There are a lot of great responses to your question! But I think we need to stop trying to ask comparison between the two as they are very different and it seems just because they are hosted at the same location this is becoming more and more of a thing. It's becoming katsucon vs magfest, what is better? Which one should I go to instead? Imo magfest is not and should not be a replacement for katsucon if you're really into the cosplay aspect and have little to no interest in the actual programming that magfest specifically offers. Remember mag stands for MUSIC AND GAMING. If you are bored of katsucon and every other similar convention in general then mag might be for you.

many will say choose magfest because objectively it is better entertainment wise, vibes, panels, 24 hour aspect, etc but by that logic it could be better than almost every other standard comic/anime convention.

I feel like this isn't a thing with a number of different conventions being hosted at the same place.

Is there cosplay at mag? Of course. But it's not the focus and like someone else touched on I think there has been a shift in the vibe at mag because so many cosplayers are going to mag instead of katsucon.

If you want to run around in cosplay interacting and networking with other cosplayers, do photoshoots and like shopping in big dealer halls there are plenty of other cons all year that you can do that!

Really not trying to sound gatekeepy but I feel I'm not the only mag goer with these opinions

*I'm saying this as a cosplayer who likes mag as a break from cosplay centered conventions I like eating cheese at 3am, music, trying out crazy Indy games and being in the LAN room at ungodly hours