VirtualDJ is a long-standing and popular piece of DJ software. In fact, it is the first piece of DJ software I personally used extensively, way back in 2004. It has a loyal user base, with a particularly strong following among mobile DJs, video DJs and karaoke DJs.
That said, it is also great for any kind of DJing, with good scratch performance, industry-leading live stem extraction, powerful mapping capabilities, and a host of other features that – for those who care to dig deep – often surprise and delight users.
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But one thing that makes VirtualDJ different from other DJing apps is that it is not “tied” to any particular hardware. For instance, Pioneer DJ’s Rekordbox only works with that brand’s equipment, Serato software is licensed to work with a relatively small number of devices, and Traktor works best with Traktor-branded hardware. But one of VirtualDJ’s strengths is that its makers strive to make sure it works with anything.
And the makers are extremely good at it. For instance, you can export your VirtualDJ library onto a USB drive, plug it into Pioneer DJ’s club-standard CDJs, and it’ll work fine! That’s some programming know-how right there. So it should come as no surprise to hear that when it comes to having VirtualDJ work with DJ controllers, the integrations are tight, offering a viable alternative for DJs who maybe admire a piece of hardware, but want to use VirtualDJ as their software.
So while you can usually just plug a controller into a computer running VirtualDJ and it will work, we nonetheless wanted to highlight five units where we feel VirtualDJ has done a particularly good job of the integrations. In this roundup, we’ll give you our picks, and tell you why they shine.
Contents
- Best choice overall
- Best for scratch DJs
- Best high-end pick
- Best portable option
- Best for absolute beginners
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5 Best VirtualDJ Controllers 2025
1. Best Overall – Pioneer DJ DDJ-FLX10
One of the areas where VirtualDJ shines is when it’s mapped to a controller with, well, lots of controls! The VirtualDJ coders generally do a good job of opening up new ways of using such units that sometimes surpass even the software that the units are designed for.
Such is the case on the Pioneer DJ DDJ FLX10. It’s a popular controller anyway, working brilliantly with Rekordbox and pretty well with Serato DJ, but the VirtualDJ implementation adds some unique potential workflows for ambitious DJs.
It’s easy to DJ with video or karaoke files; reprogramming the performance pads to do what you want is ridiculously easy with this unit inside VirtualDJ; and because VirtualDJ has great sounding and highly flexible stems features (see: the Stems Sampler and Stems Effects), these can be easily controlled.
Read this next: Which DJ Platform Has The Best Sounding Stems In 2025?
One thing that some VirtualDJ users like to do is use the extra channels on a four-channel controller – not to DJ with, but to give controls over stems for the main two channels. In this instance, you can continue to use your pads for what you want (like loops or cues) and then use the equaliser knobs on the outer channels to control stem separation, giving you more than just on/off and allowing you to fine-tune the volumes of them all.
A particularly good mapping, then, making this a solid choice for VirtualDJ users who want a controller that really can do it all.
Price: $1599 / €1649 / £1469
Our review: Pioneer DJ DDJ-FLX10
Find out more: Pioneer DJ website
2. Best for scratch DJs – Rane Performer
I think it’s fair to say that no one really took VirtualDJ seriously when it came to scratching until relatively recently. However, a while back they had a strong push on an improved scratch engine involving some of the big names in the scratch world endorsing the performance of the software. What’s more, unlike some DJ apps, VirtualDJ plays well with any scratch vinyl and any audio interfaces, and nowadays it sounds good as well.
The next question then is: What controller to use if you’re into scratching? Well, the Rane Performer is a solid choice because it’s one of the few controllers that has motorised jogwheels that feel very much like turntables, albeit in a smaller form factor than full-sized turntables. Add in VirtualDJ’s Stems Effects and suddenly you find you can instantly isolate and scratch vocals in a track (for instance), keeping everything perfectly on beat.
That makes this another good example of how VirtualDJ’s unique feature set, carefully coded with the best of today’s controllers, can offer an experience different to that of DJs using the software their controllers were primarily designed to use. VirtualDJ plus the Rane Performer is definitely a winning combination.
Price: $1999 / £1999 / €2095
Our review: Rane Performer
Find out more: Rane website
3. Best high-end – AlphaTheta XDJ-AZ
The AlphaTheta XDJ-AZ is AlphaTheta’s flagship standalone all-in-one unit for serious DJs who aren’t afraid to spend big money on their DJ set-up. Within its native Rekordbox ecosystem, it can work standalone, with a cloud Library, with streaming, and also be plugged into a laptop to DJ with effectively as a controller.
The interesting thing for VirtualDJ users, though, is that it can do all of these things…and more. Connecting your laptop will give you all of VirtualDJ’s powerful features such as stems (which sound better than Rekordbox), VirtualDJ’s advanced sampler, video DJing and so on. VirtualDJ has more streaming services than anyone else, and VirtualDJ has a more flexible cloud drive implementation than the rather closed Rekordbox version, all of which might appeal.
The clincher is that you can also play without the laptop, because you can export your playlists from VirtualDJ to USB (including with stems separation, which doesn’t work with Rekordbox at all standalone) and play without the laptop on this unit in that way. That makes this a compelling implementation indeed.
Price: $3199 / €3299 / £2799
Our review: AlphaTheta XDJ-AZ
Find out more: AlphaTheta website
4. Best portable – Reloop Mixtour Pro
Being so tiny, the Mixtour Pro from Reloop is a love/hate unit among DJs. It was designed by none other than our very own Laidback Luke, who uses it with his iPhone to DJ on the biggest festival stages worldwide. It’s also a competent laptop controller, and all the more so when paired with VirtualDJ.
Being a small unit with no jogwheels, it really is important that DJs wanting to use this are able to map it so that the limited number of knobs, buttons and faders do exactly what they want. And that’s where VirtualDJ comes in. VirtualDJ’s ability to be mapped effectively to pretty much any controller or Midi device is up there with the very best.
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That means that if you are in the market for a tiny controller, the Mixtour Pro plus VirtualDJ will let you customise the unit to achieve virtually anything, which makes VirtualDJ arguably the perfect laptop software to pair with this unique and tiny controller.
Price: $499 / £399 / €449
Our review: Reloop Mixtour Pro
Find out more: Reloop website
5. Best for absolute beginners – AlphaTheta DDJ-FLX2
With the DDJ-FLX2, AlphaTheta fixed a fatal flaw on the unit it replaces, the Pioneer DJ DDJ-200, namely: They added an audio interface! That means the unsatisfying hack of having to use a splitter cable just to get headphones to work with it is no longer a necessity.
That fixed then, the DDJ-FLX2 now offers a no-nonsense, small, lightweight, and cheap way of getting into DJing, making it a fair choice for super-casual DJs, parents buying a first DJ controller for kids, and so on. When paired with VirtualDJ, the DDJ-FLX2 arguably unlocks stems mixing better than any other software mapping on this unit, thanks in no small part to its “EZRemix” stems feature.
For beginners, being able to quickly switch the EQs to control the main stems rather than frequency EQ is something that they invariably find super cool – they also don’t seem to have the resistance to it that DJs used to using EQs (for years or even decades do), and it certainly makes this unit fun to use out of the box.
Price: $179 / £159 / €189
Our review: AlphaTheta DDJ-FLX2
Find out more: AlphaTheta website
Finally…
Remember that VirtualDJ works with pretty much everything – just plug it in and give it a go. This year it has reached 500+ supported devices, starting from the pre-historic Hercules DJ Console MK1 up to the latest club-standard Pioneer (CDJ-3000, DJM-A9), as well as the high-end XDJ-AZ featured above.
Read this next: Best DJ Software 2025?
What we’ve highlighted here are five controllers that have particularly noteworthy features in their integrations, or that have proved particularly popular with VirtualDJ users.
Are you a loyal VirtualDJ user? Do you have a particular hardware combo that you feel works well with the software? What features of the platform make you stick with VirtualDJ over the primary software for the gear you use? Let us know in the comments!
Phil Morse
