I doubt if Roku is cheaper but the wireless keyboard is a nice add-on. Don’t forget, almost everyone has an iPhone or equivalent these days.
BTW, I expect a Roku version of the Chromecast to emerge if it hasn’t already. Roku and perhaps Apple TV are the big players in this market and they are not going to rollover and let Google walk away with their business.
Roku isn’t but Roku also gives a lot more. But I was just talking adding a keyboard to your existing smart TV so youtube searches are easy. A $30 keyboard is way cheaper than chromecast and a smartphone which actually many people don’t have. AppleTV is a non-starter, also too late to the field. Roku is in trouble for the same reason I think chromecast will fail, most TVs and bluray players do 90% of Roku, it was great when nothing else was smart but now everything is smart.