A recent Polygon piece flagged that Steam ran three games completely free for the weekend and the deadline slipped past most people’s radar. Valve does not push Steam free weekends to a subscriber list. There is no email digest. The store page rearranges itself, a banner shows up, and if we open Steam on the wrong afternoon we miss the whole thing. The best apps for tracking Steam free games and deals on desktop close that gap.
We tested seven apps and browser extensions on Windows, macOS, and Linux that surface Steam free weekends, free-to-keep giveaways, price drops, and Epic and GOG’s weekly freebies too. Each one covers a different corner of the “did I miss something” problem. Pick by whether we want alerts, a wishlist tracker, historical price data, or a store-page overlay.
What to look for in a Steam free-game tracker
Steam free weekends and free-to-keep giveaways share a few properties that matter for tracking:
- Fast alerts. A free weekend can be as short as 48 hours. A tracker that emails once a week is too slow.
- Cross-store coverage. Epic gives a game away every week, GOG runs weekend freebies, and Amazon Prime Gaming rotates monthly. A Steam-only tracker misses two-thirds of the free wins.
- Historical price data. “Is this the lowest ever?” is the question that turns a 20% off deal into a real buy.
- Wishlist sync. A tracker that watches only what we already care about beats one that fires for every game in the catalogue.
- Regional pricing. Steam’s regional prices swing widely. A US-only tracker misleads a Brazilian, Turkish, or Indian buyer.
- No pay-to-alert. Fresh alerts should not sit behind a subscription.
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Platforms | Free plan | Starting price/mo | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SteamDB | Historical price data and free-game feed | Web, browser extension | Fully free | Free | Community reference |
| Augmented Steam | Steam store overlay for prices, ratings, and freebies | Chrome, Firefox, Edge | Fully free | Free | 4.9 / 5 on WebStore |
| IsThereAnyDeal | Multi-store deal tracker with wishlist alerts | Web + Chrome / Firefox | Fully free | Free | 4.8 / 5 |
| GG.deals | Aggregated key-store deal comparison | Web | Fully free | Free | 4.7 / 5 |
| Deku Deals | Console deal tracker, Steam mirror on some regions | Web + iOS + Android | Fully free | Free | 4.7 / 5 |
| Steam Charts | Live and historical player counts, tied to Steam data | Web | Fully free | Free | Community |
| Free To Game | Free-to-play and free-weekend feed | Web + Android + iOS | Fully free | Free | 4.6 / 5 |
| GOG Galaxy | Unified library that surfaces free games across stores | Windows, macOS | Fully free | Free | Native app |
The apps
1. SteamDB
SteamDB is the community-run database of every app on Steam, and its Free Games section is the single most reliable source of Steam free weekends and free-to-keep promotions. The tracker shows what is currently free, what has been free before, when a free promotion is scheduled to end, and the historical price of every SKU on Steam. The browser extension adds a small overlay to every store page with the game’s lowest price and a link to the SteamDB profile.
Where it falls short: the site is dense and shows its data-first design. It is Steam-only — Epic, GOG, and Prime Gaming freebies live elsewhere.
Pricing:
- Free: fully free, community-run
- Paid: no paid tier, donations optional
Platforms: Web, Chrome, Firefox, Edge extension
Download: SteamDB
Bottom line: the reference for Steam free weekends and price history.
2. Augmented Steam
Augmented Steam is a browser extension that rewrites the Steam store to add the information the base UI does not: current lowest price across stores, whether the game is on a subscription service (Game Pass, PS Plus, EA Play, Ubisoft+), user ratings from OpenCritic and HowLongToBeat, and a “free promotion” banner when a title is currently on a free weekend. For anyone who browses the Steam store often, it makes the store useful again.
Where it falls short: it is a browser extension only. There is no mobile alert path. Some features rely on third-party APIs and can lag when the source is slow.
Pricing:
- Free: fully free, open source
- Paid: no paid tier
Platforms: Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera
Download: Augmented Steam
Bottom line: the pick for a store-page overlay that shows the freebies in context.
3. IsThereAnyDeal
IsThereAnyDeal watches every major PC storefront (Steam, Epic, GOG, Fanatical, Humble, Green Man Gaming, Ubisoft, EA App, Xbox) and pushes alerts when a game on our wishlist drops below a threshold. The wishlist sync pulls from Steam directly, so we do not have to rebuild the list. The Waitlist feature separates “notify at any drop” from “notify at a new all-time low,” which is the setting that matters for serious buyers.
Where it falls short: the free-game feed is broad and needs filtering to focus on Steam. The UI has grown to fit a lot of data.
Pricing:
- Free: fully free
- Paid: no paid tier, optional donations
Platforms: Web + Chrome / Firefox extension
Download: IsThereAnyDeal
Bottom line: the pick for wishlist-driven alerts across every PC store.
4. GG.deals
GG.deals is a deal aggregator with the sharpest key-store coverage on this list. It compares official store prices against authorised key resellers (Fanatical, GreenManGaming, Gamesplanet) and marks the difference clearly. The Watchlist feature emails or pushes when a title drops below a set price, and the RSS feed of newly free games plugs into any reader or bot.
Where it falls short: key-store availability varies by region, and some resellers have had authorisation disputes. Read the small print on any listing outside the official Steam store.
Pricing:
- Free: fully free
- Paid: no paid tier
Platforms: Web
Download: GG.deals
Bottom line: the pick when we are comparing key-store prices, not just Steam.
5. Deku Deals
Deku Deals started as a Nintendo Switch deal tracker but has expanded to Steam and mobile stores in most regions. Its price-drop alerts and historical low tracker are among the cleanest on this list, and the mobile apps push notifications the moment a wishlist title hits our threshold.
Where it falls short: Steam coverage is regional and thinner than SteamDB. The Nintendo focus shows in the UI’s tone.
Pricing:
- Free: fully free
- Paid: no paid tier
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
Download: Deku Deals
Bottom line: the pick for households that buy across Steam and Nintendo.
6. Steam Charts
Steam Charts is the community player-count tracker built on Valve’s public data. For a free-weekend game, the concurrent-player spike is the fastest signal that a Steam free promotion has started and where it is trending. Combined with SteamDB, it answers “is this worth downloading for a weekend?” quickly.
Where it falls short: it is a stats site, not an alert platform. There is no wishlist and no email.
Pricing:
- Free: fully free
- Paid: no paid tier
Platforms: Web
Download: Steam Charts
Bottom line: the pick for reading the crowd on a free weekend before we install.
7. Free To Game
Free To Game curates a feed of free-to-play and free-weekend PC games across Steam, Epic, and standalone launchers. Its API is popular with Discord bots and community sites, and the mobile apps push a notification when a new freebie lands.
Where it falls short: the site’s tone is broader than a Steam-only feed. Some titles are permanently free-to-play, not free-for-a-limited-time, and the UI does not always separate the two clearly.
Pricing:
- Free: fully free
- Paid: no paid tier
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
Download: Free To Game
Bottom line: the pick when we want a broader free-games feed than Steam alone.
8. GOG Galaxy
GOG Galaxy is CD Projekt’s launcher, and its underrated feature in 2026 is unified library management: it connects to Steam, Epic, Ubisoft, EA App, Xbox, and Amazon Prime Gaming and surfaces each store’s current freebies inside one Windows or macOS app. For a household that watches for freebies across every store, GOG Galaxy is the closest thing to a single dashboard.
Where it falls short: Windows and macOS only, no Linux. Some integrations (Amazon Prime Gaming) are half-official and depend on cookies.
Pricing:
- Free: fully free
- Paid: no paid tier
Platforms: Windows, macOS
Download: GOG Galaxy
Bottom line: the pick for a unified launcher that surfaces freebies from every store in one view.
How to pick the right Steam free-game tracker
- If Steam-only free weekends and free-to-keep are the whole target: SteamDB plus Augmented Steam in the browser.
- If we care about wishlist alerts across every PC store: IsThereAnyDeal.
- If we buy from key resellers to save money: GG.deals.
- If Steam and Nintendo are both in the household: Deku Deals.
- If we want to gauge whether a free weekend is worth downloading: Steam Charts.
- If a broad free-to-play feed helps: Free To Game.
- If we want one native desktop launcher that surfaces freebies from every store: GOG Galaxy.
The sensible everyday setup for 2026 is Augmented Steam in the browser for store overlays, IsThereAnyDeal for wishlist alerts, and SteamDB open in a tab when we want the historical low. That combination catches every Steam free weekend without needing a second daily driver.
FAQ
Where can I find every Steam free game? SteamDB’s Free Games page is the reference. It tracks current free promotions, historical free weekends, and every free-to-keep giveaway that has ever run on Steam.
Is there a Steam price-drop notification for wishlist games? Yes. Steam itself sends a wishlist email when a game drops, but the threshold is any discount. IsThereAnyDeal lets us set a specific price or “notify on new lowest ever.”
Are free weekends the same as free-to-keep games on Steam? No. A free weekend lets us play a full game for a limited time. A free-to-keep giveaway (like Epic’s weekly promotion) permanently adds the game to our library. SteamDB and IsThereAnyDeal separate the two categories in their feeds.
Do these apps work outside the US? Yes, and regional pricing is one of the reasons to use them. Steam’s regional prices differ significantly, and IsThereAnyDeal, GG.deals, and SteamDB all surface the local currency alongside the Steam Store.
How do I get alerts when a Steam free weekend starts? The fastest paths are IsThereAnyDeal’s push notifications, SteamDB’s Twitter / X account (which fires every promotion), and the r/GameDeals subreddit’s RSS feed. For a household setup, an n8n or Home Assistant workflow that watches the SteamDB free-games RSS feed and posts to a Discord or Telegram channel takes about ten minutes.
Is GOG Galaxy free? Yes. GOG Galaxy is a free desktop launcher, no account required beyond a GOG.com login. It integrates with the other stores as read-only clients, so buying still happens on each store’s own site.
