Software Alternatives & Reviews

itch.io VS RetroArch

Compare itch.io VS RetroArch and see what are their differences

itch.io logo itch.io

An online game marketplace and community.

RetroArch logo RetroArch

RetroArch is a frontend for emulators, game engines and media players.
  • itch.io Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-07-22
  • RetroArch Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-12-22

itch.io videos

What is… ITCH.IO & GAMEJOLT?! - Softlocked

More videos:

  • Review - Top 10 FREE Games on Itch.io
  • Review - ITCH.IO FREE Games Jampack Review!!! [23 reviews]

RetroArch videos

RetroArch - Getting Started! Your Ultimate Retro Gaming PC! [Setup and Demonstration]

More videos:

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to itch.io and RetroArch)
Games
100 100%
0% 0
Gaming
0 0%
100% 100
Online Games
100 100%
0% 0
Emulators
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare itch.io and RetroArch

itch.io Reviews

The best Steam alternatives for PC gamers
The independent PC gaming platform, equivalent to the eccentric bric-a-brac shop selling obscurities from stuffed animals to crystal skulls. Itch.io is exclusively committed to indie games, and there’s a good chance that some of your favourite indie titles on Steam actually started life on Itch.io before growing to become fully-fledged commercial products. This makes it one...
The 7 Best Steam Alternatives
Itch.io has a strange name but a great premise: a place for independent PC game developers to sell their work with a pay-what-you-want model. Some games come with minimum prices, but you can pay more than this amount to help support the creators. Many free games are also available, which you can pay nothing or as much as you want for. Itch.io does offer some indie titles you...
10 Alternatives to Steam for Buying Cheap PC Games
Itch.io is all about the indies. Though most of the games offered on the site and download client are free (thanks to a mobile-style open submission policy), developers can add a price to their games, and many popular independent developers now use Itch.io as a primary distribution platform. There are zero games to be had from major publishers, but anyone who appreciates a...

RetroArch Reviews

Best DS Emulator: Are These Emulators Safe And Legal To Use?
RetroArch also supports a wide range of controller types, making it a great choice for gamers who want to use their favorite controller.
Source: appletoo.us
5 Best Nintendo DS Emulators for PC
It has highlights like RetroArch are shaders, netplay, rewinding, next-frame response times, run ahead, machine translation, blind accessibility features, and much more.
Best emulators for Android in 2023
RetroArch is a popular open-source front-end for emulators. If you’re into playing retro games, RetroArch is your one-stop shop for all your emulating needs. It's not an emulator by itself but instead allows you to add "cores" that act as the backend to emulate several legacy consoles. While most of its most popular emulators are already covered here by dedicated apps, it...
5 of the Best GameBoy Advance (GBA) Emulators for Android
RetroArch is a poster child worldwide of emulation, specifically due to the fact that it’s not precisely an emulator. The retroArch is best refer to as a solitary, unified application where you can communicate with other emulators.
4 Free Open Source Game Emulators For Windows PC, Linux, and macOS
In addition to this, you are able to run original game discs (CDs) from RetroArch. RetroArch has advanced features like shaders, netplay, rewinding, next-frame response times, runahead, machine translation, blind accessibility features, and more! What systems does it play?

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, itch.io seems to be a lot more popular than RetroArch. While we know about 7498 links to itch.io, we've tracked only 20 mentions of RetroArch. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

itch.io mentions (7498)

  • Featured Mod of the Month: Phil Ashby
    Publishing on platforms like itch.io are a great way to get feedback (but see comments about comments earlier!) and to see if an idea is worth pursuing. Self-published mini-games are also a good way to scratch that gamedev itch when it isn't your day job too - I should push a couple myself actually! - Source: dev.to / 19 days ago
  • I randomly got MK11 booster when I haven't played the game for almost 4 years. Is my account compromised or something?
    This guy might not be farming. I'm not, but I have hundreds of cheap games from early humble bundles, huge itch.io fund raiser bundles, etc. Source: 5 months ago
  • [SUGGESTION] If you liked The Painscreek Killing and Obra Dinn...
    I just found this game on itch.io and it's SO GOOD! Source: 5 months ago
  • System Suggestions
    Combat is as gritty as the GM makes it. Healing is TOUGH out of the box, so by default it is already pretty gritty. In fact, part of the crew premise is players can have a few 'cast of characters' that sub in when a PC is in a rough spot. You as the GM choose what type of physical harm to give out, and how often - so it's pretty controllable. Like I said, look at itch.io for some alternate healing ideas if you... Source: 5 months ago
  • Civitai dropped by its cloud computing provider after reports of possible CSAM
    I have just registered at itch.io and paid $10 for kudos. I don't have a GPU-equipped PC, I am just curious about the Horde system. Downloaded the client to my Windows laptop and ran it to generate a 512x512 picture of Julia fractal (my test prompt) with the Midjourney model, there seemed to be no SDXL models to choose from. It took about a minute to generate. The 2nd generation (with the same prompt), which took... Source: 5 months ago
View more

RetroArch mentions (20)

  • RetroArch cannot be found on the PlayStore, the first result is a copycat. It is just me?
    No, isn't just you. Every 64-bit phone haves the Play Store Retroarch available, the 32-bits no. But you can still download the 32-bit version on the Retroarch website. Source: 11 months ago
  • Cause of the intrusion has been found and isolated. Sites are operational again.
    It was only the download links on retroarch.com on the Platforms page that got (briefly) redirected for a few hours. That should all be safe now. Source: 11 months ago
  • Malicious download links?
    Yes, only the retroarch.com and libretro.com websites were affected. Source: 11 months ago
  • Recent update from supposed hackers
    I went to retroarch.com and it said "discord.gg/evaderz is big haxors" its unrespectable. Source: 11 months ago
  • Latest RetroArch on Xiaomi Mi box
    I've got installed RetroArch Plus from Google Play on my Xiaomi Mi box 4k and I want to update it to the latest version. I downloaded apk from retroarch.com but when I use apk installer to update it say is not compatible. I removed version from Google Play but fresh install 1.15.0 is not compatible too. I tried 32 and 64 version. What I'm doing wrong? Is any other AndroidTV version? Source: 12 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing itch.io and RetroArch, you can also consider the following products

GOG.com - DRM-free game store, selling both new and old titles. No clients required.

OpenEmu - Console and Arcade video game emulator for macOS.

OpenGameArt.org - A site dedicated to sharing artwork & other assets for game development.

LaunchBox - LaunchBox is a portable, box-art-based games database and launcher for DOSBox, emulators, arcade cabinets, and PC Games. Download it free!

IsThereAnyDeal - "When the price is right, you will play all night."

BSNES - bsnes is a Super Nintendo (SNES) emulator focused on performance, features, and ease of use.