Welcome! On this page you can find out everything about most popular and those less popular websites that can easily compete with Steam Store!
You can discuss alternative shops in the comments!
We will mention if any of the listed shops contain DRM (Digital Restriction Management) games, regional locked games or regional shops. SSL security is also another important feature to protect customer’s personal information so that will be mentioned as well.
If any information on this page is incorrect please let us know as soon as possible.
Note: Please remember that if you are buying a CD-KEY only you are still obliged to own a legal, physical copy of the game (in most cases).
Stores and digital distribution systems
- Shiny Loot
- Nuuvem
- Desura
- McGame
- Green Man Gaming – this store allows to trade in owned games, great voucher codes that stack with owned games, currency depends on your choice
- Good Old Games – no DRM, available worldwide
- GameFly - formerly known as Direct2Drive, contains DRM and regional locked games, in some parts of Europe prices are in €
- Impulse – contains DRM and regional locked games, digital store owned by GameStop
- GameStop – USA only and contains DRM games
- GamesPlanet – contains DRM games, Metaboli’s download to own – british pound
- GameTap – available worldwide, subscription or download to own – american dollar
- Metaboli - contains DRM games
- GamersGate – no SSL and regional locked games
- GAME.co.uk – contains DRM games, retail or downloadable
- DLGamer – info here
- Green House – Greenhouse is a direct download platform that focuses almost exclusively on indie games. Run by Hothead, a Canadian company well-known for the Penny Arcade series of role-playing games.
- Xfire Game Store – Europe, USA
- Games On Demand – also known as Games for Windows Live from Microsoft
- Amazon – DRM games and regional shops that differ greatly from each other in many cases
- GetGames – EuroGamer’s online game store
- Battle.net – Blizzard’s store (featuring Diablo, StarCraft and Warcraft series)
- Origin - EA’s distribution system, DRM and regional locked games, regional shops that differ greatly from each other in many cases, poor Live Chat support, this store is 100% legit but not recommended… reports of multiple charging per item
- HumbleBundle - pay “how much you want” promotions to support charities
Buy at your own risk – CD-Key stores and more
* Steam Support might disable your Steam account, EA may disable your EA account etc. for using a non-official ways to buy keys for Valve, EA or any other keys with Steamworks or non-Steamworks games, you must be aware of the risk. In rare cases they might remove your game if the keys are from some Asian countries and you used them for example in Spain, UK etc.
* Steam Unpowered team is not entirely sure if it’s safe to buy there or not, most people don’t have problems but some do, buy at your own risk!
FRIENDLY WARNING!
In some rare cases most CD-Key stores require ID, passport or driver’s license scan to complete the purchase!
This is how they are checking if you are not scamming them, if you don’t like it don’t buy games in CD-Key stores.
Check out our forums for customer feedback!
Feel free to post your experiences in the “Key Stores” section at the bottom.
http://steamunpowered.eu/forums/
- GamerKeys.Net
- GamesPasta
- CDKeysDirect.com
- Kinguin
- Direct2Play
- JustCDKeys.com
- CD Key Warehouse
- CDKeysHere
- DirectGameKeys
- G2Play
- gamebuyers.ru
- GameKeyDistrict
- MMOOPS
- Keys4.me
- OnlineKeyStore
- onlinecdkeyseller.com
- intkeys.com
Disapproved list*
* Those sites have proven to be dangerous in one or the other way. Avoid at all cost or you will lose your money!
- CDkey-Game.com – do not buy from them, they offer Steam gifts, then charge back the money on PayPal and you’re left with either disabled game on your list or disabled account.
- cdkeyexpress (click here for forum discussion) – do not buy from them, like the shop above they offer Steam gifts, which are paid over some fraudulent methods that leave you with a disabled account.
Changelog for this page:
04/12/13 Updated dead links moved around things etc.
27/12/12 Added JustCDKeys.com
03/11/11 Added Origin to the list…obviously (09/11 further updates)
26/06/11 Added onlinecdkeyseller
18/09/10 Added forum link http://steamunpowered.eu/forums/
18/09/10 Added cdkeyshere.com to the CD-Key stores list
16/09/10 Added gamebuyers to the CD-Key stores list
16/09/10 Rearranged the whole page again, this time CD-Key stores are treated equally, additionally all CD-Key stores details were removed, from now on links in alphabetical order visible only.
07/08/10 Rearranged the page, added Microsoft store, moved EA and Amazon to Stores and digital distribution systems
11/06/10 G2Play description updated
more…
Please remember to report your shopping experience with any of the shops above, whether good or bad. This gives us a better insight if the shops are reliable enough or not.
Steam Alternatives,
Hello!
Will give my contribution to all of this/
After searching a reliable key store to buy my game at,and after tried severals one i wsnt satisfied or having problem with serial ( had to fight cosntantly to get money back ) i have find ( at least one of my friend did ) this website: http://www.CDKEY-ONLINE.COM ; i have already bought severals games from there ( c&c4 , mw2 for steam – Bad Company 2 , complte collection & crysis for EADM ) and their customer support is very handsome & friendly, i would recommend this site to anyone who don’t watn to get troubles payign cheaper for their games:)
Yeah..
i wish you could add to your list my shop: http://gamebuyers.com.es
thanks
OK
Hi, Please give my site too. Thank you.
CDKeysHere.com
http://steamunpowered.eu/forums/other-cd-key-stores/cdkeyshere-com-welcomes-you/
Hey,
Would be really nice if you could add my site to the CD Key list, http://myoverload.com.
Thanks.
People, people, people……It is sad to read and understand how naive you all are. ALL, I repeat, ALL sites selling serials are frauds and criminals.
NO, I repeat again, NO developer, publisher, retailer, digital distributor will EVER supply serials for a company like that.
All serials are stolen in some way, and believe me, there are several ways to steal serials.(unfortunately)
The only reason some serials work is because the credit card owner or distributor etc have not yet discovered the fraudulent act.
I work with this on a daily basis, protecting my company agains fraud, co-working with pretty much every single pc/mac developer/publisher in the world.
The only reason I choose to be anonymous is to protect the company I work for.
Oh…yes…another thing. It is sad to see that a site like steamunpowered, who claim they belong to “the good guys” are supporting these criminal sites.
GameIndustryRepresentative, there are two types of serials that cd-key stores are selling. The old way, is to sell plain simple serials that are received from who knows where. Those serials may be frauds or scams. But these days are now over at least for stores with self respect.
Nowadays they sell serial scans. So if the storekeeper lives in country, where all retail games are very cheap, he can buy huge load of those cheap games, make photo of serial and throw away the case. And then sells them. So it is like buying game from Amazon or other places but without getting any box or media. Only serial with the photo as a proof. So it is not a scam or fraud and they are not criminals.
Sample – there is a huge discount for game and you will buy it, but your friend cannot buy it and you will buy it for him. When he gets the money later, he pays you back. So you think that I am now a criminal? I don’t think so.
I really doubt that reply assured anyone.
Hello!
We would be thankfull if the site admin could add our online store on the key seller list:
http://www.cdkey-online.com
Thanks in advance :)
Admin please would you add our site cjs-cdkeys.com to the list. Thank you!
Thanks for your sharing,i will go and have a look!
Bought CoD5 and Medal of Honor 2010 from G2Play.net.
No problems at all and delivery within 15 minutes, key and key image included in your mail.
Fast service!
any experiences with http://www.cdkey24.com ??
CUSTOMERS NOTE ABOUT CJS CDKEYS:
You will receive terrible service if your product doesn’t work. This is precisely what happened to me. 3 months after requesting a refund and I still haven’t received one. Just keep this in mind when you do any shopping through CJS. They aren’t very reliable
Hi Nicksta that is not true. we refunded you in full as you will see this issue now positively resolved.
Hi .
You can add to list http://cd-pay.com
We sell most EADM Keys.
If you would like to obtain any information regarding products or pricing, CD-Pay team is available on-line to assist you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We are happy to answer your questions in real time at our Sales chat or via E-mail, MSN…
got my key from here http://buygamekeysonline.info got it fast no trouble at all!
i agree with Nicksta. CJS CDKEYS are bunch of scammers who are selling used key and then do email tag and play dumb. Waste of money and time. Use more reputable store.
http:://blizzard-store.com have been very reliable for me. Purchased two keys from there. If I recall they do ring you up to confirm identity on first order. I received a phone call at 4:30am just after I had placed my order!
I would recommend them :)
I bought Dirt 3 only on $22 from http://www.buygamecdkeys.com & received the key within 3 hours. Also, awesome support team. So far, i’ve found that it is the cheapest store out there. Selling Battlefield 3 Limited Edition only at $32.
I pre-ordered Fifa 2012 & Battlefield 3 both in $32. I recommend them.
Okay then. Thank you so much for the information sir
Do not use this website, I have been sold a “Settlers 7″ CD key that was shortly after declared banned by Ubisoft, after contacting them they informed me this CD key has been illegally received and has been banned, and are threatening to sue me. I never received a scan nor any kind of “legal” information from directgamekeys.com and they deny to speak to me about it.
Would be great lads if you add our site to your list http://cdkeysonline.info
We communicate with our customers everyday not only through emails but you may talk to us using Twitter and Facebook.
Fast delivery: Some games being delivered instantly after payment. Rest of them being delivered between 15-60 minutes to your e-mail box.
Purchase history: after every purchase cdkeys are being added to customer account for future viewing / downloads.
Easy payments: Payments by PayPal, Major Credit / Debit Cards and (Bank Transfer – UK only) and reward points.
Security: verified by COMODO CA Limited with high grade encryption AES-256 256bit
Verified trust at http://www.trustpilot.co.uk/review/www.cdkeysonline.info
Many thanks
D2D only has the UK store now, pounds sterling prices for EU residents as well! Customer service seems to have slowed down a lot though, could be that they’re in the US only? D2D still delivers instantly, as long as their phone check doesn’t fail – which in my case it did, and I’m an old customer!
Gamesplanet “verification” takes a good while (direct quote: “The aforementioned check can take up to a few hours. We strive to deliver your key to you as fast as possible.”), so don’t buy from there if in a hurry to play.
I agree with those who say CJS-CDkeys is a scam, CJS-CDkeys has marked my order’s status as refunded, when I have not actually been sent a refund.
Cdkeyexpress has terrible customer service with no answers or response and no cdkey for over 2 days now.
Do not use gamesplanet. Remove this site from the recommended lists, they charge you the money and do not send you the activation key. On the site it says the key will be send within 8 hours, but in the end I am not getting anything on my mail wrote to their support like 40 times no reply.
Strange, I have bought from GamesPlanet several games and everything was almost instant.
At least in UK store.
is this true? Steam Support might disable your Steam account, EA may disable your EA account etc
I got hundreds of legal games in my libraries and would get very sad to have my account banned =)
I’ve seen some perfect offers on games i would like to have, but was too expensive for me at the time.
How sure are you on the fact that they will disable the accounts? if this might be a Risk, im afraid im gonna stick to the Legal Stores and digital distribution systems.
If they only remove the game from the library and tell you that the CD-Key you were using were a NoNo, then im abit less concerned.
hi guys,
keys4gamers.com is the best for me ! I have bought 6 games till now works perfectly & the customer support is simply superb (they always answer the emails). the best thing is tht they sell scans & provide actual photo of the key !
prices are cheapest on the net .I even tested to see how efficient they are,i posted 3 comments on there facebook wall before making my first purchase from them,i was stunned they answer each & every dam time !!!!!!
keys4gamers is highly recommended ,simple, efficient & easy to use.As i write this I have just placed my order for nfs run limited edition version of the game :)
Happy gaming guys .
J Randall.
PS : I have used cjs before but got sick of there false “release date promises & pathetic customer support”.
I am glad i got an alternative to cjs.
please add my store to the list:
http://www.lowpricedgaming.com
Hello there,
Please add Direct2Play.com in your store list we are verified and legit as you can see on this email
you can also check our facebook page
From: US.Legal
Date: Tue, May 10, 2011 at 5:10 PM
Subject: eBay listing
To: “Direct2Play Manager”
Dear Sir:
Thank you for your email. We confirm that your listing is legitimate and have contacted eBay. We apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused.
Regards,
Atari, Inc.
417 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10016
Best Regards
Direct2Play Manager
Mike Cioka
Look like not one is checking this forum only 21 guess and 1 member online
admin please contact us on direct2play.com/support thank you in advance
No desura? Add them to list. Even humble bundle gives keys for their store.
Ehm no Kinguin?
Trusted site , got few games from them instant delivery.
http://www.kinguin.net/
i can buy from russian steam store and ukraine steam store those 2 store got cheapest prices on steam tho some games have region lock if u interested add me on steam :) my steam profile http://steamcommunity.com/id/melisandre/
Nuuvem, http://www.nuuvem.com.br its a brazilian game distributor. The prices are um Real (brazilian money), which is 0.5 dolar. It accepts paypal, so it full of great deals for foreigners.
it would be great if you guys can add our site to the list. Been around for quite a bit now. :) http://fastcdkeys.com
Update gamebuyers.com.es to gamebuyers.ru they changed the site almost 1 year ago.
updated thank you
http://mo-keys.com/