PS5 Digital Edition vs. Xbox Series S: Which all-digital console is for you?

PS5 Digital Edition vs. Xbox Series S
(Image credit: Sony/Microsoft)

The idea of the PS5 Digital Edition vs. Xbox Series S faceoff is arguably an odd one. The former is basically a full-fat PS5 but without the disc drive and thus a lower price tag of $400, where as the latter is a less-powerful and dramatically cheaper console at $300. 

But while the consoles are rather different in terms of the performance and resolutions they target, the do both exist as cheaper options to the standard PS5 and Xbox Series X

With that in mind, let’s see how the PS5 Digital Edition and Xbox Series S stack up in terms of price, specs, game selection and more.

PS5 Digital Edition vs. Xbox Series S: Specs

One of the easiest ways to compare the PS5 Digital Edition and the Xbox Series S is to discuss their specs. Generally speaking, the PS5 Digital Edition is more powerful, but here’s the full breakdown:

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Row 0 - Cell 0 PS5 Digital Edition Xbox Series S
Price $400 $300
Processor AMD Ryzen Zen 2, 8-core, 3.5 GHz AMD Ryzen Zen 2, 8-core, 3.6 GHz
GPU AMD Radeon RDNA 2, 10 teraflops AMD Radeon RDNA 2 GPU, 4 teraflops
RAM 16 GB 10 GB
Storage 825 GB SSD 512 GB SSD
Resolution Up to 8K Up to 1440p
Frame Rate Up to 120 fps Up to 120 fps

If you were wondering why the Xbox Series S is $100 cheaper, you can see it’s mostly a matter of specs. While the Xbox Series S actually has a slightly more powerful CPU than the PS5 Digital Edition, its GPU, RAM and storage are all weaker. As a result, games will run in lower resolutions. And although the max frame rate is the same, we can reason that the Xbox Series S will generally not hit the same frame rates as its Sony competitor, particularly for new and demanding games.

Neither system has the capacity to play physical media, such as game discs or Blu-rays. However, both systems will be able to load and render games incredibly quickly thanks to state-of-the-art SSDs, and both systems' GPUs will support ray tracing for subtle lighting effects.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Where the comparison gets a little tricky is when we move from “specs” and try to gauge “performance.” While a system’s specs define its performance, it’s often about how pieces of hardware work in concert rather than just gauging raw power. As such, until we get our hands on both the PS5 Digital Edition and the Xbox Series S, it’s almost impossible to say how each one will run games in real-world conditions.

Still, we can say definitively that the Xbox Series S employs, for the most part, less powerful hardware than the PS5 Digital Edition. We can also say that less powerful hardware generally means lower resolutions and frame rates. The PS5 Digital Edition is arguably a little more future-proof than the Xbox Series S, particularly for gamers who have 4K TVs.

PS5 Digital Edition vs. Xbox Series S: Price

With less power comes a smaller price tag; the Xbox Series X costs $299 compared to the $399 PS5 Digital Edition. 

But the real challenge here is finding the consoles in stock. As it stands, it's still tricky to find a PS5 restock, with the Digital Edition seemingly in less supply than the standard disc drive-sporting console. 

In the Xbox Series X/S restock game, the Series S tends to be more readily available than its larger sibling and the PS5 consoles. And restocks tend to stock around for longer too, making it the current-gen games console that's the easiest to actually buy at the moment. 

(Image credit: Sony)

Defining which console is the best value, however is a more difficult proposition. As stated above, the Xbox Series S employs less powerful hardware than the PS5 Digital Edition. That’s not a surprising or controversial thing to say; it’s the primary reason why the Xbox Series S costs less money. (it’s the same price as a Nintendo Switch, and cheaper than an Xbox One X.) If you aren’t too hung-up on top-of-the-line graphics — or don’t have a 4K TV at all — the Xbox Series S seems like a good value. Otherwise, the PS5 Digital Edition may well be worth the extra $100.

One thing to keep in mind, although it’s a bit speculative: For the foreseeable future, any Xbox Series X game will also be available on the Xbox Series S. However, as the next console generation progresses and games become more demanding, the Xbox Series S may not be able to play absolutely every Xbox Series X game.

Microsoft hasn’t said anything to this effect, and I have no special insight about whether it might happen. But I do know that as consoles age, developers tend to press them for every last bit of processing power, and the Xbox Series S doesn’t have as much as the Xbox Series X. The PS5 Digital Edition, on the other hand, has precisely the same specs as the full-fledged PS5. Just something to consider.

PS5 Digital Edition vs. Xbox Series S: Games

(Image credit: Sony)

As far as we know, the PS5 Digital Edition can play every single PS5 game; the Xbox Series S can play every single Xbox Series X game. This should be the case for the foreseeable future. As such, the game selection argument is the same here as for PS5 vs. Xbox Series X: Do you want to play Spider-Man, Ratchet & Clank and Final Fantasy, or do you want to play Halo, Hellblade and Forza? There’s no correct answer there, so prospective buyers will have to decide for themselves.

What’s a little more interesting, however, is the issue of backwards compatibility. Both the PS5 Digital Edition and Xbox Series S will be backwards compatible with many previous-gen titles; the only question is how far back that compatibility goes.

The PS5 Digital Edition will be compatible with a lot of PS4 games, with but a handful not working on the console. The Xbox Series S, on the other hand, will be backwards compatible with every single Xbox One game, plus a variety of Xbox 360 and original Xbox games.

There is one big catch either way, though: To play backwards compatible games, you’ll need to own digital copies. Since neither the PS5 Digital Edition nor the Xbox Series S has a disc drive, you won’t be able to play games you own physically, unless you buy them again as digital versions. Both the regular PS5 and the Xbox Series X do have disc drives, so if you have a big physical collection, it may be worth the premium just to keep access to your old games.

(Image credit: Xbox)

The Xbox Series S also has one additional wrinkle, and it’s a complicated one, so bear with us. In some ways, the Xbox Series S is less powerful than the current-gen Xbox One X. As such, the Xbox Series S will not be able to play Xbox Series X-optimized games with full 4K resolution, high frame rates, enhanced texture quality and so forth. This may not be a big issue, as the Xbox Series S isn’t really an ideal accessory for 4K TVs anyway, but it’s worth pointing out. The PS5 Digital Edition has no such restrictions.

PS5 Digital Edition vs. Xbox Series S: Who are they for?

I don’t think that the PS5 Digital Edition and the Xbox Series S are angling for exactly the same buyers. 

The price difference is telling, as is the variance in hardware. At the risk of fortune-telling, it seems as though the PS5 Digital Edition is for more dedicated gamers who are simply ready to give up physical media, whereas the Xbox Series S is for more casual fans who simply don’t need the power — or expense — of a full-featured Xbox Series X.

(Image credit: Sony)

The PS5 Digital Edition, save for its lack of a disc drive, is identical to the PS5. That means that if you buy it, you’ll want to take advantage of its UHD resolution, fast frame rates, expansive storage and so forth. The audience for the PS5 and the PS5 Digital Edition is exactly the same, in other words, save for whether they want to use discs or digital downloads.

On one hand, the Xbox Series S is considerably less powerful than the Xbox Series X, and Microsoft has made no secret of that. Someone who had his or her heart set on the powerful Xbox Series X experience is probably not going to be swayed by the Xbox Series S. On the other hand, for casual gamers, young gamers or gamers who don’t own 4K TVs, there’s really no reason to spend $500 on an Xbox Series X, when an Xbox Series S will get the job done just as well.

PS5 Digital Edition vs. Xbox Series S: Subscriptions

(Image credit: Xbox)

One final thing to consider is that both the PS5 Digital Edition and the Xbox Series S will exist as part of larger subscription-based ecosystems: PlayStation Plus for the former, and Xbox Game Pass for the latter. Both services have undergone significant revamps over the past few months, and will probably continue to do so up until the next-gen consoles launch.

Recently, we learned that PlayStation Plus ($10 per month, or $60 per year) will allow players to download a whole host of PS4 classics, including Bloodborne, God of War and Until Dawn. Meanwhile, Xbox Game Pass ($10 to $15 per month) lets players download more than 100 Xbox titles, including Gears 5, Wasteland 3 and Sunset Overdrive.

The big difference between the two platforms is that Xbox Game Pass also gives players access to new Xbox Series X/S titles the day they become available; the PS Plus Collection seems to be exclusively backward-looking, at least for now.

Generally speaking, Xbox Game Pass seems to be a huge part of the Xbox Series S’ strategy, while Sony probably expects most PS5 Digital Edition customers to buy games à la carte, one at a time. It’s worth considering whether you’d rather own a small library of games for good, or rent a huge library indefinitely.

PS5 Digital Edition vs. Xbox Series S: Outlook

It’s hard to compare the PS5 Digital Edition and the Xbox Series S directly, since they seem to target different audiences. The PS5 Digital Edition is for gamers who want the latest and greatest hardware without physical discs; the Xbox Series S is for gamers who are willing to compromise on hardware, as long as they can still access a collection of great games.

But remember that you’ll have to live with less powerful hardware if you choose the Xbox Series S, and extra $100 up front if you choose the PS5 Digital Edition.

Marshall Honorof

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and technology. After hours, you can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi. 

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  • Freqmode
    Should be series x vs ps5. The ps5 digital is just Sony's last minute answer to the series s. Sony copies everything Xbox does and guaranteed they would have made a cheaper ps5 too had they known in time. As it stands they are losing their ass on digital versions where ms might take a small loss on the series s. Btw the ps5 disc price is subsidizing the cost of the digital so the disc buyers are getting ripped off for a part that probably costs Sony 15$ if that. All of what Sony is doing is last minute panic answers to Xbox including the variable frequency thing so they can advertise as a 10 TF console. It's simply not a 10 TF console..it's 9.2. The series x absolutely rapes the ps5 as far as performance and over all value with it's superior BC catalog, superior BC enhancement capability, gamepass, superior 3rd party quality..that dumb game collection thing is again a copy version answer to gamepass. Xbox has made ps5 so much better than it would have otherwise been and sony fans are too stupid to realize it..haptic triggers was copied, 3d audio copied, 2 skus copied, MS azure cloud for streaming copied. Is there anything new coming to ps5 that Xbox didn't do this gen. Sony is pathetic and can't come up with their own ideas. Even going back to last gen they were doing the same thing by stealing things like achievements from Xbox. They steal everything that would otherwise have set xbox apart from playstation. The only thing Xbox has done like that is with games with gold to answer ps+. Sony has zero pride and it should be illegal how they run PlayStation by stealing ideas from their competition instead of coming up with their own
    Reply
  • GromReaper10
    Lets also not forget that even though the ps5 digital edition is $100 cheaper the games that you will have to buy new copy digitally at $70 each as you cant buy used copies o digital games on the store so in the long run it will cost more as their sub doesnt give access.to new games while xbox game pass does and the game pass will also work on pc so sony will lose this generation and they deserve to lose.
    Reply
  • Rwilson2020
    Wow it’s not even close. The PS5 digital is the best deal in gaming right now. Beats the pants off of Series S, and gives you hundreds more GB of storage. Do you think your next Black Friday TV grab is gonna be a 1080p set? Probably not, gonna be a nice 4K screen which Series S doesn’t support. Sony best XBox last gen, and with zero exclusives for Microsoft I can’t imagine why anyone would want an Xbox anyway.
    Reply
  • SirStephenH
    What's up with this idiotic thought that Microsoft may end support for the XSS before the end of the generation? No console maker has ever ended support for a console mid-generation and there's absolutely no reason to think that Microsoft will start now.
    Reply
  • Jerrygboxes
    Rwilson2020 said:
    Wow it’s not even close. The PS5 digital is the best deal in gaming right now. Beats the pants off of Series S, and gives you hundreds more GB of storage. Do you think your next Black Friday TV grab is gonna be a 1080p set? Probably not, gonna be a nice 4K screen which Series S doesn’t support. Sony best XBox last gen, and with zero exclusives for Microsoft I can’t imagine why anyone would want an Xbox anyway.
    We'll if you compare xbox game pass and playstation plus, xbox just crushed playstation with their services, because xbox game pass is the best subscription service in the gaming market , if you talk about the games, remember its not all about games , if you completely disagree, then you're a <<Insult removed by moderator>> playstation fanboy
    Reply