LaunchBox vs Pegasus Frontend
LaunchBox
launchbox-app.comPegasus Frontend
pegasus-frontend.orgSide by side
| Figure | LaunchBox | Pegasus Frontend |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 8 | 1 |
| Spec score · Game Library Managers | 8.9 (#4) | 7.6 (#18) |
| Spec score · Game launchers | 9.0 (#9) | 8.0 (#22) |
| Spec score · Emulation Frontends | 8.8 (#4) | 7.5 (#17) |
| Support | The maker points users to technical support forums, how-to video tutorials, bug reporting, and feature requests. | The project links users to its documentation, Discord, and development thread for information and community discussion. |
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.
Pegasus Frontend
Pegasus Frontend is a free graphical interface for collecting games from different platforms, viewing game information and media, and launching games or emulators. Users configure how emulators launch, while themes can change both the presentation of a collection and how people interact with it. Navigation supports gamepads, keyboards, mice and touch, across screen sizes from TVs to handhelds. Listed automatic game sources include Steam, GOG, Android apps, Lutris, EmulationStation and LaunchBox, though availability varies by platform. Lutris support is marked experimental. Pegasus can use its own metadata files or read EmulationStation gamelists and associated assets. It does not include or download games, emulators, stores or game assets, so users must supply those separately. Official releases are listed for Windows 7 or later, Linux, Raspberry Pi, Odroid, Android 5 or later, and macOS 10.13 or later. Android installation requires manually enabling APK installation, and Pegasus is not available from the Play Store.