Action! vs ES-DE
Side-by-side comparison of features, pricing, ratings, and alternatives.
Action! by Mirillis is a Windows screen and gameplay recording tool built for capturing DirectX, OpenGL, and Vulkan games in high definition, alongside desktop activity, application windows, and web video. It supports live streaming directly to Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook, and can export finished recordings straight to YouTube or Facebook without a separate upload step. Recordings use hardware acceleration via NVIDIA NVENC, AMD APP, or Intel Quick Sync Video, along with Mirillis's own FICV codec, to keep capture performance smooth even during demanding gameplay. Additional features include a Greenscreen mode for removing webcam backgrounds, 120fps slow-motion capture, Time-Shift recording, and a companion Android remote-control app. It is sold as a single lifetime license rather than a subscription.
ES-DE (EmulationStation Desktop Edition) is a frontend for organizing and launching games across a large, multi-platform collection, preconfigured to work with more than 150 game systems including emulators, native game engines, and game managers. Rather than hunting through folders, users get a themeable, controller-navigable interface with a built-in scraper that pulls box art, descriptions, and other metadata automatically. The desktop releases for Windows, macOS, and Linux are fully open source and free, while a separate Android release is a paid app distributed through Patreon and app stores. ES-DE is actively maintained, with frequent releases, an extensive theme library, and detailed documentation backed by an active Discord community.
- One-time lifetime license with free updates rather than a recurring subscription
- Strong hardware-acceleration support keeps recording overhead low during gameplay
- Built-in live streaming to major platforms without needing separate broadcasting software
- Greenscreen and Time-Shift modes are useful extras not found in every competing recorder
- Free and fully open source on desktop platforms
- Preconfigured for a very wide range of systems, minimizing manual setup
- Actively maintained with frequent releases and strong documentation
- Highly customizable through community themes
- Windows-only, with no native Mac or Linux version
- Interface and workflow feel dated compared to newer competitors like OBS Studio or NVIDIA ShadowPlay
- OBS Studio offers comparable streaming/recording features for free, making Action!'s paid model a harder sell for budget-conscious users
- Android release is paid and only partially open source
- Requires users to legally source their own emulators and game files
- Initial scraper and theme setup still takes some configuration time
