What Is Itch.io? The Indie-First Alternative to Steam

July 22, 2026

TL;DR Itch.io lets indie creators set their own price, keep more of each sale, and ship without DRM by default — the platform built around creator terms instead of a marketplace's.

Itch.io is a digital platform for indie games, game-development tools, and other creative software. Creators set their own prices (including free or pay-what-you-want), choose their own commission rate, and ship without DRM by default.

Itch.io vs. Steam

Steam takes a fixed 30% commission and requires a Steam account to play purchased games, tied to that account and platform indefinitely. Itch.io lets creators set their own commission - often far lower than 30%, sometimes zero - and doesn't require an account or client to play what you've bought: the file is yours. What you trade away is Steam's far larger built-in audience and discovery - Itch.io is a better deal for the creator and the buyer's ownership rights, but a harder platform to get discovered on.

Why It Matters for Digital Independence

Itch.io is infrastructure built around creator independence rather than platform control. Low commission, DRM-free by default, and no requirement to route every purchase through a single company's account system. It's one of the few major game storefronts actually built on the values this project is about, not just tolerant of them. It's also the default home for game jams - time-boxed community events like Ludum Dare, where developers build and publish a complete game in a weekend - precisely because Itch.io lets anyone publish instantly with no approval process or listing fee standing in the way.

Getting Started

A recurring conversation on r/indiegaming is whether it's worth releasing on Itch.io in addition to Steam, given the smaller audience — the usual answer from developers who've done both is yes, specifically because Itch.io lets you set your own price and terms, and test pricing experiments (pay-what-you-want periods, bundles) that Steam's system doesn't easily support, while reaching a community that specifically looks there for creator-first releases.