Systems and methods for contextually allocating emulation resources for providing an emulation session are disclosed. The method involves a plurality of emulation parameters including the computer product to be emulated, context data defining an emulation context, at least one kind of external resource usable to provide the emulation of the computer product. The method includes receiving an emulation request from a client device; determining a required class of service for providing the emulation based on the context data; determining a plurality of possible resource instances providable by the emulator system; selecting at least one selected resource instance from the plurality of possible resource instances to provide an operating instance of the at least one kind of external hardware resource for the emulation based at least in part on the required class of service; and providing the emulation to the client device using the at least one selected resource instance.