The Epic Games Launcher owns Fortnite, Rocket League, and a weekly free game that has quietly built a library millions of players never paid for. It also runs no native Linux client, ships a thin social layer next to Steam’s, and forces a separate launcher for a growing list of third-party publishers who ship their own storefronts too. Softonic’s coverage of the fresh Steam refund debate around short indie games made the wider point that the PC storefront market is more competitive than at any time since 2019, and the launcher lock-in is the thing players complain about most in 2026. This piece walks through seven Epic Games Launcher alternatives that cover DRM-free ownership, indie discovery, subscription libraries, and the two big publisher stores you probably already have installed. Each one runs on at least one of Windows, macOS, or Linux, and every section names the refund window and payment terms before the download link.
Quick comparison
| Store | Best for | DRM / DRM-free | Refund policy | Standout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steam | Broadest catalogue | Steam DRM (optional per title) | 14 days, under 2 hours played | Workshop mods, Proton on Linux |
| GOG Galaxy | DRM-free ownership | Fully DRM-free | 30 days, any reason | Offline installers you keep forever |
| itch.io | Indie and experimental | Mostly DRM-free | Refunds via developer | Pay-what-you-want and bundles |
| Humble Bundle | Charity bundles and monthly | Delivered as Steam or DRM-free keys | 15 days on unredeemed keys | Trove of DRM-free downloads with Choice |
| EA App | EA catalogue and Play | EA DRM | 14 days, under 2 hours | EA Play subscription, cross-buy with Steam |
| Ubisoft Connect | Ubisoft catalogue and Plus | Ubisoft DRM | 14 days, under 2 hours | Ubisoft Plus subscription across PC and cloud |
| Xbox app | Game Pass on PC | Xbox DRM plus Game Pass streaming | 14 days, under 2 hours | Day-one first-party releases via Game Pass |
Why people are looking past Epic
Three complaints show up in Reddit and forum threads faster than any others. The first is Linux. Epic ships no native Linux client, and the community workarounds (Heroic Games Launcher, Legendary) work well but sit outside anything Epic officially supports. Steam Deck owners either use Heroic or skip Epic entirely. The second is the social layer. Profiles, reviews, patch notes, and cross-region gifting are all on Epic’s 2026 roadmap because the store still lacks them, and players who move between friend groups feel the gap. The third is launcher fatigue. A serious library in 2026 often means Epic plus Steam plus EA plus Ubisoft plus Xbox running at startup, and Epic’s exclusives (partly bought, partly earned) mean it stays in the mix even when players would rather consolidate.
Steam, best for the widest catalogue
Steam is the default because everything is on it and the tooling around it matures every year. Proton and the Steam Deck have turned Linux support from a curiosity into a shipping feature, cloud saves and family sharing work across most titles, and the Workshop still hosts the largest modding scene on PC. Community reviews, discussion boards, and screenshots ship with every store page, which is the piece Epic is only now rebuilding.
Where it falls short: the interface is heavier than it needs to be, and the recent debate over the 2-hour refund window has renewed criticism that short indie games get penalised because a full playthrough can burn the entire refund limit. Some publishers still choose Epic first for the higher revenue share.
Payment and refund policy: major cards, PayPal, and regional wallets. Refunds within 14 days of purchase if you played under 2 hours.
Download: store.steampowered.com
Bottom line: pick Steam if you want one library that covers 95% of PC gaming with the best Linux story on the market.
GOG Galaxy, best for DRM-free ownership
GOG sells every game DRM-free. That means the installers you download work forever, on any machine, with or without the launcher running. GOG Galaxy is the optional client that adds cloud saves, achievements, and library aggregation across Steam, Epic, EA, Ubisoft, and Xbox in one window. For back-catalogue PC gaming (older RPGs, classic strategy, cult indies) the CD Projekt curation is stronger than anywhere else.
Where it falls short: the new-release list is narrower than Steam’s, and some AAA publishers refuse to ship without DRM, which keeps them off GOG entirely. Galaxy’s Linux client is still community-driven rather than official.
Payment and refund policy: cards, PayPal, and regional options. 30-day refund window with no playtime cap.
Download: gog.com
Bottom line: pick GOG if you want to actually own the game files and never worry about a service going dark.
itch.io, best for indie and experimental games
itch.io is where the strangest, most personal games live. Jams, prototypes, textbooks-as-games, tabletop PDFs, and pay-what-you-want experiments all sit on the same storefront. Developers keep the vast majority of the revenue, and the client is a lightweight optional download that manages updates for anything you own. Charity bundles routinely bundle hundreds of games for ten to twenty dollars.
Where it falls short: discovery is chaotic by design, and quality varies wildly between polished releases and week-old game-jam entries. Very few AAA titles ship here.
Payment and refund policy: cards, PayPal, and cryptocurrency in some regions. Refunds are handled per-developer rather than by a store policy, so results vary.
Download: itch.io
Bottom line: pick itch if you want to discover games nobody else is selling and pay developers directly.
Humble Bundle, best for charity bundles and monthly picks
Humble sells discounted keys, publishes a monthly Choice subscription (three PC games a month for around twelve dollars), and routes a slice of every purchase to charity. Most keys redeem into Steam, GOG, or the DRM-free Trove, so Humble acts as a payment layer on top of the launchers you already use rather than a launcher of its own.
Where it falls short: because keys redeem elsewhere, there is no unified library or install client of Humble’s own. Some regional pricing is less generous than the flat US dollar sticker suggests.
Payment and refund policy: cards, PayPal, and Amazon Pay. Unredeemed keys can be refunded within 15 days.
Download: humblebundle.com
Bottom line: pick Humble if you like curated monthly picks and want your gaming spend to move some money to charity.
EA App, best for EA titles and EA Play
The EA App replaced Origin in 2022 and now runs FIFA (or EA Sports FC), Battlefield, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and The Sims. EA Play, the publisher’s subscription, gives access to a rotating catalogue plus early trials of new releases, and it also ships as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Most EA titles are cross-buy with Steam, meaning a purchase on either store activates on both launchers.
Where it falls short: you cannot sensibly avoid the EA App for EA’s own catalogue, and the client history includes rough patches around downloads, authentication, and offline mode that some users still hit.
Payment and refund policy: major cards, PayPal, and PC prepaid cards. 14-day refund window if the game has been played under 2 hours.
Download: ea.com
Bottom line: pick the EA App if you play EA sports, Battlefield, or Mass Effect, and consider EA Play instead of buying single titles at full price.
Ubisoft Connect, best for Ubisoft’s catalogue and Ubisoft Plus
Ubisoft Connect handles Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, Rainbow Six Siege, Anno, and the rest of the publisher’s roster. Ubisoft Plus, the subscription tier, includes premium editions of new Ubisoft games at launch on PC (and cloud on selected platforms). Rewards, cross-progression, and the Ubisoft Store all sit inside the same client.
Where it falls short: the launcher is required even when you bought the game on Steam or Epic, which is exactly the multi-launcher complaint that pushed some players away from Epic in the first place. Server outages during launch weekends have been a recurring pain point.
Payment and refund policy: cards, PayPal, and regional wallets. 14-day refund window if you played under 2 hours, requested via Ubisoft Support.
Download: ubisoft.com
Bottom line: pick Ubisoft Connect if you play Ubisoft games often enough that Ubisoft Plus is cheaper than buying two of them a year.
Xbox app, best for Game Pass on PC
The Xbox app on Windows is the front door to PC Game Pass, which puts hundreds of games (including every Xbox Game Studios first-party title on release day) behind a monthly subscription. It also connects to Xbox Cloud Gaming, so titles stream to lower-powered laptops and to macOS through a browser. Purchased games install as standard Windows Store packages, and controller support is the most consistent across the launchers on this list.
Where it falls short: no native macOS or Linux client, and the Windows Store install model still frustrates modders and users who want to move install folders around. Titles leave Game Pass on a rotating schedule, which is fine for a rental library but painful if you were mid-campaign.
Payment and refund policy: cards, PayPal, and Microsoft account balance. 14-day refund window if the game has been played under 2 hours.
Download: xbox.com
Bottom line: pick Game Pass on the Xbox app if you play a wide variety of games each month and prefer a Netflix-style catalogue over a permanent library.
How to choose
Start with the OS. On Linux or a Steam Deck, Steam plus GOG covers almost everything you can realistically run, and Heroic Games Launcher pulls Epic titles in unofficially when a specific exclusive matters. On Windows, the honest answer is that most players run two or three launchers, so the question is which combination. For most PC libraries the strongest pairing is Steam plus GOG: Steam for breadth and social, GOG for the games you want to own outright. Add itch.io if indie is your thing, Humble Bundle if a monthly bundle appeals, and the publisher launchers (EA, Ubisoft, Xbox) only for the specific catalogues you actually play. Subscription-first players get the best value from Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which folds EA Play into it and adds cloud streaming on top.
Stay on Epic if you play Fortnite or Rocket League, if you claim the weekly free game religiously, or if a specific timed exclusive is on your must-play list. Everything else has a better home elsewhere in 2026.
FAQ
Is Steam better than Epic Games Launcher? Steam has a broader catalogue, a more mature social layer, and the best Linux support on the market through Proton. Epic often runs sharper prices on the same titles thanks to its lower publisher cut, and it hands out a weekly free game. For most players Steam is the primary launcher and Epic sits alongside it for exclusives and giveaways.
Which store lets you keep the games DRM-free? GOG is the only major store built around fully DRM-free installers, so the game files work forever regardless of the launcher. itch.io is mostly DRM-free at the developer’s discretion, and Humble Bundle’s Trove ships DRM-free downloads to Choice subscribers.
Can you get Epic Games on Linux? Not officially. Epic has never shipped a native Linux client. Community projects like Heroic Games Launcher and Legendary wrap the Epic API and work well on the Steam Deck and desktop Linux, but they are unofficial and Epic support does not cover them.
What is the cheapest way to play a lot of PC games? Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is the cheapest broad catalogue, at roughly the price of one game per month for hundreds of titles including day-one first-party Xbox releases and EA Play. Humble Choice is the runner-up, at three PC games per month for slightly less. Buying on GOG or Steam sales is cheaper per title if you know exactly what you want.
Do you have to run Epic Games Launcher for Fortnite? Yes, on PC. Fortnite ships through the Epic Games Launcher, and no other storefront distributes it. On other platforms (consoles, cloud) Fortnite runs through the platform’s own store, but the PC version is Epic-only.
