Linux ran 4.01% of the systems in Valve’s July 2026 Steam Hardware & Software Survey, up from 2.89% in July 2025. Windows held 93.67% and macOS 2.32%. This post covers the Windows, Linux and macOS split on Steam, the Windows 11 versus Windows 10 breakdown, which Linux distributions gamers actually run, and the Proton compatibility data sitting underneath the Linux line.
PC Gaming Operating System Market Share
What Is The PC Gaming Operating System Market Share On Steam?
Valve asks a sample of Steam accounts each month to submit their hardware and software details. Participation is optional and anonymous, so the numbers describe volunteering accounts rather than every Steam player.
Windows gave up 1.56 points between July 2025 and July 2026. Linux and macOS took 1.12 and 0.44 points over the same twelve months.
| Operating system | July 2025 | July 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | 95.23% | 93.67% |
| Linux | 2.89% | 4.01% |
| macOS | 1.88% | 2.32% |
Source: Valve, Steam Hardware & Software Survey, share of surveyed systems, July 2025 and July 2026
Both columns total 100% of surveyed systems. The Steam split is far more lopsided than general desktop usage, where Linux desktop share across all PCs tracks on a separate measurement basis, and it differs again from the country-level desktop OS breakdown.
Linux PC Gaming Operating System Market Share Month By Month
Linux did not climb in a straight line through 2026. Phoronix recorded a high of 5.33% in March, which it described as a record for Steam on Linux, followed by three consecutive falls before July’s recovery.
GamingOnLinux reported that Valve’s July release initially compared against May’s figures rather than June’s, and that Valve corrected the comparison afterwards.
| Month | Linux share of surveyed Steam systems |
|---|---|
| March 2026 | 5.33% |
| April 2026 | 4.52% |
| May 2026 | 3.99% |
| June 2026 | 3.69% |
| July 2026 | 4.01% |
Source: Valve, Steam Hardware & Software Survey, as reported by Phoronix, March to July 2026
The swing across those five months is wider than the twelve-month change, which is why a single reading carries limited weight. A longer run of readings sits in this Linux gaming share breakdown on Steam.
Windows 11 vs Windows 10 PC Gaming Operating System Market Share
Microsoft ended free Windows 10 support on October 14, 2025. Nine months later, 23.30% of surveyed Steam systems still ran it.
Windows 7 registered 0.08% in the same survey. Valve stopped supporting Steam on 32-bit Windows on January 1, 2026, a change Valve said affected about 0.01% of systems in its survey.
| OS version | Share of surveyed systems | Monthly change |
|---|---|---|
| Windows 11 64-bit | 70.26% | -0.18 pts |
| Windows 10 64-bit | 23.30% | -0.26 pts |
| Linux | 4.01% | +0.32 pts |
| macOS | 2.32% | +0.11 pts |
| Windows 7 64-bit | 0.08% | +0.01 pts |
Source: Valve, Steam Hardware & Software Survey, combined view, July 2026
Valve’s Windows-only view puts Windows 11 at a different figure, because that view uses Windows systems as its denominator instead of all surveyed systems. Business and consumer readings diverge further still, as this Windows 11 and Windows 10 adoption comparison sets out.
Which Linux Distributions Lead PC Gaming Operating System Market Share?
Valve publishes the distribution breakdown as a share of Linux Steam systems, not as a share of all Steam systems. SteamOS Holo held 22.24% of Linux systems in July 2026, which the combined view lists as 0.89% of all surveyed systems.
CachyOS ranked second at 14.31%, ahead of Arch Linux at 8.29%. Bazzite added 0.45 points, the largest monthly gain in the top five.
| Distribution | Share of Linux Steam systems | Monthly change |
|---|---|---|
| SteamOS Holo 64-bit | 22.24% | -0.59 pts |
| CachyOS 64-bit | 14.31% | +0.28 pts |
| Arch Linux 64-bit | 8.29% | -0.57 pts |
| Linux Mint 22.3 64-bit | 8.12% | +0.22 pts |
| Bazzite 64-bit | 7.73% | +0.45 pts |
| Freedesktop SDK 25.08 (Flatpak runtime) 64-bit | 5.37% | +0.01 pts |
| Fedora Linux 44 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition) 64-bit | 2.92% | +0.40 pts |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 64-bit | 2.92% | +0.35 pts |
Source: Valve, Steam Hardware & Software Survey, Linux-only view, July 2026
The Freedesktop SDK line is a Flatpak runtime rather than a desktop distribution, so Valve counts it separately from the systems underneath it. Valve’s Linux-only view also records the Steam Deck GPU on 11.14% of Linux systems, a figure examined in these Steam Deck usage statistics alongside the Steam Linux Runtime container data.
SteamOS And Its Share Of All Steam Systems
Valve lists the same distributions again in the combined view, measured against every surveyed system rather than only the Linux ones. The two sets of percentages are not interchangeable.
On that basis no single Linux distribution reached 1% of surveyed Steam systems in July 2026.
| Distribution | Share of all surveyed Steam systems |
|---|---|
| SteamOS Holo 64-bit | 0.89% |
| CachyOS 64-bit | 0.57% |
| Arch Linux 64-bit | 0.33% |
| Linux Mint 22.3 64-bit | 0.33% |
| Bazzite 64-bit | 0.31% |
| Freedesktop SDK 25.08 (Flatpak runtime) 64-bit | 0.22% |
Source: Valve, Steam Hardware & Software Survey, combined view, July 2026
Processor vendors split differently on Linux than on Steam as a whole. Valve recorded AMD on 67.21% of Linux Steam systems in July 2026 and Intel on 32.72%, with English set as the client language on 83.22% of them.
Proton Compatibility Behind The Linux PC Gaming Numbers
Boiling Steam derives its own compatibility ratings from ProtonDB user reports rather than reusing ProtonDB’s published ratings. Its October 2025 analysis put roughly 60% of Windows games in the Platinum band, meaning they ran without configuration.
About 10% fell into Bronze or Borked. Boiling Steam publishes these as approximate shares.
| Rating | Definition as published | Share of Windows games |
|---|---|---|
| Platinum | Runs perfectly, out of the box | about 60% |
| Silver | Does not work perfectly but is still playable | about 23% |
| Bronze | Falls between Silver and Borked on average | about 9% |
| Gold | Works almost out of the box, needs tweaking | about 7% |
| Borked | Refuses to launch at all | about 1% |
Source: Boiling Steam, ratings derived from ProtonDB reports, October 2025
Boiling Steam attributed the shrinking Borked band to work on WINE and Proton and to interest in hardware such as the Steam Deck. Distribution choice affects which of these builds a player gets, a point covered in this distribution popularity breakdown.
What Changes For Windows 10 PC Gamers In October 2026?
NVIDIA said it would keep full Game Ready Driver and NVIDIA Studio Driver support for Windows 10 for an additional year past Microsoft’s cutoff.
After October 2026, NVIDIA moves Windows 10 driver support to quarterly security updates carrying critical bug fixes, running through October 2029.
Valve’s survey does not report why any system runs a given OS, so the survey alone cannot say what the 23.30% on Windows 10 will do next. The July 2026 readings are a snapshot of volunteering accounts, and Valve revises figures after publication on occasion.
FAQs
What is the PC gaming operating system market share in 2026?
Windows held 93.67% of systems in Valve’s July 2026 Steam Hardware & Software Survey, Linux 4.01% and macOS 2.32%. The survey is optional and anonymous, so it covers participating accounts rather than all Steam players.
How many Steam gamers still run Windows 10?
Windows 10 64-bit ran 23.30% of surveyed Steam systems in July 2026, down 0.26 points on the month. Microsoft ended free Windows 10 support on October 14, 2025.
Why do Reddit threads say Linux passed 5% on Steam?
Those Reddit posts refer to March 2026, when Phoronix recorded Linux at 5.33% of surveyed Steam systems and called it a record. The figure fell to 3.69% by June and stood at 4.01% in July 2026.
Which Linux distribution do most Steam gamers use?
SteamOS Holo led at 22.24% of Linux Steam systems in July 2026, with CachyOS second at 14.31% and Arch Linux third at 8.29%. Valve measures these against Linux systems, not all Steam systems.
Do Reddit claims about 90% Proton compatibility hold up?
Boiling Steam’s October 2025 ratings, derived from ProtonDB reports, put Platinum at about 60%, Silver about 23% and Gold about 7% of Windows games. Bronze and Borked together accounted for roughly 10%.
Sources
https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Steam-On-Linux-July-2026
https://boilingsteam.com/windows-games-compatibility-on-linux-is-at-a-all-time-high/
https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5695/~/geforce-support-plan-for-windows-10
