PS4 vs. Xbox One: Which Console Is Right for You?
Xbox One S | PlayStation 4 | |
Products |  |  |
Your price | ||
Analysis | ||
Key Exclusives | Halo, Gears of War, Forza | Uncharted, God of War, Horizon: Zero Dawn |
Backwards Compatible | Yes (Xbox 360 and Xbox games) | No |
4K Support | 4K Blu-rays, 4K streaming | No |
Storage Options | 500GB, 1TB, 2TB | 500GB, 1TB |
VR Support | No | Yes (PlayStation VR) |
Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4 are constantly evolving — both consoles have gotten slimmer designs, new features and, naturally, lots of big games since they first launched. The Xbox One has tons of entertainment apps and can play a bunch of Xbox 360 and Xbox games, while the PS4 has continued to double-down on blockbuster exclusives and user-friendliness. There are even spruced-up versions of both systems that offer 4K gaming.
More importantly, the Xbox One and PS4 both have tons of great games, and are both available for less than $300 (£300/AU$550). And while rumors of the next-generation Xbox Scarlett and PS5 systems are heating up for 2020, the current-gen consoles still look like they have plenty of life left in them.
Here's how Sony's and Microsoft's flagship gaming systems stack up.
Latest News and Updates (March 2019)
A cheaper, disc-less version of the Xbox One S will go on sale in April 2019, accroding to a report from Windows Central.
The latest specs for the next generation of Xbox have supposedly leaked, and they point to both an affordable, streaming-based box as well as a powerful traditional model launching around 2020. Check out our Xbox Scarlett rumor roundup for the latest news.
Anthem has finally hit PS4 and Xbox One, but is it worth the hype? Read our in-depth Anthem review to find out.
Game Library
Both PS4 and Xbox One play many of this generation's best titles, from third-party blockbusters such as Red Dead Redemption 2, Anthem, Resident Evil 2, Kingdom Hearts 3 and Assassin's Creed Odyssey to beloved indies like Celeste, Stardew Valley and Dead Cells. Both systems will satisfy your battle royale urge, as you can get Apex Legends, Fortnite and PUBG on either one.
Still, PS4 is winning the exclusives war by a mile. Between big hits such as Uncharted 4, Marvel's Spider-Man, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and God of War, the PS4's exclusive offerings include some of the biggest and highest-rated AAA titles of this generation.
Credit: Sony
That's not to say the Xbox One is devoid of great first party games — titles such as Forza Horizon 4, Gears of War 4, Halo 5 and Sunset Overdrive are all major standouts. Crackdown 3 and Sea of Thieves aren't too shabby, either, and 2019 exclusives like Ori and the Will of the Wisps and Gears of War 5 look pretty promising.
Most sports games come to both systems, though Sony's MLB: The Show series is exclusive to PlayStation. PS4 has a healthier fighting game lineup (Street Fighter V, Guilty Gear Xrd: Revelator 2, King of Fighters XIV), though Microsoft's platform is the exclusive home to Killer Instinct.
Winner: PS4. Both systems play tons of great games, but Sony's system has more hit games that you can only play on a console.
Backwards Compatibility and Services
You don't necessarily need an Xbox One to play some of Microsoft's biggest first-party games. As part of Microsoft's Play Anywhere initiative, you can buy digital versions of games such as Sea of Thieves and Forza Motorsport 7 once and play them on Xbox One and on Windows 10. While this is a great value, those who have a decent gaming PC arguably have no reason to buy an Xbox One.
Microsoft's Gears of War 4.
If you have a massive library of old Xbox games, however, the Xbox One might be a better buy for you. More than 400 Xbox 360 games are currently playable on Microsoft's new console, including Mass Effect, Splinter Cell: Conviction and the entire Gears of War series. The system even plays a handful of games from the original 2001 Xbox, including such classics as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Ninja Gaiden Black and Jade Empire.
You can play older games on PS4, but not without paying up. A small selection of digital PS2 classics are available on Sony's new console, each scaled up to 1080p with earnable trophies and support for features such as Share Play and Remote Play.
The PS4 plays PS3 games via PlayStation Now, which allows you to stream hundreds of last-gen titles (and a few PS4 games) from the cloud for $20/£12.99 a month or $45 for three months in the US, £84.99 for a year in the UK. As of Sept. 2018, you can also download PS2 and PS4 titles from the service directly. Playstation Now is currently unavailable in Australia.
In contrast, Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass grants access to over 100 Xbox One and Xbox 360 games that you can download for $10 (£7/AU$10) a month, including such major hits as Halo 5 and Gears of War 4. As of early 2018, the service even gets all of Microsoft's first-party games the same day they hit shelves, including Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2 and Forza Horizon 4.
Xbox One is also the exclusive home of EA Access, which lets you play an ever-growing library of EA games for $29.99 (£19.99/AU$39.99) a year or $4.99 (£3.99/AU$6.99) a month a month.
Xbox One has a much better track record when it comes to supporting cross-platform play, allowing you to play games like Minecraft, Fortnite, Ark: Survival Evolved, Rocket League and Astroneer with friends on other platforms such as Switch and PC. After years of fan demand, Sony finally jumped on the cross-platform train in 2018, with cross-platform betas currently available for Fortnite and Rocket League.
Winner: Xbox One. Xbox One plays hundreds of Xbox 360 games, offers cross-play with PC and lets you binge on three generations' worth of games for a good price.
Hardware
The PS4 Slim and Xbox One S are both impressively sleek, offering attractive designs that look great under a TV and can fit into a backpack without a problem. The newest PS4 has a slight edge in terms of sheer smallness, though it lacks an optical input for high-end gaming headsets.
Sony's 4K-ready PS4 Pro has a chunkier, hamburger-like design, while the Xbox One X, which is even more powerful than the Pro, is somehow slimmer than the Xbox One S.
Photo: Sam Rutherford / Tom's Guide
Both consoles start with 500GB of storage that you can easily expand by connecting an external hard drive. PS4 owners also have the option of opening up their consoles to swap in a new 2.5-inch or SATA drive.
Each controller has its perks — the Xbox One pad has textured grips and can be customized via the Xbox Design Lab, while Sony's DualShock 4 is highly ergonomic and has a touchpad and reactive lightbar. The PS4 controller is the only one that supports micro USB charging right out of the box — Xbox One owners will need to rely on AA batteries or buy a $25 charging kit.
Thanks to the $299 PlayStation VR headset, PS4 is the only of the two consoles to currently support virtual reality. The PSVR's game lineup has grown quite compelling over the years, too, headlined by such major titles as Tetris Effect, Resident Evil 7, Astro Bot: Rescue Mission and Moss.
There's currently no equivalent for Xbox One, and it doesn't look like Microsoft plans to bring VR to Xbox anytime soon.
Microsoft's console is currently the only of the two to support mouse and keyboard controls for gaming, with select titles such as Fortnite and Warframe supporting the PC peripherals as of November 2018.
Winner: PS4. Sony's console is more attractive, packs a more feature-rich controller and currently is the only of the two to support virtual reality.
Performance and Graphics
If you're concerned about nuts and bolts, the starting versions of both consoles have an 8-core x86-64 AMD Jaguar processor with 8GB of RAM, an AMD Radeon GPU and a 500GB hard drive.
While games generally look and play great on both systems, PS4 has the edge in terms of resolution. For example, according to IGN's database, games such as Batman: Arkham Knight and Shadow of Mordor all run at full 1080p on PS4, while Xbox One gamers have to settle for 900p on those titles. If getting the best possible crispness for most games is a priority, PS4 comes out on top.
However, when it comes to the premium versions of both consoles, Xbox has an edge. The $499 Xbox One X plays many titles in native 4K, and has the most powerful overall specs of any console out there. The $399 PS4 Pro technically plays games in 4K, but the experience is oftentimes upscaled rather than true 4K. For a detailed look at how these consoles stack up, check out our Xbox One X vs. PS4 Pro face-off.
Folks with HDR-ready TVs should also consider High Dynamic Range support, which allows for richer colors and better brightness. The Xbox One X, Xbox One S, PS4 Pro and standard PS4 all support HDR, though the list of HDR-enabled games varies by console.
Winner: PS4. Games look stunning on both systems, but the stock PS4 offers better resolution for many titles.
User-Friendliness
After years of updates, the Xbox One interface has gone from sluggish and messy to snappy and highly customizable. Microsoft continues to roll out useful new features, such as the ability to gift games to friends, get instant tech support with Xbox Assist and even avoid those pesky notifications with Do Not Disturb mode. And thanks to the new Xbox Skill, you can even control your Xbox One with your voice using Alexa devices such as the Amazon Echo Dot.
Still, the PS4 menu simply feels better to navigate, and Sony's console is still king in terms of capturing gameplay moments and sharing them with friends. A quick tap of the DualShock 4's Share button lets you record a clip, broadcast your gameplay or take a screenshot. And the PS4-exclusive Share Play feature lets you give control of your game to an online friend for up to 60 minutes, so long as that person has Plus.
Both consoles can broadcast gameplay directly to Twitch, though only PS4 can stream to YouTube. PS4 players can share their screenshots and videos to Facebook and Twitter, whereas Xbox owners are limited to the latter network. Xbox One gamers have the option of streaming to Microsoft's Mixer service.
Both systems also permit off-TV play, for those times the family is hogging the living room. Sony's Remote Play feature lets you stream PS4 games to a PlayStation Vita handheld, select Xperia devices, or your PC and Mac. Xbox One players, on the other hand, can stream their games to their Windows 10 laptops or tablets.
Winner: PS4. The PS4 interface is slightly more user-friendly, and has better options for sharing gameplay with friends.
Entertainment
For sheer options, Xbox One is the superior entertainment machine. The system has the unique ability to transmit your cable box's TV signal, allowing you to quickly switch between playing a game and watching a show. The Xbox One S, Xbox One X and PS4 Pro can all stream 4K content, but only Microsoft's consoles can play 4K Blu-rays.
Unlike PS4, Xbox One supports Dolby Atmos, allowing folks with compatible home theater products to enjoy immersive spatial sound, and will soon support Dolby Vision for improved HDR quality.
The Xbox One is also the only console that features Kodi, a highly popular media server app that lets you access any movies, TV shows, images or songs you have stored on any of your devices around the house.
Other than that, both PS4 and Xbox One cover most entertainment essentials, from major apps like Netflix and Hulu to more niche stuff like WWE Network and Crunchyroll. PS4 and Xbox One both offer Spotify, which lets you rock out to tunes in the background of whatever you're playing. Xbox One features a few other notable music services such as SoundCloud, Pandora and Deezer.
Both consoles make it easy to cut cable. PS4 offers Sony's own PlayStation Vue online TV service (starting at $40 a month), which features lots of major cable channels, such as MTV and Nickelodeon; a slick interface; and a nearly limitless DVR.
Xbox One owners have access to Sling TV, a similar online TV service that offers top networks such as ESPN and AMC for $20 a month, with add-on packages that bring in the likes of Epix and HBO. Even if you don't have cable or Sling, Xbox One has the ability to receive basic over-the-air live TV, as long as you have a separate antenna and adapter handy.
MORE: Sling TV vs. PlayStation Vue: Online TV Services Compared
Winner: Xbox One. PS4 has PlayStation Vue, but the Xbox One offers a 4K Blu-ray option, better media apps and Dolby Atmos support.
Online Experience
Microsoft's Xbox Live Gold ($60 yearly, $10 monthly) and Sony's PlayStation Plus ($60 yearly, $10 monthly) online services are both required for you to play any game's online multiplayer mode, and both come with their fair share of extra goodies.
PlayStation Plus members get two free games per PlayStation console per month, while Microsoft's Games with Gold provides the same service for Xbox gamers. Both programs have given away everything from new indie games to older blockbusters from franchises like Assassin's Creed and Metal Gear Solid.
The value of each of these free-game programs largely depends on the hardware you own; PlayStation Plus covers PS4, PS3 and PS Vita, while Games with Gold applies to Xbox One and Xbox 360. Xbox One has a slight edge here, as all Xbox 360 Games with Gold games are backward-compatible. The free games offered by either service will remain in your library for as long as you're subscribed to Xbox Live Gold or PlayStation Plus.
If you're clinging to your older PlayStation consoles, know that PlayStation Plus will stop offering free PS3 and PS Vita games starting March 8, 2019.
Both services offer frequent discounts on digital games, and both provide cloud storage in different capacities. PlayStation Plus provides 100GB of cloud storage, whereas all your Xbox One saves are backed up to the cloud regardless of whether you have Xbox Live Gold.
Even more important than free games and cloud storage is online stability, an area in which Xbox Live's reputation is better. The PlayStation Network has suffered some pretty infamous outages, including a few recent ones that occurred after Sony hiked the annual price up to $60 (£49.99/AU$70).
Xbox Live has long allowed users to change their gamertags -- free for the first change, and $10 (£10/AU$15) for any change after that. After nearly a decade of fan requests, Sony is finally following suit and rolling out PSN ID changes soon.
The pricing system will be same as that of Xbox (first one's free, $10 (£10/AU$15) after that), though Sony noted in a blog post that not all games will support your new ID, and could cause major errors with games including cutting players off from purchased DLC. If you want to try the system at your own risk, you can sign up to beta test the PS4's software.
Winner: Xbox Live. Xbox Live is more stable, has better cloud storage, and gives Xbox One players more to play every month.
Value
The Xbox One S starts at $249 (£300/AU$399), making it the cheapest option out there right before the $299 (£300/AU$399) PS4 Slim. However, it's worth noting that both consoles go on sale all the time, and you can often find them both for as low as $200 (£200/AU$320). The One S doubles as a 4K Blu-ray player, so you're arguably getting the most tech for your money with that machine.
In fact, Microsoft has recently made joining the Xbox One family more attainable than ever. The company's Xbox All Access program, which runs through fall 2018, allows you to get an Xbox One S, an Xbox Live Gold membership and a subscription to Xbox Game Pass all for 24 monthly payments of $22. There's also an Xbox One X plan that starts at $35 per month.
If you want 4K gaming, Sony's PS4 Pro costs $399 (£399/AU$600), while the Xbox One X runs a hefty $499 (£499/AU$649). That's a pretty big price gap, though Microsoft's console offers a richer 4K gaming experience.
Winner: Xbox One. The $249 (£300/AU$399) Xbox One S is the cheapest console out there and doubles as a 4K Blu-ray player, and Xbox All Access offers the most affordable upfront gateway to console gaming.
Bottom Line
The PS4 is our overall top pick, but only by a hair. While the Xbox One's rich entertainment features, better network stability and backward compatibility are all impressive, the PS4' superior lineup of exclusives and better overall user-friendliness give it a slight edge.
Xbox will continue to be the home of Halo, Gears of War and Forza, just as PlayStation will host Uncharted, God of War and Infamous, so your choice might come down to your favorite exclusives. Your decision also might be as simple as which platform your friends are already playing on, because, let's face it — nobody wants to play Apex Legends alone.
Both Xbox One and PS4 have a healthy lineup of stellar games, making anyone who buys either of these consoles the real winner. But overall, the PS4 is our current favorite.
See also : The 9 Best Games of March 2019
