes from Favorites View
When I look at my normal usage of Kodi streaming add-ons, 90% of the time, I simply navigate to the Recent Episodes screen which shows all the recent episodes only from shows that belong to one of my Trakt.tv Lists or Collection. It’s much better than going through each show to see if there is anything new to watch.
Unfortunately with Terrarium TV, there’s way to get to such a screen. The closest thing in Terrarium TV would be to use the TV Calendar, filter by favorites by clicking on the star, and then changing the date to look at one day at a time.
Winner: Kodi
My Conclusion
If you can’t already tell, my conclusion of Terrarium TV vs Kodi is to use Kodi. It is still missing the couple of deal-breaker features that I mentioned before. Besides those, I still think that the pros and cons of each make me lean towards Kodi.
What are your thoughts? Am I missing any pros and cons that you can think of? I would love to hear what you think. Let me know in the comments below.
Terrarium does not give you the option of using Premiumize, only Real Debrid. Terrarium is more confusing because of the different players available in YES, MX, MX PRO plus a couple of others.
I haven’t even used the terrarium tv as of yet but by the sounds of I never will or even try it. The commercials is what lost me or the Adds. I can’t even imaging watching the adds or commercials. With Kodi, I can use builds Like the nolimitsbuilds (which I absolutely love) and I can change my look to whatever I like. While there are some flaws in Kodi, most of them if not all of them are fixable or correctable. If you lose one addon, there’s always another one you can replace it with. and the tract is a must.
I found out there are alternate versions of Terrarium TV that don’t have ads. But, even with that, it’s not the official version, so it might not get the regular updates. Regardless, you have good points.
I use more than just Kodi. All of the APK’s have a purpose,& sometimes they really come in handy. But KODI is what I use Everyday,my favorite.
I use terrarium and quit using Kodi. Easier to search for what I want to watch then find a source. Kodi seems to never work for us.
I can’t watch my TV’s shows any help anyone to wat to put on my firestick in order for it to work
That’s a pretty vague question. Here’s a good place to start… https://kinkeadtech.com/kodi-streaming-issues/