How to get free Steam games legally (2026)

Yes, it’s possible to get Steam games without paying a cent — all legally. Here are the best ways to do it.

1. Free to Play games on Steam

Steam has hundreds of high-quality free games:

Counter-Strike 2 — The world’s most-played competitive shooter
Dota 2 — MOBA with millions of active players
Apex Legends — Battle royale from the Titanfall creators
Path of Exile — ARPG with more depth than Diablo
Warframe — Cooperative space action
Team Fortress 2 — Valve’s classic team-based shooter

2. Epic Games Store — free games every week

Epic Games gives away 1–2 games every week. They’re not Steam games, but they’re full PC games you keep forever. They’ve given away huge titles like GTA V, Civilization VI, Control and more.

3. Temporary Steam promotions

Steam occasionally makes games free for a limited time. Keep an eye on:

Free weekends — try full games during the weekend
Special events — during Summer Sale or Winter Sale they sometimes give games away
Launches — some developers give their game away for a limited time to gain visibility

4. Amazon Prime Gaming

If you have Amazon Prime, every month you get free games through Prime Gaming. They’re full games you keep forever. Titles have included Fallout 76, Star Wars Squadrons and more.

5. Hardware promotions

When you buy NVIDIA or AMD GPUs, they often include free games. Promotions change every few months but usually include recent AAA titles.

6. Steam Points Shop

With the Steam points you accumulate by buying games, you can redeem profile backgrounds, emoticons and sometimes game content. Not full games, but bonus content.

7. Free betas and early access

Some games offer open betas for free before launch. It’s a way to try new games without paying.

8. Humble Bundle — almost-free games

Humble Bundle offers game packs where you choose the price. Sometimes you can get several games for $1, and part of it goes to charity.

And if you want to buy cheap?

If the game you want isn’t free, you can always compare prices between stores to find the lowest one.

Compare PC game prices →