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How Malbec compares

Every cell comes from the maker’s own pages, its release notes or a named review; the one that comes from our own runs says so. Where a maker doesn’t say, the cell says so. The frame rates are only our own runs, on one Mac.

It costs less than CrossOver and runs fewer games

Malbec is built only for games. CrossOver is built for Windows software in general, and for DirectX 12. Malbec’s engine is our own build of Wine, from CodeWeavers’ published CrossOver 26.3 sources, and DXMT. Free tools: Highball, Heroic, Porting Kit and the Whisky fork; where they differ, the cell names which. Marks where another app does more than Malbec.

FeatureMalbecCrossOver 26.3Free tools
Price$12.99, once.Free updates for as long as we make Malbec. Free for 7 days. The trial starts when you choose. One free trial per Mac.$74 the first year12 months of updates; $494 lifetime. 14-day trial.Does more than Malbec here: FreeHighball, Heroic, Porting Kit, the Whisky fork
DirectX 10 and 11Metal, through DXMTD3DMetal, DXMT or DXVK, picked per gameDXMT, D3DMetal or DXVK, by tool
32-bit DirectX 11 on MetalYes, through DXMTYes, with its DXMT settingSeen in our own Unigine Heaven runs. CrossOver 27 (early 2027) drops 32-bit bottles.Not listed
DirectX 12Not yetGames that only support DirectX 12 don’t start.Does more than Malbec here: Yes, through D3DMetalDoes more than Malbec here: Yes in Highball, Heroic and the Whisky fork, through Apple’s D3DMetal or Game Porting ToolkitSome games in Porting Kit.
StoresSteam and Battle.net, set up for youInstallers and game folders. Imports from CrossOver and Recall.Does more than Malbec here: Any: it installs Windows launchersHighball: Steam and Epic. Heroic: Epic, GOG and Amazon.
Games it knows18 catalog games, each labelledGames you add say Untested; a Won’t run list with reasons.Does more than Malbec here: A database of 20,000+ entriesIt picks a graphics backend per game from it.Does more than Malbec here: Highball: an open database20 hand-verified games, 358 from the community, 12,491 predictions.
Per-game tuningSettings for every catalog gameOverwatch profiled frame by frame.A graphics backend per gameHighball: engine and frame cap per game
Shaders kept between sessionsYes, per store and per added gameNot listedNot listed
macOS Game ModeYes, per gameOn unless you turn it off in the game’s settings.Not listedNot listed
Raw mouse inputWhere it helps, set per gameNot listedNot listed
Source codeThe engine’s, for every releaseWine and DXMT, GNU LGPL. The app itself is closed.Its Wine sourcesD3DMetal is Apple’s, and closed.Does more than Malbec here: Highball: the whole appGPL-3.0.

An amber mark rings a cell where the other app does more than Malbec. Not listed means we didn’t find it on the maker’s own pages on 14 October 2026. If we missed something, write to support@malbec.app and we’ll correct this page.

What CrossOver does that we don’t

Runs DirectX 12 games, through Apple’s D3DMetal. Runs thousands of Windows apps, not only games. Installs any Windows launcher. If you need any of these today, CrossOver is the one to buy.

Prices are in US dollars, as each maker lists them, and change; we check them again on launch day.

Every product, side by side

Apps and services you can use today: what each costs, what it runs on and where it fits. Heroic, Porting Kit and the Whisky fork are in the free tools column above.

From each maker’s own pages and the reviews listed under Sources, checked 14 October 2026. Prices change, so check them before you buy.
AppPriceEngineDirectX 12StoresGames
MalbecBefore launch$12.99, once. Free updates for as long as we make Malbec. Free for 7 days. The trial starts when you choose. One free trial per Mac.Our own build of Wine, from CodeWeavers’ CrossOver 26.3 sources, and DXMT, with open-source patches; the source of every engine is publishedNo. Games with both DirectX 11 and 12 run in DirectX 11; DirectX 12-only games don’t startSteam and Battle.net; Windows games from an installer or a folder; imports from CrossOver and RecallCatalog games with their own settings and a label (Tuned, Supported, Preview); games you add are labelled Untested; a list of games that won’t run, with the reason
CrossOver 26.3CodeWeavers$74 for the first year (12 months of updates), $494 lifetime; 14-day trialWine 11.0, D3DMetal 3.0, DXMT 0.72, DXVK, vkd3d 1.18Yes (D3DMetal)Any: it installs Windows launchersA database of 20,000+ entries; picks a graphics backend per game from it (since CrossOver 25)
GameToMacSubscription (monthly or yearly) after a 7-day trial, since October 2026; the plan price is shown only in the app (unverified)D3DMetal and others (not stated)YesSteam, Battle.net, Rockstar23 curated games; setup on an external SSD
Highballgauthierpiarrette (GitHub)Free, GPL-3.0 (“no paid tier ever”)A manifest of engines: community Wine 10 and its own Wine 11 from CrossOver sources; DXMT, D3DMetal (the user accepts Apple’s license), DXVKYes (D3DMetal)Steam, Epic (through Legendary)Open CC0 database: 20 hand-verified, 18 upstream, 358 community, 46 blocked, 12,491 predictions derived from ProtonDB
Pixel PortFree beta (MacHow2: “don’t expect it to be free forever”)“Prism” runtime: Wine with DirectX to Metal translation (DXMT, according to XDA)UnclearSteam (sign-in by QR code)11,047 entries: 87 verified, 10,563 “playable” estimates; opt-in launch telemetry
GeForce NOWNVIDIAFree tier; Performance $9.99 a month; Ultimate $19.99 a month; play capped at 100 hours a month since 2026-01-01Cloud streamingYesSteam, Epic, Battle.net and others, where the publisher opts inGames whose publishers opt in
Parallels Desktop 26$99.99 a year (Standard)A Windows 11 virtual machineNo (DirectX 11 at most)AnyNot listed

When something else is the better choice

Every list of games that run sits next to the list of games that don’t. This is that second list, with where to go instead.

You play Valorant, Fortnite or another game with kernel anti-cheat.
They don’t run under Wine in any Mac app, Malbec included.
GeForce NOW
You need a DirectX 12-only game today.
The Witcher 3 since patch 5.0, Elden Ring, Helldivers 2 and Diablo IV don’t start in Malbec. CrossOver runs many of them through D3DMetal; GameToMac curates some.
CrossOver or GameToMac
Your game has a Mac version.
Play that version. Malbec says “Has a Mac version” on those games.
The Mac version
You want it free.
Highball is free and open source, with an open compatibility database. Pixel Port is free during its beta and, by its reviews, asks for almost no setup.
Highball or Pixel Port
You need Windows itself, not only games.
Parallels runs a Windows 11 virtual machine. It needs a Windows license, runs DirectX 11 at most, and anti-cheat refuses virtual machines.
Parallels Desktop

Frame rates

Measured by us on one Mac. CrossOver runs DirectX 11 through Apple’s D3DMetal, through DXMT, the translator Malbec uses, or through DXVK, and picks one per game unless you set it. In Overwatch we measured CrossOver 26.2 set to D3DMetal; its DXMT setting and CrossOver 26.3, the current version, are being measured. The benchmarks run against both settings where the test allows it: Heaven is 32-bit, and CrossOver’s D3DMetal setting can’t run it, so Heaven runs against DXMT only.

Each number is the median of at least three runs or maps, with the slowest and the quickest beside it. Where the two sides overlap, we write no difference. Every Overwatch map, its frame times and how we measured

Overwatch (DirectX 11)

Each bar is the median of a side’s maps; the line across it runs from its lowest map to its highest. Every bar starts at zero.

Average FPS Higher is better. Malbec: 61% more.

  • Malbec155 FPS5 maps, 138 to 159
  • CrossOver 26.2 (D3DMetal)96 FPS3 maps, 91 to 103

1% low Higher is better. Malbec: 8.5× higher.

  • Malbec78 FPS5 maps, 65 to 85
  • CrossOver 26.2 (D3DMetal)9 FPS3 maps, 9 to 11

Stutters over 50 ms Lower is better. Malbec: 0 in every map.

  • Malbec0 per minute5 maps, each 0
  • CrossOver 26.2 (D3DMetal)52 per minute3 maps, 49 to 78

Slowest frame Lower is better. Malbec: 11× shorter.

  • Malbec20 ms5 maps, 16 to 30
  • CrossOver 26.2 (D3DMetal)223 ms3 maps, 207 to 340

Against CrossOver 26.2 (D3DMetal): Malbec is ahead in all four, and in each the two sides’ ranges, from lowest map to highest, don’t overlap.

Measured on a MacBook Pro (M5 Max, 48 GB) with macOS 27.0, Overwatch, the Workshop benchmark map, 22 October 2026, n=5 maps on Malbec and 3 on CrossOver 26.2. In-game settings on both: fullscreen 2560×1600, the same graphics preset, DirectX 11, frame-rate limit 600. Malbec ran its Maglev engine (malbec-20261022.4) with the performance settings Malbec ships with. Each number is the median of a side’s maps. Both sides had played Overwatch earlier that day, so their shader caches weren’t empty; a first session with an empty cache wasn’t measured at these settings.

Being measured: CrossOver’s DXMT setting and CrossOver 26.3 (the current version).

Also being measured: Malbec against CrossOver 26 in Unigine Heaven 4.0 and Unigine Superposition 1.1 on a MacBook Pro (M5 Max).

How we measure

Where each fact comes from

Not listed means we didn’t find it on the maker’s own pages. If we missed something, write to support@malbec.app and we’ll correct this page.

Try it on your own games

$12.99, once. Free for 7 days. The trial starts when you choose. One free trial per Mac. Refunds within 14 days, for any reason.

Needs the internet once per Mac to activate. Works on 2 Macs at a time. Apple silicon, macOS 26.5 or later.

Download the trialBuy for $12.99