Honkai: Star Rail vs Wuthering Waves
Which is better in 2026? Five scores, side by side.
Honkai: Star Rail is the better app overall, scoring 8.3 to 7.9. Honkai: Star Rail wins on 3 of the 5 scores, Wuthering Waves on 0, with 2 tied.
RPG fans who like turn-based strategy and a story with jokes
Action RPG fans who want harder, skill-based combat in an open world
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Honkai: Star Rail | Wuthering Waves |
|---|---|---|
| Category | RPG & Adventure Games | RPG & Adventure Games |
| Category rank | #5 of 8 | #7 of 8 |
| Developer | HoYoverse | Kuro Games |
| Pricing | Free + paid plans | Free + paid plans |
| Usable for free | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | ✓ | ✓ |
| Android | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mac | — | ✓ |
| Windows | ✓ | ✓ |
Common questions
Is Honkai: Star Rail better than Wuthering Waves?
Honkai: Star Rail is the better app overall, scoring 8.3 to 7.9. Honkai: Star Rail wins on 3 of the 5 scores, Wuthering Waves on 0, with 2 tied.
Which is cheaper, Honkai: Star Rail or Wuthering Waves?
Honkai: Star Rail: Free to play; Oneiric Shards from $0.99 and a $4.99 Express Supply Pass. Wuthering Waves: Free to play; Lunites from $0.99 and a $4.99 Lunite Subscription. On value for money, Honkai: Star Rail scores higher.
Do Honkai: Star Rail and Wuthering Waves work on the same devices?
Only Wuthering Waves runs on Mac.
Which is more private, Honkai: Star Rail or Wuthering Waves?
Honkai: Star Rail scores higher on privacy (6.4/10). App Store label: identifiers may be used to track you. Purchases, contact info, user content, identifiers, usage data and diagnostics may be linked to you.
Strengths and weaknesses
Honkai: Star Rail
- Strategic fights you can play one-handed
- Strong writing, voice acting and cutscenes
- Auto-battle cuts down the daily grind
- Gacha for characters and Light Cones
- Daily energy limits progress
- Large download and frequent patches
Honkai: Star Rail is the HoYoverse RPG to pick if you'd rather plan than dodge. You ride the Astral Express between strange worlds, and battles are turn-based puzzles about weaknesses, buffs and timing, with auto-battle for the daily grind. The writing is funnier than you'd expect, and the voiced cutscenes look great. Like its siblings, though, the characters you really want come from gacha pulls.
Full Honkai: Star Rail review
Wuthering Waves
- The most demanding combat of the big gacha RPGs
- Smooth traversal with parkour and flight
- Runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac and PC
- Recent iOS updates needed several crash fixes
- Gacha for top characters and weapons
- Privacy label links financial info and location
Wuthering Waves is the open-world RPG for people who find Genshin's combat too gentle. Dodges, counters and Echo skills taken from defeated monsters make fights fast and demanding, while wall-running, flight and a motorbike make getting around fun. It won Players' Voice at The Game Awards 2025. The iOS version has needed a string of crash fixes lately, and the best characters still come from gacha.
Full Wuthering Waves review
