mGBA vs Provenance
mGBA
mgba.io
Provenance
provenance-emu.comSide by side
| Figure | mGBA | Provenance |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $3.33/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 4 |
| Spec score · Game Boy Advance Emulators | 8.4 (#3) | 8.5 (#2) |
| Emulation features | Supported GBA peripherals include rumble, rotation and tilt sensors, solar sensor, realtime clock, partial link cable support, and BattleChip Gate. | The maker lists save states, cheats, fast forward, shaders, visual filters, controller support, RetroAchievements, and multiplayer as free emulation features. |
| Founded | 2013 | 2016 |
| Purpose | mGBA is an open-source Game Boy Advance emulator designed to run on lower-end hardware without sacrificing accuracy or portability. | Provenance is a free, open-source multi-system retro game emulator frontend for Apple platforms. |
| Supported systems | mGBA also emulates Game Boy and Game Boy Color; DS support is very early and only available in the medusa branch. | The project advertises support for more than 50 systems, including NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, GameCube, Wii, 3DS, PlayStation, PSP, Saturn and Dreamcast. |
| What it does | mGBA is a Game Boy Advance emulator that aims to run on lower-end hardware without sacrificing accuracy or portability. | Provenance is a multi-console emulator frontend for playing games from classic Atari, Nintendo, Sega, Sony and other systems. |
Plans
Provenance
- FreeFree
- Monthly$3.99 a month
- Annual$39.99 a year
- Lifetime$99.99, paid once
In their own words
mGBA
mGBA is a free, open-source emulator for Game Boy Advance games, designed to run on lower-end hardware while maintaining accuracy and portability. It also emulates Game Boy and Game Boy Color; most GBA games boot, while the FAQ notes bugs in Game Boy and Game Boy Color support. Nintendo DS support is very early, limited to the medusa branch, and has poor compatibility. Desktop downloads cover Windows, macOS, Linux, and Ubuntu, with homebrew builds for Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch, Wii, and PlayStation Vita. Supported GBA peripherals include rumble, rotation and tilt sensors, a solar sensor, realtime clock, partial link cable support, and BattleChip Gate. Game Boy features include rumble, tilt, realtime clock, Game Boy Printer, and partial Game Boy Camera and Super Game Boy support. The Wireless Adapter, IR Adapter, and Soul Adapter are not supported. Built-in Lua scripting can access emulator memory, registers, save states, buttons, game information, screenshots, callbacks, and frame or instruction advancement. The project began in April 2013 and uses the Mozilla Public License 2.0.
Provenance
Provenance is a free, open-source retro game emulator frontend for Apple platforms, available for iOS and macOS. It supports more than 38 console systems, including systems from Atari, Nintendo, Sega, and Sony. Its library can display automatically downloaded box art, screenshots, release details, ratings, and scanned manuals. Listed emulation features include save states, cheats, fast forward, shaders, visual filters, controller support, RetroAchievements, and multiplayer. Apple integration includes native tvOS, Apple TV TopShelf, Siri Remote, Spotlight search, Siri shortcuts, and iCloud sync; Apple TV supports MFi, Xbox, and PlayStation gamepads. Nearly all CD-based cores support CHD disc images, and the native Mednafen core has a custom CHD implementation. The source is published on GitHub under the BSD license. Installation options include the App Store, sideloading with AltStore or SideStore, and building from source. The free plan includes emulation features when sideloaded or built from source. Plus adds iCloud sync and priority support.