Steam Plans Pricing
Steam does not charge a per-call fee for the Steamworks Web API. Access is gated by a free Steam Web API Key (any Steam user) for the public read-only interfaces, and by a Steamworks publisher account for partner-restricted interfaces. Valve monetizes via a non-recurring $100 USD Steam Direct submission fee per product (recoupable once the product passes $1,000 in adjusted gross revenue) and via revenue share on store sales (commonly described as 30/25/20 across published volume tiers, with Valve's share decreasing as a title's gross sales pass $10M and $50M). Players pay nothing to use the Steam Community Web API beyond owning a Steam account.
Steam Plans Pricing is the machine-readable pricing-plan profile for Steam on the APIs.io network, conforming to the API Commons Plans specification.
It defines 3 plans, covering free, paid, and revenue-share tiers, with named plans including Public Steam Web API, Steam Direct (Game Publisher), Steam Distribution Revenue Share.
Tagged areas include Gaming, Valve, Distribution, Steamworks, and Marketplace.
Plans
Any Steam user can register a free Web API key at steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey to call the public, read-only interfaces (ISteamUser, ISteamUserStats, ISteamNews, IPlayerService, etc.). No fee, but subject to the Steam Web API Terms of Use.
- Free API Key
- Public Read-Only Interfaces
- 100K Calls / Day Soft Limit
Submit a game to the Steam store via Steam Direct. A non-refundable $100 USD submission fee is charged per product, recoupable from earnings once the product reaches $1,000 in adjusted gross revenue. Publishers receive a Steamworks partner account with access to partner-restricted Web API interfaces (ISteamMicroTxn, IInventoryService, IGameInventory, ISteamCheckout, etc.).
- Steamworks Publisher Account
- Partner-Restricted Web APIs
- Microtransaction Support
- Inventory + Workshop Tooling
- Recoupable from First $1K Adjusted Gross Revenue
Valve takes a graduated share of store sales. The commonly cited tiers are 30% on the first $10M of a title's lifetime gross, 25% on $10M-$50M, and 20% above $50M. Exact terms are in the Steam Distribution Agreement.
- Graduated Revenue Share
- Valve Pays Net of Refunds and Chargebacks