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Efficiency of soft particles to stabilize emulsions is examined by measuring their desorption energy ie the energy required to detach the particle form a fluid interface. Microgels as well as generic deformable particles are considered. Soft particles and the interface are modeled using molecular dynamics simulations and the free-energy is calculated using the thermodynamic integration method. It is shown that the softness affects the particle-interface binding in two opposing directions. On the one hand, a soft particle spreads at the interface, removes a larger liquid-liquid contact area, and thus is energetically more favorable than a rigid particle. On the other hand, softness gives the particle an extra degree of freedom to get reshaped instead of deforming the interface, producing a smaller excess interfacial area during the detachment, and hence faces a smaller energy barrier to detach. Eventually, the first effect …