Linux Share Climbs to 3.95% on Steam
Valve's October 2026 Steam Hardware & Software Survey shows Windows losing share while Linux and macOS gain.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Computers
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Valve published the Steam Hardware & Software Survey for October 2026, showing Windows at 93.70% of Steam users, down 1.33 percentage points. Linux rose to 3.95%, up 0.90 points, while macOS reached 2.35%, up 0.43 points.
Why it matters
The shift marks a notable change in the operating system mix among Steam's large PC gaming audience, which developers and hardware makers track closely. Linux gains matter for game studios deciding whether to support the platform.
Valve's survey reports CachyOS 64 bit at 16.39% and SteamOS Holo 64 bit at 13.89% as the leading Linux distributions among Steam users. The survey does not address how these shares will change in future periods.
The players
Valve
Valve is the company behind the Steam digital storefront, which publishes the monthly hardware and software survey used to track operating system shares among its users.
The details
Valve published results from the Steam Hardware & Software Survey covering October 2026, reporting operating system shares as percentages of Steam users. SteamOS appears twice in the data, once as Holo and once as a separate entry, and the Steam Frame is included in the VR statistics.
Timeline
October 2026: Survey data period covered by the report.
November 2, 2026: Valve publishes the survey results.
Computers
Valve's monthly Steam Hardware & Software Survey serves as the primary public record of operating system share among PC gamers, and this October 2026 edition continues that series by showing Linux gaining ground against Windows.
Linux users on Steam gain more distribution choices and better game compatibility as their share grows. Windows users see no direct change to their setups from this survey alone.
The takeaway
Growth in Linux and macOS shares on Steam signals that PC gaming is becoming less dependent on a single operating system, a trend worth watching in future surveys.
Further reading
Explore more operating system and hardware coverage in our Computers section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by GamingOnLinux.
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