LaunchBox vs OpenEmu
LaunchBox
launchbox-app.com
OpenEmu
openemu.orgSide by side
| Figure | LaunchBox | OpenEmu |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 8 | 1 |
| Spec score · Game Library Managers | 8.9 (#4) | 8.1 (#8) |
| Spec score · Game launchers | 9.0 (#9) | 8.1 (#21) |
| Support | The maker points users to technical support forums, how-to video tutorials, bug reporting, and feature requests. | The project directs users to read its contributing guide before reporting bugs through GitHub Issues or IRC. |
| What it does | LaunchBox is a Windows game-library manager and launcher that organizes PC, storefront, and emulated games and starts them through configured applications. | OpenEmu is an open-source macOS application that emulates many classic video-game systems through a single native front end. |
Plans
LaunchBox
- StarterFree
- Starter (Windows)Free
- Regular$30, paid once
- Regular (Windows)$30, paid once
- Bundle (Windows and Android)$35, paid once
- Windows and Android bundle$35, paid once
- Lifetime$75, paid once
- Lifetime (Windows)$75, paid once
In their own words
LaunchBox
LaunchBox is a game collection frontend and manager for modern PC games and emulated console games. It can import Steam and GOG games, ROM files, and MS-DOS games, then retrieve box art and metadata from its Games Database along with fan art, screenshots, and logos. Collections can be arranged and filtered by genre, platform, ESRB rating, developer, and publisher, with custom status and source fields. The Windows app supports Windows 10 and higher, with Windows 10 and 11 described as fully supported. LaunchBox for Android is free for collections of 100 games or fewer; it shares the games database, media, and portable XML data with Windows, and Windows data can be exported to Android. Premium adds themes, Big Box mode, gamepad automation, startup and pause screens, and display customization. The Regular Windows license costs $30 as a one-time purchase and includes a year of free updates. The maker says Premium is DRM-free and can be deployed to as many personal devices as desired. Windows data can also be moved by copying the app to another folder or computer.
OpenEmu
OpenEmu is free, open-source video game emulation software for macOS. It organizes game backups into a unified library, adds box art and supports collections spanning consoles. Users drag and drop backups for scanning and organization. Modular cores from open-source projects emulate systems including Atari, Game Boy, Nintendo, Sega, Sony PlayStation and Super Nintendo; the project lists 31 supported systems. Generic HID-compliant USB or Bluetooth controllers can work immediately, with automatic mapping for recognized devices. OpenEmu is intended for games users already own, and BIOS files are required. The wiki describes an experimental arcade core plugin that is strictly unsupported. The latest release page identifies OpenEmu 2.4.1 binaries as Intel-only. The official site offers a macOS (OS X) application, but the version requirement was not rendered. The project lists save states, CD audio and cheat support, while online netplay is not available.