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For most indie developers, the strongest non-Steam setup is a stack: publish on itch.io for a fast, low-cost launch; add the Epic Games Store when another mainstream PC storefront fits your release plan; and submit to GOG if your game suits a curated, DRM-free catalog. Treat Humble, Microsoft Store, and browser-game portals as targeted extras rather than one-size-fits-all replacements. Keep Steam in the commercial plan unless you have a specific reason to skip it: the goal is to reach additional audiences, not to assume another store will replace its scale.
At a glance
| Name | Best for | Key spec | Free plan / price | Platforms | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| itch.io | First release, demos, game jams, experimental games | Open revenue sharing; no platform DRM or review queue | $0 to publish; creator-set 0–100% platform share; default 10%, plus processor fees (itch.io Creator FAQ and Payments docs, 2026) | PC downloads, HTML5 | Nov 2026 |
| Epic Games Store | Commercial PC releases seeking a mainstream storefront and lower platform cut | 12% standard store commission; first $1 million net per product per year at 0% under the policy introduced June 2025 | Guides disagree on whether a $100 listing fee applies; check the Epic Developer Portal before submitting | PC | Nov 2026 |
| GOG | Finished, DRM-free games, especially narrative, retro, RPG, and strategy titles | Curated submission; offline installers and optional GOG Galaxy | GOG does not state a universal public rate in the pages checked; industry reports estimate about 30% (2026 reporting) | PC | Nov 2026 |
| Humble Store and bundles | Timed bundles, charity promotions, or another keyless sales channel | Most useful as an extra promotion, not a primary launch store | Current standard split not stated by Humble in the pages covered by 2026 reporting | PC keys / keyless redemption | Nov 2026 |
| Microsoft Store / Xbox Game Pass for PC | Microsoft Store sales or a negotiated subscription deal | Microsoft Store checkout is reported at 12%; Game Pass is a licensing deal | Individual Microsoft Store registration reported free by a September 2026 guide; confirm in Partner Center | PC | Nov 2026 |
| Game Jolt, Newgrounds, CrazyGames, and Poki | HTML5, browser, and jam games | Portal terms vary; some require marketplace approval or involve exclusivity | Terms differ by portal; verify each live seller agreement | Browser / HTML5 | Nov 2026 |
| Your own website | Direct sales to an audience you already reach | No storefront share, but the developer supplies the traffic | About $0–$10/year for a domain in vbgnt’s 2026 estimate, plus payment processing | Web sales and linked downloads | Nov 2026 |
Store terms can change. The fee and share figures above reflect the dates and sources identified in each cell, not a guarantee of the terms you will receive when you apply.
Which PC storefronts are the best alternatives to Steam?
For a typical indie, use itch.io first, then choose other stores based on the game and your capacity to maintain another release pipeline. Epic is the strongest broadly commercial option on published revenue terms; GOG is a more selective fit for DRM-free games; the remaining choices serve narrower distribution or discovery needs.
1. itch.io: the easiest first ship
itch.io is the most flexible place to put up a demo, jam build, experimental release, soundtrack, or early audience-facing page. Its Creator FAQ says it costs nothing to create pages and upload content. New pages begin private: set visibility to Public to make the page live. There is no review queue, so a developer can publish as soon as the page and files are ready.
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Its Open Revenue Sharing model lets creators choose itch.io’s share from 0% to 100%. The documented default is 10%, with payment-processing charges on top. In itch.io’s 2026 worked example, a $10 sale at the default split nets the creator $8.41 after the platform share and typical PayPal or Stripe charges of $0.30 plus 2.9%. Actual proceeds depend on the transaction and payment setup, so the example is not a universal per-sale guarantee.
itch.io permits pay-what-you-want pricing above a minimum, including a $0 minimum with an option to donate. Its FAQ says it does not take ownership of uploads and delivers games as uploaded, without platform DRM. Those terms make it useful for press keys, demos, experimental projects, and HTML5 games playable on the page, as well as a low-friction parallel release alongside another store.
The trade-off is commercial reach. itch.io has a smaller paid-PC buyer base than Steam or Epic and limited algorithmic discovery, so a page going public should not be mistaken for a launch marketing plan. StraySpark (April 2026) and Summer Engine (June 2026) describe it as an always-on parallel channel rather than the only commercial store. Its community and jam use can still make it valuable even when most sales are expected elsewhere.
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2. Epic Games Store: the mainstream option with the most aggressive published cut
Epic’s published PC-store terms are attractive for a game that can benefit from a mainstream storefront without taking a standard 30% cut. Under the policy introduced in June 2025, developers receive 100% of a product’s first $1 million in annual net revenue, then the standard 88/12 split applies to revenue above the threshold. Reporting says the threshold resets each January 1 from 2026, and applies per product.
That is a platform commission, not a complete estimate of a game’s net income: taxes, refunds, payment arrangements, and other costs can affect proceeds. A September 2026 FutureTweets illustration estimates that $500,000 of first-year net revenue would leave $350,000 under a 30% store fee versus the full $500,000 under Epic’s first-$1-million policy. It is an arithmetic example, not a sales forecast, and excludes processor and VAT effects.
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Epic First Run is a separate, optional exclusivity program. Promise Legal’s July 2026 summary of Epic terms says an eligible game can receive 100% of revenue for its first six months on the store if it has not already launched on another third-party PC store. Direct sales through the developer’s own site and keyless partners such as Humble are allowed during that window; competing third-party PC storefronts are not. After six months, the ordinary 88/12 split or the applicable first-$1-million policy takes over. The decision is therefore about timing and audience access as much as commission: a First Run participant gives up a simultaneous launch on competing third-party stores.
One important cost remains unsettled: 2026 guides disagree about whether Epic charges a $100 listing fee per game or allows self-publishing at no cost. The evidence available does not resolve the conflict. Check the Epic Developer Portal the week you submit instead of budgeting on either figure as certain. Self-publishing is described as open to developers, but Epic’s intake is still a review process rather than an instant-publication flow.
Epic’s audience is substantial but should be described precisely. The Epic 2025 Year in Review, as reported by Tech Insider in February 2026, gives an average of 67 million monthly active users and 31 million daily active users across 2025, plus 317 million registered PC accounts, $1.16 billion in player spend, $400 million in third-party developer spend (up 57% year over year), and 6.65 billion hours on the store. A separate figure of 78 million monthly active users is a December 2025 peak, not the year’s average. Registered accounts and activity figures describe different things; neither is a forecast of buyers for a particular indie.
Epic is a sensible addition when the team can maintain another store page and update path, especially if revenue could remain below the annual threshold or the studio is open to First Run. Its smaller paying-PC habit compared with Steam, weaker community and mod infrastructure, and history of exclusivity backlash can make a simultaneous, non-exclusive listing more appealing than an exclusivity deal. For games using Unreal Engine, distinguish store terms from engine terms: the 5% Unreal Engine royalty is separate, and FutureTweets reports Epic waives that royalty for exclusive Epic sales; that does not erase the store commission after the applicable holiday.
3. GOG: a curated DRM-free home for the right game
GOG is not an open-upload store. Developers submit a game for manual review, so it is better treated as a selective second storefront than as a same-afternoon alternative to itch.io. Its audience proposition is ownership: GOG offers DRM-free games, offline installers, and an optional Galaxy client. The fit is strongest for finished single-player titles, classic or retro releases, narrative games, RPGs, and strategy games whose buyers value preservation and downloadable installers.
GOG became independent again in December 2025, when co-founder Michał Kiciński acquired 100% of GOG sp. z o.o. from CD Projekt for PLN 90.7 million; The Verge reported the value as $25.2 million. CD Projekt said its games would remain on GOG, including upcoming titles. In the same announcement, Kiciński described the founding idea as making classic games available and ensuring that a purchase “truly belongs to you — forever.” GOG’s own December 2025 blog said, “DRM-free is more central to GOG than ever.” The ownership change is relevant context, but it does not make GOG less curated or guarantee acceptance for a submission.
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GOG’s June 2023 developer explainer says it does not require exclusivity and encourages multi-platform releases. That article cited millions of monthly visitors and 8 million newsletter subscribers at the time; those are 2023 figures, not an audited 2026 audience count. Its submission materials also describe SDK Wrapper tools for achievements, leaderboards, and statistics, plus support whose average first response was around 1.25 hours during the first seven days, as stated in that developer explainer.
GOG’s 30-day refund policy is a notable buyer-facing feature. GOG’s 2023 developer article cited a 1.8% refund rate for 2022; that is historical, not a current guarantee. The live GOG Preservation Program counters accessed October 29, 2026 showed 336 games, 1,735 improvements, and an average rating of 4.2/5. GOG says the program is currently Windows-only; new releases still in live operations generally do not join, and games already in the program remain maintained if delisted.
There are two commercial uncertainties to account for. Industry reporting places GOG near Steam’s 30% platform fee, but GOG does not publish a universal public rate on the pages checked for this article, so treat the estimate as a planning assumption and confirm contract terms. Reported catalog totals also vary substantially—from roughly 3,000 curated titles in Tech Insider’s June 2026 account to around 12,000 community-tracked titles in FutureTweets’ September 2026 account. Rather than presenting one disputed number as fact, the useful conclusion is that GOG is larger than a boutique label but much smaller and more selective than Steam.
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4. Humble: a promotion and keyless channel, not usually launch store number one
Humble is most useful for a timed bundle, charity promotion, or an additional keyless sales route, rather than as the primary home for a new PC launch. StraySpark’s April 2026 assessment calls it marginal as a primary distribution channel and useful for charity bundles. A bundle can put a game in front of buyers, but the proceeds are shared among the developer, charity, and Humble according to the deal. The current standard store and bundle splits were not established in the Humble partner information covered here, so negotiate from the actual offer rather than assuming a fixed percentage.
Humble also matters if a developer is considering Epic First Run: Promise Legal identifies it as an Epic keyless-redemption partner allowed during the six-month exclusivity window. That is different from listing the game on a competing third-party PC storefront. Fungies reported that Humble allocated $12.4 million to charity in 2024; that figure is secondary reporting, not a current developer payout promise or a split for a particular bundle.
5. Microsoft Store and Game Pass: separate routes, separate deals
The Microsoft Store can be an additional PC sales channel, while Xbox Game Pass is a negotiated licensing opportunity. They should not be treated as one self-serve storefront package. vbgnt’s September 2026 guide says individual Microsoft Store registration is free and reports a 12% fee on PC games sold through Microsoft’s checkout. A June 2026 guide instead listed a $19 one-time developer fee and a wider 12%–30% range. Because the later report says the individual fee was dropped, verify the current fee and identity-check requirements in Microsoft Partner Center before submitting.
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For Game Pass, a payment is negotiated, not an automatic revenue share or guaranteed check size. StraySpark says Microsoft tightened criteria in 2025–2026 and recommends approaching through a publisher when one is available. Fungies notes that some indie developers report six-figure minimums, but that is anecdotal; Microsoft does not publish a universal rate card in the sources covered here. Treat any deal as an offer to assess on its own terms, not a predictable part of launch revenue.
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For games designed to run in a browser, portals such as Game Jolt, Newgrounds, CrazyGames, and Poki can be more relevant than another downloadable PC storefront. itch.io supports HTML5 games that play on the page. Game Jolt offers browser builds and a free account, but selling requires an approved Marketplace account. Its current selling share is not reliably established: October 2026 reporting says developers set it below 10%, while April 2026 reporting lists 70/30. Check Game Jolt’s live selling terms before pricing around a percentage.
CrazyGames is a free portal with an SDK and ad-revenue sharing; a test launch is possible, and exclusivity is optional. Poki is exclusive by default, with terms set by deal, so read the offer carefully before committing a browser build there. Newgrounds combines portal distribution with community votes through its “Under Judgment” process. These portals serve browser and jam games; they are not substitutes for a Steam-scale paid-PC audience. Kongregate stopped accepting new games in July 2020, according to vbgnt.
7. Your own website: a sales endpoint, not built-in discovery
A developer’s website can sell directly or point visitors to store pages. vbgnt estimates a domain at about $0–$10 per year and no storefront share, while payment processing still applies. itch.io and Summer Engine both support embedding or linking store content, so an owned site can connect a mailing list, press page, and demo to the places where a customer can buy.
The trade-off is that a domain does not bring its own buyer audience. Direct sales work best when the developer already has players to send there, and they add responsibility for checkout, delivery, customer support, and any applicable tax handling. For most small teams, it complements a storefront instead of replacing one.
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Compare each option on six practical questions: upfront cost, revenue share and payment fees, approval requirements, buyer intent, DRM and ownership, and the work needed to keep builds and updates current. A low commission is not automatically best if the store’s audience is a poor fit or the team cannot maintain another channel.
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- Upfront cost and recoupability: itch.io has no publishing fee. Epic’s listing fee is disputed in current guides, so confirm it before committing. For context, Steam Direct charges $100 per app, recoupable after $1,000 in adjusted gross revenue; Valve’s reported commission falls from 30% to 25% after $10 million in lifetime gross revenue and to 20% after $50 million, per product.
- Platform and processor share: separate the store’s percentage from payment processing and taxes. itch.io’s configurable share makes the platform cut adjustable, but the processor still charges. Epic’s first-$1-million policy is a per-product annual threshold, not an across-the-board 0% commission on all future sales.
- Review and time to live: itch.io pages can be made public without a review queue. Epic has a review process, while GOG’s manual curation means a submission can take longer or be declined. Do not schedule a GOG page as though it were guaranteed to go live on the same day as an itch.io release.
- Audience and buyer intent: itch.io is especially useful for jams, demos, and experimental projects; Epic adds a broader PC storefront; GOG attracts buyers interested in DRM-free ownership and preservation; browser portals serve games built for web play. A large registered-account count is not the same as an audience ready to buy your genre.
- Ownership and DRM: itch.io delivers files as uploaded with no platform DRM. GOG emphasizes DRM-free games, offline installers, and an optional Galaxy client. Check each store’s build, launcher, and contract requirements rather than assuming every non-Steam store works the same way.
- Discovery and promotion: itch.io can support jams and creator communities; Epic has a free-game halo; GOG can notify wishlisters when a game discounts; Humble offers bundle exposure; Game Pass is a potential licensing deal. None guarantees discovery or sales.
- Build and update workload: a single Windows build can serve several storefronts. The extra burden is often store pages, tax forms, keys or packaging, and separate update pipelines—not building the game engine again. Keep a clear release checklist for each channel.
Why keep Steam in the plan if this is about other stores?
Because adding storefronts is usually a way to diversify reach, not a reliable reason to abandon the biggest PC marketplace. The commercial risk is real: Fungies, citing WN Hub and PC Gamer in April 2026, reports that 40% of Steam games released in 2025 had not recouped the $100 Direct fee, and only 8% of 2025 releases grossed more than $100,000. It also reports more than 13,000 new releases in 2025 at the time of writing, on a trajectory toward 18,800 the previous year. Those figures show how crowded the store is, but not that a smaller store will automatically sell more copies.
Fungies, citing GameDiscoverCo, also reports that only 6% of games in the prior 12 months reached 100,000 wishlists before launch, while 66% launched with fewer than 10,000. The practical response is to build external traffic and choose additional stores with a reason: a demo community, a DRM-free audience, a browser-first format, or an actual licensing offer. An extra store is distribution infrastructure; it does not by itself create demand.
What launch order makes sense for a small indie team?
A staged release keeps the first launch manageable while preserving options for wider distribution. Adjust this order if an exclusivity agreement, publisher arrangement, platform requirement, or game format changes the constraints.
- Prepare a release-ready build. Start with a clean Windows build and add Mac, Linux, or HTML5 versions only if you can support them. Check the build on a machine other than the development PC, then make a list of version numbers, files, and update responsibilities.
- Put the itch.io page live. Publish a demo, game build, soundtrack, or pay-what-you-want release. Use the page for early feedback, jam participation, and press access; set its visibility to Public when ready.
- Keep Steam in the commercial plan. Decide whether there is a specific business or creative reason to omit it rather than treating a non-Steam launch as an automatic advantage. Steam’s audience and wishlist momentum remain significant, even when its release volume is daunting.
- Add Epic when the economics and workload fit. Another storefront page and update process are more manageable when your build pipeline is already stable. Assess whether the first-$1-million policy changes your expected take, confirm the listing fee in the portal, and make a deliberate decision about whether First Run exclusivity is worth delaying competing storefront releases.
- Submit to GOG if the game fits its catalog. A DRM-free, finished single-player, retro, narrative, RPG, or strategy game has a clearer case than a title whose current live-ops model conflicts with the Preservation Program’s stated limitations. Allow time for curation and confirm the offered contract share.
- Consider bundles after launch. Use Humble for a timed bundle or charity window when the offer’s economics and timing make sense; do not build the core launch forecast around an unconfirmed bundle.
- Approach Game Pass through a real opportunity. If a publisher or Microsoft deal path exists, evaluate the proposed terms. Do not treat an unrequested licensing payment as guaranteed revenue.
- For HTML5, start with browser-native distribution. itch.io plus Game Jolt or Newgrounds can suit a jam or web-first release. Consider CrazyGames or Poki only after checking the SDK, ad-revenue, and exclusivity terms for your specific deal.
How were these storefronts selected?
The selection prioritizes stores with a distinct use for indie PC developers: low-friction publishing, a materially different published revenue model, a DRM-free curated audience, a known bundle or licensing role, or distribution built for browser games. The comparison weighs upfront cost, platform cut and payment fees, openness versus curation, buyer fit, DRM, discovery mechanisms, time-to-live, and the recurring work of maintaining another storefront. A store is included for the job it can do, not because every developer should use every channel.
Frequently Asked Questions
What cover-art size should I use for an itch.io game page?
itch.io’s cover-art guidance recommends a 315:250 aspect ratio and a 630 × 500 image. New accounts also have a soft limit of 20 pages and file-size limits, which can be raised by request.
Can I sell an adult game on itch.io?
Eligibility depends on both itch.io’s rules and payment-processor restrictions. itch.io’s 2026 FAQ bars sexualized images or videos of real people, including AI imagery designed to resemble real people, and some processor-restricted themes cannot be sold.
Does itch.io let buyers pay more than the minimum price?
Yes. Developers can use pay-what-you-want pricing above a minimum, including setting the minimum to $0 and allowing buyers to donate more. An itch.io blog post from 2015 said 30% of money spent on the platform was above the minimum and the average purchase was about $1.50 above it; those figures are historical, not current sales guidance.
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