Bluestacks, Nox Player, LDPlayer, GameLoop, MEmu Play, or MuMu Player: which of the six Android emulators for PC is the best? That's the million-dollar question—the reason why half of the population of this planet can't sleep at night. We need answers.
Straight out of the bat, after installing them, my first impression is that they all look the same. Excep GameLoop. All of them have the same sidebar, with pretty much the same options and features. You can customize them all in the same way, giving them all the same amount of cores, ram memory, storage, resolution, graphics settings, etc. Heck, they even have the same ad placement.
If you look at them and have no idea what they all are, you'd think you're looking at the same thing over and over again. The only one that differs in this regard is GameLoop, but only because it is a solely Android emulator for games and cannot be used for other types of apps.
As for the Android version, it's pretty much the same here as well. Even if BlueStacks has an Android 11 version, which is still in beta, they all run a stable Android 9 version. For some games, such as Call of Duty, it is even recommended to go back to Android 7, which can be done through multi-instances on pretty much all of them.
Ok. so they all look the same, have the same layout, the same options, the same features, the same Android version, and can all have the same specs. Good. What makes them different and special, then? What distinguishes one from another? Simply put.. which one is the best... and why?
Regarding the installation, LDPlayer, GameLoop, and Mumu Player come directly with the latest Android version available for each individual, while BlueStacks, Nox Player, and MeMu Play are equipped with Android 7 by default, and you'd have to create a new instance to install Android 9. It's a little more hassle, but at the same time, you'll have two Android versions to choose from. And here is again something very similar, as in, if you know how to add an instance to one emulator, then you know how to add it to all of them.
So the way it looks on the computer really doesn't matter to me. What's important is how it runs. And at HD resolution, the image is somewhere in the middle, and the performance is more than adequate.
What I like about BlueStacks is that you don't have to tinker much with the settings or game controls until you get what you want. The keymapping is fantastic; I have no complaints. In my case, personally speaking, the layout was exactly where it should be. It was also very intuitive, so I would guess that someone who starts playing PUBG for the first time on an emulator will not have a hard time adjusting.
Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about Nox Player, whose default keymapping made absolutely no sense to me. especially after switching from BlueStacks.
Of course, you could argue that you can customize it however you want, and while that is correct, I find it a million times better when I don't have to. I like to install and enjoy the game. The longer I spend on settings and controls, the more frustrated I get, and then there's no fun.
And this is not the only bad thing that I have to say about Nox Player. The whole experience was negative, in my opinion. The game was laggy and stuttery, and the freaky mouse always skipped. I was stuck on a fixed trajectory, unable to make a left or right turn.
This is unexpected from Nox Player, which is regarded by some as the best Android emulator for PC—or the second best after BlueStacks, depending on who you ask.
What really surprised me was LDPlayer, an Android emulator that I had never used before but which is very similar in performance to BlueStacks, believe it or not. For some moments, I even had the feeling that LDPlayer performed better than Bluestacks. If you remember from earlier, I said that BlueStacks was sort of laggy in the beginning, in the first few moments of playing; well, this was not the case with LDPlayer.
Of course, this could all be a coincidence, but what's for sure and important is that the performance wasn't any lower than that of BlueStacks. The keymapping was also good. There were some small differences here and there, but the majority of the layout was the same. And by the same, I mean good.
MEmu Play delivered a solid performance; despite a system crash at the start and some minor differences in keymapping, the game felt good on this emulator... until I got into one of those buggies and couldn't get out. I literally tried every single key on the keyboard. And even so, I could not get out of the car, so I had to win while driving it. Fortunately for me, I could switch seats, so I didn't have to eliminate all enemies with the car, and I could also shoot some of them.
It was a fun round, and the emulator performed decently, but it would not be my main choice. It would be an option, but not my first choice.
Unfortunately, I cannot say the same thing about its counterpart, MuMu Player, which performed horrible in my test. I had to give up the round because it was impossible to play. The game was laggy and stuttery, and the mouse refused to work. It was locking all the time, and I could not change positions. I was starring mostly at the ground, in the sky, or walking sideways like a crab.
So yeah, MuMu Player is definitely out of the question.
The last, but not least, is GameLoop, which previously used to be the only emulator able to run PUBG and Call of Duty without banning. Being developed by Tencent, the same company behind PUBG and CODM, GameLoop is considered the official emulator for these games.
And, as the official Android emulator, you'd expect the games to run as smoothly as butter. And you wouldn't be wrong. Playing PUBG, Call of Duty, and so on on GameLoop is a great experience. Personally, I would put it right there with BlueStacks.
After testing GameLoop, I went back and gave BlueStacks one more try with the same settings as GameLoop to make sure, and yes, both emulators performed exceptionally. The only difference is that with GameLoop and the same settings, the graphics appear significantly better than with BlueStacks. More detailed, more clear, and just a more pleasant viewing experience but as far as the performance goes, I simply cannot choose between one or the other.
Choosing a winner was a difficult task for me. I like the way the games are presented graphically on GameLoop, and I also like the idea of having a complete phone or tablet simulation on my PC for any type of app.
So my final thought is that MuMu Player is definitely in the last spot, followed by Nox Player (I'm still surprised about that performance), MeMu on the 3rd position, LDPayer on the 2nd, and GameLoop and BlueStacks both on the 1st.
Both at first, because it ultimately comes down to personal preference. If you only need an emulator for gaming and don't need any other tools or utilities, GameLoop is the app for you. It offers great performance with the best graphics. If you need a complete smartphone or tablet simulation for more types of apps than games, then you can count on BlueStacks. What they both offer in equal proportions is gaming performance.
