Slim or Pro for 2026

The PS5 Slim is the better buy for most UK players, and the PS5 Pro is worth it only for owners of a 4K TV who want the sharpest version of every game. The PlayStation 5 Slim costs £569.00 on Amazon UK at the time of writing (September 2026), against a Sony RRP of £569.99, and includes a disc drive. The PlayStation 5 Pro has a Sony UK RRP of £789.99 after the 2 April 2026 price rise, has a GPU around 62% more powerful, and ships without a disc drive.

Both consoles play the same library, including Grand Theft Auto VI on 19 November 2026. The question is whether the Pro's image quality gains are worth £220 at RRP, or £323.19 once the disc drive goes back in.

What is the difference between the PS5 Slim and PS5 Pro?

The PS5 Pro has a bigger GPU, machine learning upscaling, twice the storage and faster Wi-Fi, while the PS5 Slim keeps the disc drive and costs £220 less at RRP. Sony states the PS5 Pro GPU has 67% more compute units than the PS5, renders up to 45% faster and traces rays at two to three times the speed. The widely reported GPU figure is around 16.7 teraflops, against 10.28 teraflops on the PS5 Slim.

The CPU gap is small. Both consoles use an 8-core AMD Zen 2 CPU; the PS5 Slim runs at up to 3.5 GHz and the PS5 Pro at up to 3.85 GHz in its high-frequency mode, about 10% more. Memory bandwidth rises from 448 GB/s to 576 GB/s, a 28% gain, and the PS5 Pro adds 2 GB of DDR5 for system tasks.

What does the extra £220 for a PS5 Pro actually buy?

The extra £220 buys roughly 62% more GPU power, PSSR upscaling and an extra 1 TB of storage, and costs the disc drive. Compare Electronic's line-by-line delta table compares the PS5 Pro (£789.99 RRP) with the PS5 Slim (£569.99 RRP), using Sony's published figures where Sony gives them.

Two numbers stand out. The GPU and memory gains are large, so resolution and ray tracing improve noticeably in games that use them. The CPU gain is 10%, so games limited by the CPU, such as dense open worlds, will not double their frame rate. Per pound, the PS5 Pro is the better value GPU: £47.30 per teraflop at RRP against £55.45 for the PS5 Slim at RRP.

Is the PS5 Pro worth it in 2026?

The PS5 Pro is worth it in 2026 for buyers with a 4K TV, a habit of playing big-budget releases, and plans to keep the console for four or more years. The PS5 Pro is not worth it on a 1080p TV, where most of the extra resolution is thrown away, or for players who mostly play online shooters and indie games that already run well on the PS5 Slim.

The case for the PS5 Pro is stronger in 2026 than at launch. Sony rolled out an upgraded version of PSSR in early 2026, starting with Resident Evil Requiem, and has since added it to games including Silent Hill 2, Alan Wake 2, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Monster Hunter Wilds. The case against it is also stronger: the 2 April 2026 price rise pushed the Pro to £789.99, which is £220 more than a PS5 Slim that already runs every game.

The PS5 Pro suits players with a large 4K TV who notice image softness. The PS5 Slim suits everyone else, especially players who buy physical games. For TV pairing, Compare Electronic's best TV for PS5 and Xbox Series X guide lists HDMI 2.1 sets that get the most out of both consoles.

Does the PS5 Pro need a disc drive?

The PS5 Pro needs a disc drive only for boxed games, 4K Blu-rays and DVDs, because it ships without one. The PS5 Disc Drive costs £103.19 on Amazon UK at the time of writing (September 2026). Added to the £789.99 RRP, the PS5 Pro costs £893.18, which is £323.19 more than a PS5 Slim at RRP rather than £220.

The PS5 Disc Drive is the same Ultra HD Blu-ray unit used by the PS5 Slim Digital Edition. It clips onto the PS5 Pro and needs a one-time online pairing. Buyers with a pile of PS4 or PS5 discs should count it as part of the Pro's price. All-digital buyers can ignore it, although boxed games are often cheaper at launch and can be resold. Compare Electronic's best PS5 accessories guide covers the drive alongside extra SSDs and controllers.

Buyers who want the cheapest PS5 rather than the best one should look at the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition at £519.99 RRP: the same 10.28 teraflop GPU as the PS5 Slim, with no disc drive and 667 GB of usable storage.

Which games benefit from PS5 Pro Enhanced?

Big-budget, graphically heavy games benefit most from PS5 Pro Enhanced, usually by running at a sharper resolution at 60 fps, or by adding ray tracing without dropping to 30 fps. The PS5 Pro Enhanced label on the PlayStation Store means the developer has added settings specific to the Pro. Games without the label still run on the PS5 Pro, with some gains from its faster GPU where a game uses an unlocked or dynamic resolution.

Titles with PS5 Pro upgrades include Resident Evil Requiem, Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill f, Alan Wake 2, Control, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Monster Hunter Wilds, Dragon's Dogma 2, Nioh 3 and Rise of the Ronin. Every one of those games also runs on the PS5 Slim, with the same content and saves; the PS5 Pro changes how they look, not what they contain.

Which should you buy for GTA 6?

The PS5 Slim is the better GTA 6 buy for most players, and the PS5 Pro is the pick for a 4K TV. Grand Theft Auto VI launches on 19 November 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, at £69.99 for the Standard Edition. Rockstar has said the console builds currently run at 30 fps and has not announced PS5 Pro specific settings, so the Pro's advantage is expected image quality, not a confirmed frame rate.

The PS5 Slim plus the Standard Edition costs £638.99 at Amazon UK prices at the time of writing. The PS5 Pro plus the Standard Edition costs £859.98 at RRP, or £963.17 with the disc drive for the boxed game. The full five-console breakdown is in best console for GTA 6, and buyers who can wait should read PS5 Black Friday deals first, since GTA 6 lands a week before Black Friday. Anyone weighing a PC-style box instead should see Steam Machine vs PS5 Pro, and Xbox buyers is the Xbox Series S worth it.

Verdict: PS5 Slim or PS5 Pro?

The PlayStation 5 Slim is the right PS5 for most UK buyers: £569.00 on Amazon UK at the time of writing, a disc drive in the box, and every game including GTA 6. The PlayStation 5 Pro earns its £789.99 RRP only on a 4K TV, where its 16.7 teraflop GPU and upgraded PSSR make a visible difference in PS5 Pro Enhanced games. Budget £893.18 for the Pro if physical games matter.