PS Now vs USB Hard Drive on PS4: Which Option is Better?

If you have a PS4 and you like to take advantage of the offers that are frequently found in the digital store of the console, surely you know the “suffering” that comes from having to download games, install and uninstall them to make room in the storage of the console . There are two solutions to this problem: play with the PS Now service, or purchase a USB hard drive . The question is, which one has better performance? Which option is best for you? Let’s see it.

The storage space of the consoles is quite limited, especially if we take into account the disk space that most games occupy today, exceeding 100 GB in some cases. For its part, PS Now allows you to play in streaming without the need to download games, while with an external USB hard drive you can expand the storage of the console to have a greater number of games installed.

PS Now vs USB Hard Drive on PS4

While both options are an ideal situation, it is not realistic for someone who has little money. As such, we will analyze where each of the two options stands out so that you can decide in the best possible way which one is best for you.

PS Now vs USB hard drive, cost analysis

When we talk about costs, the problem becomes a bit complicated. The PS Now service costs 0.99 euros per month with a 30-day free trial period, while we could subscribe for a year at a lower cost, 59.99 euros. For its part, a 1 TB USB 3.0 hard drive has a price that ranges from approximately 45 to 55 euros.

In the short term, it is clear that PS Now is cheaper but if you subscribe month by month and taking into account the 30 free days they offer, in 5 months you will have equaled the cost of the USB hard drive, and in fact, even the One-year subscription already exceeds what a hard drive would cost.

The verdict here is that PS Now is more profitable in the short term , but in the medium and long term it is much more profitable to have a USB hard drive to store games permanently.

PS Now is better for the most curious users

Of course, at the beginning we said that when we talk about costs, things are a bit complicated, and this is so not when comparing the cost of the service with what a hard disk costs, but because with the hard disk you must add the price it costs you. buy each of the games individually, while with PS Now you have a good handful of games to play that are included in the service, which is why it is difficult to calculate and compare the cost since it depends on the games that each user wants.

What is clear is that PS Now is better for “curious” users, those who like to explore new games to try them out and see if they like them.

Juegos PS Now

So, for cost purposes you have already seen the calculation we have made. If you are one of those who wants to have their own library of games to buy and have them forever, the hard drive is probably a better option for you, but if you are one of those who prefer to try many different games without worrying about anything, it comes out a lot PS Now service more profitable.

Performance, a crucial factor in choosing well

Of course, we can’t talk PS Now vs. HDD without mentioning performance. If the hard disk is USB 3.0 (and nowadays it cannot be otherwise), even being a mechanical disk it will provide us with a performance quite similar to that of the internal storage of the PS4. For its part, the performance of PS Now is subject to the quality and speed of the Internet connection, so it is essential to have a good connection and not only that, but it is highly recommended to connect the console to the Internet by cable and not by WiFi.

So, the performance you can expect in games when you use an external USB hard drive is similar to the normal performance of the console, but when you use PS Now, since you will be playing in streaming without installing the game, the performance and with It the gaming experience will depend on your Internet connection.

PS Now or USB hard drive, which option is best for you?

The summary of this is that if you have a bad Internet connection, do not hesitate and go for the hard drive because it will be your best option in this regard, but if you have a fast and stable Internet connection, then PS Now will offer an excellent gaming experience and a wide catalog of games for which you will not have to pay an extra.

Of course, since PS Now gives a month of subscription completely free, if you are in doubt we recommend that you try it and so you can judge for yourself both the gaming experience and whether it is worth it for the cost it has.