What it is
itch.io is the open marketplace for independent games — the distribution side of game development. Anyone can create a page and start selling or giving away a game in minutes, with no approval process, no listing fee, and support for downloadable and browser-playable (HTML5) releases alike.
It is also the beating heart of game-jam culture: thousands of jams run on it, and its pay-what-you-want pricing made it the natural home for prototypes, jam entries, and small strange games that a curated storefront would never stock.
Why it ranks here
- Zero barrier to publishing — a game can be live the day it is finished
- Developers set their own revenue share, including zero
- Pay-what-you-want and browser play are built in, not bolted on
- The default home of game jams and experimental work, with the audience that comes with that
Pros & cons
Pros
- Fastest path from finished build to public page
- The fairest revenue-share terms of any storefront
- A real community around small and weird games
Cons
- Discovery is weak — itch.io sends little traffic, so marketing is on you
- No curation means your game sits next to everything, good and bad
- For most developers it is a first audience, not a primary income channel
Pricing
Free to list and sell. The default revenue share is 10%, and the developer can set it anywhere — including 0%. Payment processing fees apply on top, as everywhere.
Who it’s for
Indie developers launching a first game, jam entries, prototypes, and anyone testing whether an idea finds an audience before a bigger storefront launch.
Who should skip it
Anyone expecting the storefront itself to sell the game — that job belongs to Steam’s discovery machine, not itch.io’s open shelves.
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