The Best Open Source BlueStacks AlternativesTop Android Emulators and other similar apps like BlueStacks

The best open source alternative to BlueStacks is Anbox. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 10 alternatives to BlueStacks and four of them is open source so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source alternatives to BlueStacks are WayDroid, UTM and Android-x86.

filter to find the best alternatives

BlueStacks alternatives are mainly Android Emulators, but if you're looking for Operating Systems or Virtualization Tools you can filter on that. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to BlueStacks.
BlueStacks iconBlueStacks
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Runs Android apps on both Windows and macOS, switching environments without reboot. Supports enterprise IT in delivering apps securely.

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BlueStacks alternatives page was last updated Jun 3, 2025
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  1. Anbox icon

    Anbox

     66 likes
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    Anbox puts Android into a container and every Android application will be integrated with your operating system. Any Android version is suitable for this approach and try to keep up with the latest version from the Android Open Source Project.

    34 Anbox alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    Anbox screenshot 1
    Discontinued

    According to their README, development has been discontinued in 2023.

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  Container Virtualization
    2.  Unified inbox
    3.  No Tracking

    Anbox VS BlueStacks

     
    Comments about Anbox as an Alternative to BlueStacks
    Guest
    Positive Dec 4, 2020
    1

    only one thet is an actuall free emulator (android-x86 isnt even an emulator).

    Juhayer Al Wasif
    Positive Nov 17, 2021
    0

    crashes immidietely in moksha linux

    BlueStacks Icon
    Anbox icon

    • Most users think Anbox is a great BlueStacks alternative.

    • Anbox is the most popular Open Source alternative to BlueStacks.

    • Anbox is Free and Open SourceBlueStacks is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Anbox is Lightweight and Privacy focusedBlueStacks is not according to our users
  2. WayDroid icon

    WayDroid

     59 likes
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    Waydroid uses Linux namespaces (user, pid, uts, net, mount, ipc) to run a full Android system in a container and provide Android applications on any GNU/Linux-based platform.

    24 WayDroid alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Linux Mobile
    • Arch Linux
    • Fedora
    • Ubuntu
    • Debian
    WayDroid screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight
    2.  Privacy focused

    Features

    1.  Compatibility Layer
    2.  Ad-free
    3.  App integration
    4.  No registration required
    5.  Multi-windows
    6.  Fullscreen support
    7.  No Tracking
    8.  Works Offline
    9.  Container Virtualization
    10.  Low memory usage

    WayDroid VS BlueStacks

     
    Comments about WayDroid as an Alternative to BlueStacks
    Guest
    Positive Jul 24, 2024
    0

    Good and very customizable etc, but difficult to set up on a default Linux PC.

    BlueStacks Icon
    WayDroid icon

    • Almost everyone thinks WayDroid is a great BlueStacks alternative.

    • WayDroid is Free and Open SourceBlueStacks is Freemium and Proprietary
    • WayDroid is Lightweight and Privacy focusedBlueStacks is not according to our users
  4. UTM icon

    UTM

     22 likes
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    UTM is a full featured system emulator and virtual machine host for iOS and macOS. It is based off of QEMU. In short, it allows you to run Windows, Linux, and more on your Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

    56 UTM alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • International

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • iPhone
    • iPad
    • visionOS
    UTM screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Privacy focused
    2.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Virtualization
    2.  Multi System Emulator
    3.  Emulation
    4.  Ad-free
    5.  Container Virtualization

    UTM VS BlueStacks

     

    • UTM is the most popular iPhone & iPad alternative to BlueStacks.

    • UTM is Free and Open SourceBlueStacks is Freemium and Proprietary
    • UTM is Privacy focused and LightweightBlueStacks is not according to our users
  5. Android-x86 icon

    Android-x86

     177 likes
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    This is a project to port Android open source project to x86 platform, formerly known as "patch hosting for Android x86 support". The original plan is to host different patches for Android x86 support from open source community.

    28 Android-x86 alternatives

    License model

    • Free • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • VirtualBox
    • Self-Hosted
    • VMware Workstation Pro
    • VMware Workstation Player
    Android-x86 screenshot 1

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  ARM support
    2.  Gaming Mode

    Android-x86 VS BlueStacks

     
    Comments about Android-x86 as an Alternative to BlueStacks
    Comment summary: Comments repeatedly highlight that Android-x86 is a port of Android for x86 systems and not an emulator, unlike BlueStacks, which runs as software within Windows. Despite being mentioned as slower in some contexts without hardware acceleration, Android-x86 is praised for being faster than BlueStacks in some situations, although it provides less built-in compatibility for integrating with Windows.
    Top Negative Comment
    laribA
    Jun 11, 2020
    26

    Not an Android emulator, but a port of Android for x86 or x86_64 systems as an OS.

    Most Recent Comment
    Guest
    Negative Nov 30, 2020
    0

    It's a standalone operating system, not an emulator

    Guest
    Negative Nov 4, 2020
    1

    It works in a virtual machine, but its very slow because its not hardware accelerated.

    Show more comments
    3 of 12 comments
    BlueStacks Icon
    Android-x86 icon

    • Most users think Android-x86 is a great BlueStacks alternative.

    • Android-x86 is the most popular Self-Hosted alternative to BlueStacks.

    • Android-x86 is Free and Open SourceBlueStacks is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Android-x86 is LightweightBlueStacks is not according to our users
4 of 4 BlueStacks alternatives