PlayStation 4 still makes sense today in two situations: as a cheap second console, and as a first console for kids you want to give access to a huge, discounted game library. As your main console for the next three years, it no longer does. Online play, PS Store and PS Plus still work on it, and Sony still offers it on its website, but the focus of its services shifted to the PS5 in January 2026 and isn’t coming back.
What still works on PS4
This needs saying right away, because a lot of nonsense about the end of support is floating around online. As of the verification date, Sony has not published any shutdown date for PS Store, PSN, online multiplayer or cloud saves on PS4. The official Important notice page, where Sony lists discontinued features, mentions none of them.
- Online multiplayer keeps running, and for free-to-play games like Fortnite or Apex Legends you don’t even need a paid membership.
- PS Store works, and you can buy and download games and DLC.
- PS Plus works in all three tiers. Monthly games, cloud storage, discounts and Share Play apply to PS4 just the same. The details are in the overview of the PS Plus Essential, Extra and Premium tiers.
- Sony still sells the PS4, and its Czech website still lists the 500GB and 1TB versions and the PS4 Pro. A large share of the games people buy a PlayStation for also came out on it, as the overview of the best PlayStation exclusives shows.
Where you’ll hit limits
The limitations aren’t dramatic, but they are permanent and growing.
PS Plus games are added only irregularly. Sony says so directly in the membership terms: since January 2026, PS4 games are added only irregularly. The catalog already in Extra and Premium hasn’t gone anywhere, but you can’t count on new additions for your console.
For PS Plus Premium streaming, the Czech PlayStation website names only the PS5 and the PlayStation Portal remote player. You can’t tell from it whether streaming will work on PS4 as well. Sony doesn’t state it either way there, so try it on your own account before you pay for Premium because of it. If streaming games is your main goal, it makes more sense to look at how cloud gaming works, because services like GeForce NOW with its tiers or Boosteroid don’t depend on console hardware at all.
Sony has already shut down some features. Tournaments and Teams have been unavailable on PS4 since 27 October 2025, sharing posts and comments via What’s New Activities ended on 25 March 2025, Communities disappeared back in 2021 and Facebook integration in 2019. Trend Micro parental controls can be purchased until 25 August 2026, and the service shuts down a year later.
The days of discs are numbered. On 1 July 2026, Sony announced that starting January 2028 it will stop pressing physical discs for all newly released games on PlayStation consoles. This doesn’t affect games released before then, and the announcement says nothing about disc drives working, but the secondhand disc market is slowly closing down, and the secondhand market is exactly why people buy a PS4 today.
PS4, PS4 Slim or PS4 Pro
| Model | Model number | Release | Storage | 4K | Launch price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS4 | CUH-1000 to CUH-1200 | 2013 | 500 GB or 1 TB | no | unverified |
| PS4 Slim | CUH-2000 | 15 September 2016 | 500 GB | no | USD 299 / EUR 299 |
| PS4 Pro | CUH-7000 | 10 November 2016 | 1 TB | yes, including HDR | USD 399 / EUR 399 |
Launch prices according to Sony press releases, verified on 11 September 2026. These are 2016 prices; today’s secondhand prices have nothing to do with them and vary from unit to unit.
The PS4 Slim is the sensible default. It’s more than 30% smaller and a quarter lighter than the original model, quieter, and the cheapest. Performance is the same as the original PS4.
The PS4 Pro is the only one with 4K. It has 4.20 TFLOPS of graphics performance, targets 4K with HDR, and gives a more stable image in supported games even on a regular Full HD TV. Secondhand, it’s usually worth paying the difference, mainly for the terabyte drive.
Only get the original chunky PS4 if it’s really cheap. It’s the biggest, it’s louder, and the oldest units have more than ten years of use behind them.
When a secondhand PS4 makes sense
- As a second console. For the bedroom, a weekend cabin or next to your computer, where you don’t want to take apart your main setup. A used unit costs a fraction of what a new console does.
- For kids. The PS4 game library is huge, discs can be had cheaply, and a broken console that didn’t cost much is a different kind of disaster than a broken PS5.
- When you want to catch up on what you missed. You can work through ten years of exclusives for the price of two new games.
- When you play the same two or three games over and over. Sports titles, shooters or GTA run on PS4, and their communities are still there.
Now the other side. Don’t buy a PS4 if you want to play new releases. For every title you’re interested in, you have to check in advance whether a PS4 version even came out, because Sony itself has moved its focus to the PS5 and doesn’t publish any statement on it. Don’t buy one if you’re already planning a PS5, because a stopgap purchase is money thrown away. And don’t buy it as an investment for the next five years, because the direction Sony is heading is obvious from how it fills PS Plus and when it stops pressing discs. When it’s worth jumping straight up a generation is covered in the article PS5 vs PS5 Pro and, on a practical level, in the comparison of PS5 editions.
When you move from PS4 to PS5
The switch is easier than people expect, but there are two rules that most often trip people up.
Upgrading a game from the PS4 to the PS5 version can be free or paid. Sony puts it exactly like this: depending on the game, it can come at no extra cost, may require a purchase, and may be available for a limited time. There’s no general rule; the publisher decides for each title, so you have to check the game hub of that specific game.
For a disc upgrade you need a PS5 with a disc drive. You have to physically insert the PS4 game disc into the console for it to offer you the digital PS5 version. PS4 discs don’t work at all on the PS5 Digital Edition, so you can’t upgrade this way. For digitally purchased games, just find the PS5 version in PS Store and open its game hub.
You can take your saves, trophies and digital game library with you; the step-by-step process is in the guide on transferring games and data from PS4 to PS5. Your trophy profile is tied to your account, not the console, and what that means is explained in the article on how trophies work on PlayStation. If you’re wondering whether to wait for the next generation instead of getting a PS5, the article on what we know about the PS6 sums up what has actually been confirmed.
FAQ
Sony has never published an end-of-support date. The claim about a specific date circulating online isn’t on playstation.com, and the sources spreading it don’t link to any announcement. The only confirmed change is that since January 2026, PS4 games are added to PS Plus only irregularly.
Yes. Online multiplayer and PS Store still run on PS4, and Sony hasn’t announced shutting them down. For free-to-play games like Fortnite or Apex Legends you don’t even need a paid PS Plus membership. Only individual features have been discontinued, mainly tournaments, Teams and sharing posts.
Yes, if the secondhand price difference isn’t big. The PS4 Pro has 4.20 TFLOPS, targets 4K with HDR, and gives a more stable image in supported games even on a Full HD TV. It also has a terabyte drive instead of the usual 500 GB, which helps a lot with today’s game sizes.
In performance, none; both models play the same. The PS4 Slim from 2016 is more than 30% smaller and about a quarter lighter than the original model, and it’s quieter. If you’re choosing between them secondhand at a similar price, get the Slim.
Yes, saves and trophies transfer, and digital PS4 games stay in your library. Upgrading a specific game to the PS5 version may be paid, though, and for disc games only a PS5 with a disc drive can do it. PS4 discs don’t work on the PS5 Digital Edition.
Information verified as of 11 September 2026. Sony hasn’t ended PS4 support, but it is gradually slimming it down, so check the state of the services again before buying a used unit. More articles about the platform are in the PlayStation section on Gamers Together, and if you’re curious how the competition stacks up, we compare the models in the article Xbox Series X vs S.