Steam vs itch.io for Indie Game Developers (2026)

Verdict: For a commercial PC game, launch on Steam and also list it on itch.io. Steam costs $100 and takes 30% of revenue below $10M, but its wishlists, Next Fest and sale emails are where most indie PC revenue starts. itch.io is free, lets you pick its cut (10% by default) and is the better home for jams, browser games, prototypes and pay-what-you-want releases.

Every fee, limit and rule below comes from Valve's Steamworks documentation or itch.io's own docs, checked on 14 Nov 2026. Where we give advice rather than facts, we mark it "Our read".

TL;DR#

• Steam fee: $100 per game through Steam Direct. It is not refundable, but it is recouped once the game makes $1,000 Adjusted Gross Revenue (Steamworks).
• Steam's cut: 30%, moving to 75/25 on earnings beyond $10M and 80/20 beyond $50M (Valve announcement).
• itch.io's cut: you choose from 0% to 100%, with 10% as the default, plus $0.30 + 2.9% processing per transaction (itch.io payments).
• Time to go live: Steam needs weeks (a 21-day wait, a two-week Coming Soon page, and reviews). itch.io is live when you hit publish, though new sellers' first projects queue for indexing review.
• No exclusivity on either. Use both.

Disclosure: ZeroRaised is a launch site for products built without institutional VC. We have no commercial relationship with Valve, itch.io or Epic and earn nothing if you use them. Facts come from the linked sources as checked on 14 Nov 2026.

What this post covers (and what it does not)#

Funding is covered elsewhere. Our guide on how to fund an indie game without a publisher goes through savings, Early Access, crowdfunding and grants. This post covers one decision: which store you publish on, in what order, and what each one costs you in money, time and rules.

Steam vs itch.io at a glance#

Sources: Steam Direct fee, Steam payments, Steam review process, Steam onboarding, itch.io payments, itch.io indexing, itch.io HTML5.

Fees and revenue share#

Steam#

Valve charges "a $100 USD (or equivalent) fee for each new app you wish to distribute on Steam." The fee is not refundable but is recouped once the product "has at least $1,000.00 Adjusted Gross Revenue for Steam Store or in-app purchases", and the recoupment shows as a separate line in your monthly report (Steamworks).

The revenue split is 70/30 for nearly every indie game. Valve's 2018 announcement says that from October 1, 2018, "when a game makes over $10 million on Steam, the revenue share for that application will adjust to 75%/25% on earnings beyond $10M. At $50 million, the revenue share will adjust to 80%/20% on earnings beyond $50M." Revenue there "includes game packages, DLC, in-game sales, and Community Marketplace game fees" (Valve). Our read: plan on 30%. The tiers matter only if you have a hit.

itch.io#

itch.io says it "costs nothing to use" (itch.io FAQ). It uses what it calls open revenue sharing: you set its share of your sales anywhere "from 0% to 100%" in Seller Settings, and its docs use "the default rate, 10%" in their worked example (itch.io payments).

Processing is charged separately. With PayPal "a fee of $0.30 + 2.9% is applied per transaction", and Stripe likewise "takes a fee of $0.30 + 2.9%". The fixed $0.30 hurts most on cheap games: on a $2 game it is 15% of the price before itch.io takes anything.

Worked example (illustrative)#

This is an illustration, not a forecast. Take 1,000 sales of a $10 game and ignore VAT, refunds, chargebacks and regional pricing:

itch.io leaves you about $1.40 more per sale here. Our read: per-sale margin is rarely what decides this. Most solo developers sell far more copies on Steam because that is where the buyers already are, so a lower margin on more sales usually comes out ahead. The margin gap matters most for direct sales you send to itch.io yourself, from your newsletter, Discord or a bundle.

Payouts, merchant of record and tax forms#

Steam. Valve "issues payment for sales 30 days after they are made, usually at the end of the month", so February's sales are paid at the end of March. You are paid only when the prior month's sales "have exceeded the minimum $100 threshold." Payments go by ACH to US banks or USD SWIFT wire elsewhere (Steamworks payments). During onboarding you complete a tax questionnaire that sets your withholding rate, and tax verification can take up to 30 days (Steamworks onboarding).

itch.io has two payment modes (itch.io payments):

• Direct to you. Money arrives in your PayPal or Stripe account with each transaction. You are the merchant of record and "responsible for collection and remittance" of VAT, though you can turn on itch.io's automatic VAT collection. Your payment provider generates tax forms.
• Collected by itch.io. itch.io is the merchant of record, VAT "is always automatically collected" and itch.io remits it, and itch.io generates your tax forms. Revenue becomes available 7 days after purchase (longer, up to 30 days, in some cases). You need at least $5.00 to request a payout, review takes at least 7 days and typically 10 to 14, and itch.io recommends requesting a payout about once a month. The processor may charge a transfer fee.

In both modes the tax interview asks for a Tax Identification Number. Without one, the default 30% withholding applies. Our read: if you are a solo developer outside the EU, "collected by itch.io" spares you EU VAT registration and is worth the slower payouts.

Time to go live#

itch.io is close to instant. You publish, and the page is live. To appear in browse and search, the page must be public, have a cover image and not be an empty placeholder, and a new seller's first projects go into "a queue for review" that is typically handled "within a few business days" (itch.io indexing).

Steam takes weeks. Valve's docs give these steps:

1. Pay the $100 fee, then sign the paperwork: tax questionnaire, bank details and identity verification. Valve lists "a 21-day waiting period between when you paid the app fee and when you can release that game" (onboarding).
2. Publish a Coming Soon page. "For new products, you must have a Coming Soon page up for at least two weeks before releasing" (Coming Soon).
3. Get the store page and the build reviewed. Each "typically takes 3-5 business days", and Valve asks you to submit at least 7 business days before your target date (review process).

Our read: in practice the Coming Soon page should go up months before launch, not two weeks, because it is what collects wishlists.

Discovery#

Steam: wishlists, Next Fest, sales#

Valve calls wishlists "an important factor in determining where your game appears on Steam." At launch, "any user that has the game on their wishlist at that time will receive an e-mail and/or mobile push notification", and later "any type of discount at or above 20%" on the lowest-priced package that runs more than 8 hours emails wishlisters again (Steamworks wishlists).

Steam Next Fest is the main free event for unreleased games. The rules: a game "may only participate in ONE Next Fest", must not release before that edition ends, needs a public base game store page, and must have "a publicly playable demo by the time Next Fest begins." Submit the demo build for review at least 3 weeks before the Fest, or 5 weeks if it will be public for Press Preview. The next editions listed are February 2027 and June 2027 (Next Fest).

Steam demos are a separate App ID linked to the full game. Demos "can appear anywhere in Steam that a free game could appear", including New & Trending and tag pages, and the demo page links back so players can wishlist the full game (Steam demos).

Sale rules to plan around: discounts must be between 10% and 95%, launch discounts cannot exceed 40% and run 7 to 14 days, you cannot discount within 30 days of another discount (seasonal sales are exempt) or within 30 days of a price increase, and a discount lasts 1 to 14 days (Steam discounts).

itch.io: browse, jams, community#

itch.io's own docs warn that its recently released list is "a very bad place to launch your project!" because "we sometimes get hundreds of games added per day." Its advice is that real visitors and interaction "can help your page rise up on our browse pages" (itch.io indexing). So bring your own traffic.

Jams are itch.io's strongest discovery tool. "Anyone can instantly create and host a jam", and the jams page counts 621,379 games created for jams hosted on itch.io (itch.io jams). Our read: a jam entry gets your game in front of other developers and players who rate jam games, and a well-received jam prototype is a cheap test of whether an idea deserves a Steam page. For more channels to push either page, see our free marketing channels for bootstrapped makers.

Browser games, demos and keys#

Browser games are where itch.io clearly wins. You upload a ZIP of up to 1,000 files and 500MB extracted (200MB per file), and players can run it embedded in the page or fullscreen. One catch: "Currently all HTML5 games on itch.io are set up to only take payments as donations." To charge for access, the project must be set to Downloadable (itch.io HTML5). Our read: a free browser demo on itch.io with a link to your Steam page works well, as long as the Steam demo comes from the same build.

Steam keys let you sell a Steam copy elsewhere, including on itch.io. Valve's rules (Steam keys):

• If it is your first game on Steam, you "must wait three weeks after the creation of an AppID" before requesting keys.
• Launching games "may receive up to 5,000 Default Release Steam Keys", with further requests reviewed case by case.
• "It is important that you don't give Steam customers a worse deal than Steam Key purchasers." Temporary discounts elsewhere are fine if a comparable Steam offer follows within a reasonable time.
• "Steam keys cannot be generated for Steam bundles", free-to-play games cannot request keys by default, and you must never sell Release State Override or Playtest keys.

itch.io's side (download keys): projects "cannot be listed as selling only a Steam Key", must include files people can download from itch.io, cannot sell external keys "for a higher price than the price of the project itself", and some larger bundles intentionally turn off Steam key distribution.

Exclusivity and other stores#

Neither Steam nor itch.io asks for exclusivity, and the key rules above assume you sell in several places. The Epic Games Store is worth a look once you have a finished game. Epic says developers "earn 100% of the first $1 million in net revenue per product, per year for any Epic Games Store payments we process", after which content "will revert to our existing 88%/12% revenue share model" (Epic Games Store). Epic also runs an opt-in exclusivity programme, Epic First Run. We left GOG out because we could not verify its current terms on its own pages today.

Decision table#

This is our editorial advice, based on the facts above.

Recommended sequence#

1. Prototype on itch.io. Enter a jam or post a free build. Treat ratings and comments as a cheap idea test.
2. Pay Steam Direct and put up a Coming Soon page early, ideally many months before launch. Start the tax and bank paperwork straight away, since tax verification can take up to 30 days.
3. Build a demo and publish it on Steam and as a free itch.io build. Choose one Next Fest edition, because you only get one.
4. Launch on Steam with a launch discount of up to 40%, scheduled before release day.
5. List the full game on itch.io at the same time or soon after, with downloadable files plus Steam keys, at a price no lower than Steam's.
6. Plan sales around Valve's 30-day cooldown so each 20%+ discount triggers wishlist emails.
7. Announce it outside the stores. Our launch guide for bootstrapped apps covers the launch-week basics, and selling direct is covered in how to sell digital products online.

Frequently asked questions#

Is itch.io or Steam better for indie games?#

They do different jobs. Steam has the larger paying PC audience and wishlist-driven discovery, but costs $100 per game and takes 30% of revenue up to $10M. itch.io is free, lets you set its cut from 0% to 100% (10% by default) and handles browser games and jams well, but its new-release list is crowded. Most indie PC games should use both, with Steam as the main commercial store.

How much does Steam take from indie game sales?#

Valve's share is 30% until a game makes $10 million on Steam. Since October 1, 2018, the split moves to 75/25 on earnings beyond $10M and 80/20 on earnings beyond $50M. Separately, the $100 Steam Direct fee is recouped in your payment once the game reaches $1,000 Adjusted Gross Revenue.

How much does itch.io take?#

Whatever you set. itch.io uses open revenue sharing from 0% to 100%, with 10% as the default. Payment processing is separate: PayPal and Stripe each charge $0.30 + 2.9% per transaction. If itch.io collects payments for you, you need at least $5 available to request a payout, and payouts are reviewed for at least 7 days.

Can I sell my game on Steam and itch.io at the same time?#

Yes. Neither store requires exclusivity. You can even give itch.io buyers Steam keys, as long as the itch.io page also includes files people can download directly from itch.io. Valve's key rules say you must not give Steam customers a worse deal than Steam key buyers.

How long does it take to release a game on Steam?#

Allow at least a month. Valve's onboarding docs list a 21-day wait between paying the app fee and releasing, tax verification can take up to 30 days, new products need a Coming Soon page live for at least two weeks, and store page and build reviews each take 3-5 business days, with Valve advising you plan for 7.

Launch your game on ZeroRaised#

ZeroRaised is a launch directory for products built without institutional VC, self-funded games included. When your Steam or itch.io page is live, submit it to ZeroRaised for free. For more store comparisons and guides on shipping without investors, join the ZeroRaised newsletter.

Sources#

• Steamworks: Steam Direct fee, last checked 14 Nov 2026
• Steamworks: New Revenue Share Tiers announcement, last checked 14 Nov 2026
• Steamworks: Payments and sales reporting, last checked 14 Nov 2026
• Steamworks: Onboarding, last checked 14 Nov 2026
• Steamworks: Coming Soon, last checked 14 Nov 2026
• Steamworks: Review process, last checked 14 Nov 2026
• Steamworks: Wishlists, last checked 14 Nov 2026
• Steamworks: Steam Next Fest, last checked 14 Nov 2026
• Steamworks: Demos, last checked 14 Nov 2026
• Steamworks: Discounts, last checked 14 Nov 2026
• Steamworks: Steam keys, last checked 14 Nov 2026
• itch.io: Payments and payouts, last checked 14 Nov 2026
• itch.io: Creator FAQ, last checked 14 Nov 2026
• itch.io: Getting indexed, last checked 14 Nov 2026
• itch.io: HTML5 games, last checked 14 Nov 2026
• itch.io: Download keys, last checked 14 Nov 2026
• itch.io: Game jams, last checked 14 Nov 2026
• Epic Games Store: Revenue share update, last checked 14 Nov 2026
• Epic Games Store: Epic First Run, last checked 14 Nov 2026