A couple years ago a friend was, on principle, not going to install the Epic Games Store. “I’m not even gonna go near it,” he said.
“I’m a Steam guy.” That was the end of that.
Then Epic dropped Control and GTA V as freebies in the space of a year, and I saw him insidiously download that launcher he’d sworn never to use, claim both games, and then never mention his boycott again.
And that’s about all there is to the whole Steam vs Epic debate. Everyone has their opinions about both services, but those opinions get less intense as soon as a free game or a better deal comes along.
Have owned and played on both for many years, have them all – no allegiances to either, just loyalty to whichever one’s going to give me the best deal and the easiest ride. Here’s a straightforward, fanboy-free, ‘what each can actually do better than the other’ rundown.
The shortened version, if you’re in a rush
Steam is the more well-rounded service Larger library, nicer community features, mod support, family sharing, Steam Deck support, a refund policy that’s actually practical. If you had to choose just one launcher to use from now until the end of time, Steam is the safer, more complete choice.
Epic is still worth having installed, in large part because of the free games every week. That’s no small win either, Epic has handed out hundreds of titles as free downloads since 2018, including actual AAA games, and if you check in once a week to pick up what they’re giving away, you can end up with a pretty good backlog of games over time.
Here’s the quick answer. The real reason, and the interesting part for me, is below.
Size of the library and what’s actually available to purchase
Steam has a truly massive library, numbering well over 100,000 titles at this point, ranging from huge AAA blockbusters to tiny indie experiments no one will ever hear about. If a PC game exists, it’s highly likely to be on Steam.
Compared to that, the size of Epic’s library is fairly small. The service does not attempt to contain every single game (and doesn’t want to), but rather focuses on curated, well-known releases. This is not a problem if you want mainstream titles, but less so if you are looking for something more niche. You can also read:
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The Free games situation (this is where Epic really comes into its own)
This is seriously the best Epic giveaway by far, and it’s not even that close. Epic’s weekly giveaway is one or more games every Thursday that you keep forever. You don’t even need to subscribe to keep the games, I’ve snagged quite a few games this way I was planning to buy as full price games, including some AAA titles.
Steam has a thing similar called Free-to-Keep, but that’s a different breed: it’s publisher-driven and not a steady program like Free Play Days. And the quality is all over the place: sure, you might occasionally hit the jackpot, but a lot of the Free-to-Keep stuff is lower-profile releases that weren’t huge hits on release. (steam does also have very good permanently free-to-play offerings like Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2, but those are paid for with microtransactions, not a weekly free title.)
My hot take: if you’re only subscribing to one platform for free games, let it be Epic. Set a weekly reminder if you need to. It really does add up over the course of a year.
Pricing And Sales
Steam runs deep, there are a lot of sales throughout the year, and most PC gamers are fully aware that the time to buy something is just before a Steam Sale. That really is all ingrained in the way people buy from Steam.
Epic also has sales, and its Epic Rewards program gives back a cut of whatever you spend as store credit. Sometimes it’s increased during specific sales, which is a nice perk – but it’s still not quite the Steam culture we’ve had for 20-plus years.
Meanwhile, more privately, there’s a difference in how much money ends up with the developer. Epic takes a flat 12 per cent, whereas Steam’s cut starts at about 30, and goes down as the game sells more copies. Most of this won’t matter if you’re not that bothered about supporting devs directly, but it’s a reason some indie studios favour going Epic first.
Features that actually matter day to day
And this is where Steam runs away with it, by a significant amount.
Steam has:
- Cloud saves across devices
- Family sharing, so you can share your library with members of your family
- A huge, thriving community with reviews, guides and forums for just about every game
- Steam Workshop for mods, which is seriously one of the best mod browsing interfaces you can find
- Native Steam Deck and Linux support
- A well-established, player-friendly refund policy
Epic has:
- A cleaner, more minimal interface
- Cross-platform play support for many titles
- Occasional exclusive or timed-exclusive releases
- A shopping cart feature that took what felt like forever to implement
If you are into modding your games, use Steam Deck, or share your library with your roommate or siblings, then in a practical sense, Steam is a whole other level of platform. Epic still has to learn things Steam got right a decade ago.
How I’d actually build this if I didn’t already have the TRX…
- Download Steam To begin with. Steam is a much bigger and most likely improved default choice for most options available through the library.
- Install Epic Games Store. But Keep it Open Just Once a Week. Create a weekly reminder on Thursdays to open the Epic Games Store. That way, you’re not missing out on free games.
- Compare both sites before buying new. Price variations between the two websites, regional discounts and the schedule of sales can be very different. Doing a quick price comparison (30 seconds) could be worth a lot of money.
- Playing on a Steam Deck or Linux? Almost exclusively play through Steam.
What if I want to play on the Steam Deck or Linux?
No native Epic client exists and the complexity of running Epic games through the Deck’s Desktop Mode with a heroically complicated set of steps to mount the client through a third-party launcher is unlikely to be worth the effort for the average user.
Use a single launcher if you’re juggling many platforms If you have hundreds of titles across dozens of stores like Steam, Epic, and GOG, consolidating them into one launcher can help. Playnite, for example, displays all of your libraries in one app.
My Last Take
Neither has to be the best, and it’s honestly a shame to bother pretending one has to win here. Steam remains the better and more all-encompassing platform for nearly everything that matters on a day-to-day basis (Mods, community, Deck support, family sharing) but Epic still deserves to exist simply for their honest-to-goodness great free games you get for almost no effort.
My buddy who refused to use the Epic launcher on principle, has both now installed, and I’d put money on you’ll wind up at the same place you haven’t already. There really is no reason not to run both, other than to be stubborn and ignore one.
