Airsoft vs Paintball

Most airsoft gun owners use their airsoft guns in a game similar to paintball. The actual game is simply referred to as "airsoft."

The simularity between airsoft and paintball has sparked a rivalry -- which is better, airsoft or paintball?

So what are you doing on an airsoft site if you want to know which is better? Well, the truth is airsoft actually has many downsides as does paintball. For enthusiastic players of either sport the downsides are merely an inconvenience.

I have played paintball before, but never seriously or at a competitive level. I have, however, heard many former paintball players badmouth paintball after they discovered just how much fun playing airsoft is.

Airsoft isn't for everyone. For these players, clearly airsoft beat paintball by a wide margin. In this article, Airsoft vs Paintball, I'll present an honest opinion as well as a look at the downsides and advantages of both paintball and airsoft.

The cost difference between Airsoft and Paintball

First, and most importantly to many people, is cost. As I discussed in the article, Is Airsoft Cheap?, airsoft is relatively inexpensive. The amount you spend on airsoft can be scaled up or down depending how much you enjoy the sport.

Most importantly, people with $1500 of equipment will only have a small advantage over someone with a $300 gun -- in most cases they will have no advantage.

The ranges of the costs of paintball can be quite dynamic as well. Entry level paintball guns can be purchased for a couple hundred dollars. When you get into competitive level paintball expect to be pay $1000+ for your gun. If you can't afford a good paintball gun you can't expect to play this sport with very much success on a competitive level.

Paintballs are also quite expensive, especially in relationship to airsoft bb's. It is not unusual for a paintball player to go through $50 worth of paintballs in a day. A bag of 3000-5000 airsoft bb's (depending on the weight of the bb) costs roughly $20. Some players can go through a bag of bb's in a day. Most don't. It depends entirely on your playing style.

In paintball, the volume of paintballs you send downrange is critical. In airsoft, spray and pray occurs, but it has little impact on gameplay balance. Usually if a player is spraying bbs, they aren't aiming -- or hitting.

There have been several games where I have fired perhaps no more than 30 or 40 BB's all day. On the other hand, I have played plenty of games where I had to refill all 4 of my 300-round capacity magazines during the middle of a round.