What is the best PS4 emulator in 2026?

shadPS4. As of November 2026 it is the only actively developed PS4 emulator that runs a large number of commercial games. The latest release is v0.21.0 (2026-10-30) for Windows, Linux and Apple Silicon Macs. The official site is shadps4.net.

What PC do I need for a PS4 emulator?

shadPS4's official minimum is a 4-core/6-thread CPU at 2.5GHz or faster with x86-64-v3 support (Intel Haswell, AMD Excavator or newer), a Vulkan 1.3 GPU with 2GB of VRAM, 8GB of RAM, and Windows 10, Ubuntu 22.04 or macOS 26. Games like Bloodborne need far more than that to run well.

Is there a PS4 emulator for Android?

Not an official one. shadPS4 only ships Windows, Linux and macOS builds. On Android there is Bachata S4, an unofficial shadPS4 fork that uses the FEX x86 translator, and Bloodborne-Android, which only runs Bloodborne. Both are experimental and need a high-end Snapdragon phone.

Is PCSX4 a real PS4 emulator?

No. Emulation General Wiki and PC Gamer both call PCSX4 a scam. The site imitates real emulator projects, hides the download behind surveys, and its gameplay footage is a Remote Play stream from a real console.

Does shadPS4 work on Mac?

Yes, but only on Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) with macOS 26 or later. It runs through Rosetta 2. Intel Macs are not supported, and far fewer games are reported playable on macOS than on Windows or Linux.

Can you play Bloodborne on PC?

Yes, with shadPS4. Digital Foundry measured above 4K60 on an RTX 4080 in January 2026, and since v0.20.0 it supports online play through shadPS4's own shadNet servers. There is also bbport, a native PC port of Bloodborne that is not an emulator.

Best PS4 Emulator 2026: shadPS4 vs Every Other Project

As of November 2026, the best PS4 emulator is shadPS4, and it is the only one that plays a meaningful part of the library. The latest release is v0.21.0 (2026-10-30) for Windows, Linux and Apple Silicon Macs. Its official tracker lists 415 Playable reports, and Bloodborne runs above 4K60 on high-end GPUs. Every other PS4 emulator either cannot run commercial games yet or has stopped development. There is no official PS4 emulator for phones, only unofficial forks and single-game ports.

Every PS4 emulator compared

Project	Platforms	Status (2026-11-01)	Runs commercial games?	Official site
shadPS4	Windows, Linux, macOS (Apple Silicon), FreeBSD	Very active. v0.21.0 (2026-10-30), daily pre-releases	Yes, many are playable	shadps4.net
fpPS4	Windows	Core rewrite on a separate branch; last tagged release 2022	A few; AAA games mostly no	fpps4.net
Obliteration	Windows, Linux, macOS planned	Commits as of 2026-09, no releases	No. README: "cannot run any games yet"	obliteration.net
RPCSX	Linux	Experimental, built by RPCS3 developers	Only a few simple games boot	none
Kyty	Windows	Stopped in 2022	A handful of simple games	none
Spine	Linux (closed source)	Last build 2022-05-17, abandoned	Simple indie games at the time	none
GPCS4	Windows	Stopped in 2023	Two titles	none
Orbital	Windows, Linux	Abandoned at the PS4 Safe Mode screen	No	none

Three related projects show up in the same searches but are not general PS4 emulators:

Project	What it is	Platforms
bbport	A native PC port of Bloodborne only. The README opens with "NOT RELATED TO SHADPS4"	Linux, Windows (from 0.7)
Bachata S4	An unofficial Android fork of shadPS4 that uses FEX to translate x86-64 code to ARM	Android (on Google Play)
Bloodborne-Android	A Bloodborne-only Android port based on bbport	Android (Snapdragon only)

Why shadPS4 wins by a mile

It is years ahead. George Moralis, one of the founders of PCSX and PCSX2, started shadPS4 in October 2022. It was the first emulator to get Bloodborne in-game in summer 2024 and has shipped a release almost every month since. Emulation General Wiki counts 164 Playable titles on Windows (982 tested). Second-place fpPS4 has 111. Everything else is in single digits.

It updates constantly. shadPS4 shipped seven releases in 2026:

Version	Date	Highlights
v0.16.0	2026-06-01	Called "our largest update to date": new config system, OpenAL audio, local multiplayer, Big Picture mode
v0.17.0 / v0.18.0	07-30 / 08-18	Compatibility and stability fixes
v0.19.0	10-02	Large batch of GPU fixes
v0.20.0	10-14	Online Bloodborne through the team's own shadNet servers (no PSN)
v0.21.0	10-30	Rosetta 2 fixes, DLC loading, USB storage and music player support

The hardware helps. The PS4 uses an x86-64 CPU like your PC. The shadPS4 wiki says plainly that it does not emulate the CPU: game code runs directly on your processor. The emulator handles the GPU (translating PS4 shaders for Vulkan) and reimplements the system libraries. The full explanation is in why PS4 emulation works and PS5 is harder.

How much shadPS4 can play

The official tracker counts player reports (the same game on two operating systems counts twice). Numbers as of 2026-11-01:

Status	Meaning	Reports
Playable	Can be finished; minor issues only	415
Ingame	Gets in-game but has major problems or is too slow	616
Menus	Reaches menus only	339
Boots	Starts but does not reach menus	354
Nothing	Does not start	595

Popular games:

Bloodborne is the showcase. Digital Foundry measured above 4K60 on an RTX 4080 with a Ryzen 7 5700X in January 2026. PC Gamer played about 30 hours at 1440p60 on an RX 9070 XT in September and hit one graphics bug that never got fixed. Online play works since v0.20.0.
Dark Souls Remastered and Red Dead Redemption are listed as working examples in the shadPS4 README.
Yakuza 0, Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Future Tone and DRIVECLUB appear in the README screenshots.

Per-game status lives on each game page, for example Persona 5, Sekiro and God of War (2018).

System requirements

The shadPS4 wiki lists these minimum specs:

Part	Minimum
CPU	4 cores / 6 threads, 2.5GHz+, x86-64-v3 (Intel Haswell, AMD Excavator or newer; Apple M1 or newer via Rosetta 2)
GPU	2GB VRAM, Vulkan 1.3
RAM	8GB
OS	Windows 10, Ubuntu 22.04, macOS 26 or newer

x86-64-v3 includes AVX2, so CPUs older than Intel's 4th-gen Core will not run it at all. These are the numbers to boot; Bloodborne-class games need much more. See PS4 emulator system requirements.

Which one to use on each platform

Platform	Use	Notes
Windows	shadPS4	Install the VC++ runtime. The GUI is the separate QtLauncher. See the Windows setup guide
Linux / Steam Deck	shadPS4	Official Linux builds. The tracker has more Playable reports on Linux than on Windows
Mac	shadPS4 (experimental)	Apple Silicon and macOS 26+ only, via Rosetta 2. Fewer playable games than on Windows
Android	Bachata S4 (unofficial) or Bloodborne-Android (Bloodborne only)	Both experimental, high-end Snapdragon needed. See PS4 emulation on Android
iPhone / iPad	Nothing usable	Only scattered experiments. See PS4 and PS5 emulators on iPhone

Why not the others

fpPS4: a Windows emulator written in Free Pascal, long the second-best for compatibility. The author is rewriting the core on a separate branch, and the README says there will be no game-specific work until that is done. The main branch last changed on 2024-10-01.
Obliteration: a Rust rewrite of the PS4 kernel that aims to run real PS4 system software. Its README says, as of 2026-11-01, "Currently we cannot run any games yet."
RPCSX: an experimental PS4/PS5 project from RPCS3 developers. Linux only, and it boots simple games like We Are Doomed and Sonic Mania.
Kyty, GPCS4, Spine, Orbital: all stopped. Kyty was later forked into the PS5 emulator KytyPS5. Spine was closed source and Linux only.
psOff, ChonkyStation4 and other small projects: psOff went closed source in December 2024; ChonkyStation4 is still alpha.

Fakes: PCSX4 and copycat sites

The top results for "PS4 emulator" are not always real:

shadps4.org is not the official site. The shadPS4 README and GitHub homepage both point to shadps4.net.
PCSX4 is a scam. Emulation General Wiki and PC Gamer have both called it out: the site copies the look of real emulator projects, puts the download behind surveys, and fakes gameplay with a Remote Play stream.
Ignore anything promising a "PS4 emulator for Android at 4K60". Android only has experimental, unofficial projects.

More warning signs are in how to spot fake PS4 and PS5 emulators.

What about PS5 games?

PS5 emulation only got going in July 2026. SharpEmu and KytyPS5 run some indie games, but big releases are far from playable. See PS5 emulator status. For the system modules and game folder layout shadPS4 expects, see shadPS4 firmware modules and game formats. For the legal side, see are PS emulators legal.

Best PS4 Emulator in 2026: Why shadPS4 Is the Only Real Choice

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