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PayPalValve released the statistics from the Steam Hardware & Software Survey for November 2025, which shows once again that Linux use is trending nicely upwards.
Slow and steady wins the race? Thanks in part due to all of Valve's work with SteamOS and Proton, and thanks to Microsoft forcing AI rubbish in Windows - more people are checking Linux out than ever before.
For November 2025 the overall operating system share is:
- Windows - 94.79%
- Linux - 3.20%
- macOS - 2.02%
Our dedicated Steam Tracker is up to date for the Linux overall trend, as well as our newer distribution chart as well. Here's a snapshot from it:
For the breakdown of popular Linux distributions on Steam here's November's details:
- SteamOS Holo 64 bit 26.42% -0.76%
- Arch Linux 64 bit 9.97% -0.35%
- Linux Mint 22.2 64 bit 7.36% +0.71%
- CachyOS 64 bit 6.74% +0.73%
- Freedesktop SDK 25.08 (Flatpak runtime) 64 bit 5.96% +1.67%
- Bazzite 64 bit 5.53% +1.29%
- Ubuntu Core 22 64 bit 4.29% -0.26%
- Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS 64 bit 3.86% +0.16%
- EndeavourOS Linux 64 bit 2.10% -0.22%
- Linux Mint 22.1 64 bit 1.96% -0.60%
- Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS 64 bit 1.90% -0.03%
- Manjaro Linux 64 bit 1.90% -0.14%
- Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie) 64 bit 1.58% +1.58%
-
Other 20.43% +2.39%
It's not entirely clear what Valve uses to sort the Linux list, as distributions seem to randomly flick in and out of it each month. Would be nice if we could just get a full list each month. The order has been all messed up for a few months too across various parts of the survey, hopefully Valve will eventually fix that.
Be sure to click along to our Steam Tracker for a lot more info and interactive charts. We've been tracking this for years now so you don't have to.
Source: Valve
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
About the author - Liam Dawe
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
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I love winning! 
6 Likes
While 3.2 is still a very small percentage, the clear upward trend should make people at Microsoft nervous. Awesome news!
4 Likes
LordDaveTheKind 11 hours ago
And yet we can't see if the Windows 10 End of Support has given any effect. I doubt it, but it would be interesting to see.
Last edited by LordDaveTheKind on 2 Dec 2025 at 8:26 am UTC
Last edited by LordDaveTheKind on 2 Dec 2025 at 8:26 am UTC
1 Likes
That's like 4 millions monthly active users. That's too low to make Linux a primary target, but hopefully too high to be dismissed.
And as the Steam Deck sold around 4 millions units and is at 1 million monthly active users, we can extrapolate to 16 millions total Steam Linux user base, which is bigger than Wii U.
And as the Steam Deck sold around 4 millions units and is at 1 million monthly active users, we can extrapolate to 16 millions total Steam Linux user base, which is bigger than Wii U.
6 Likes
Growth with Bazzite, Mint and Cachy shows that there are lots of new users joining i guess. Since those are distros i see recommended the most on the interwebs
5 Likes
I am not sure if it matters any more.
There are practically no Linux games out there.
A lot of franchises that had linux(bad ones at that) ports - became windows only with proton.
I suppose it only matters for proton, there is more initiative to make proton better as result.
There are practically no Linux games out there.
A lot of franchises that had linux(bad ones at that) ports - became windows only with proton.
I suppose it only matters for proton, there is more initiative to make proton better as result.
0 Likes
I am not sure if it matters any more.Of course it matters! I get to use Linux and play games. And there are thousands of native games out there. Not many big-budget ones, but I can live with that. I don't buy AAA anyway, unless it's old and cheap as chips.
There are practically no Linux games out there.
A lot of franchises that had linux(bad ones at that) ports - became windows only with proton.
I suppose it only matters for proton, there is more initiative to make proton better as result.
6 Likes
I am not sure if it matters any more.
There are practically no Linux games out there.
A lot of franchises that had linux(bad ones at that) ports - became windows only with proton.
I suppose it only matters for proton, there is more initiative to make proton better as result.
As a point and click, CRPG and puzzle game player, I still got more native games to play than I would ever find time to do so.
5 Likes
THREE POINT TWO PERCENT?! What the heck!
- "We will be more than 1%"
- "We will hit 2%"
- "We are now more than 3%"!
Proton, Steam Deck, PC gaming handhelds showing Linux distros working better on them than Windows, the end of Windows 10, Recall, Co-Pilot, etc... all aspects to our benefits. Wow... more than 3 percent.
Okay, next goal: Windows drops below 90%
- "We will be more than 1%"
- "We will hit 2%"
- "We are now more than 3%"!
Proton, Steam Deck, PC gaming handhelds showing Linux distros working better on them than Windows, the end of Windows 10, Recall, Co-Pilot, etc... all aspects to our benefits. Wow... more than 3 percent.
Okay, next goal: Windows drops below 90%
12 Likes
Liam Dawe 9 hours ago
Quoting: amataiThat's like 4 millions monthly active users. That's too low to make Linux a primary target, but hopefully too high to be dismissed.That number is massively out of date. We haven't been given a new overall monthly active for years, and since Steam has grown massively - the Linux number is probably more like 8-9 million total.
And as the Steam Deck sold around 4 millions units and is at 1 million monthly active users, we can extrapolate to 16 millions total Steam Linux user base, which is bigger than Wii U.
6 Likes
This is very nice to see, even with such lower numbers, the trend is obvious and I have no doubt it will increase more for December, but for the non gaming people, I gotta say, remember WSL 2 it's getting better everyday, and it's already super stable, also I have a feeling MS is getting married with Canonical... my 2 cents.
0 Likes
The avalanche is building very slowly it seems.
Wish it would be faster, but i have no idea if it is just the BF6 community that can't switch or if there is another big obstacle to solve.
Wish it would be faster, but i have no idea if it is just the BF6 community that can't switch or if there is another big obstacle to solve.
0 Likes
I'm one of the "newcomers". (I had used BSD/Linux for a long time, just kept a Windows machine for gaming.)
Windows 10 decided to give me a reason to fully switch, when on the last day of support, it switched off my screen during use. 2 days later I had a Void Linux gaming machine setup, and using it ever since.
Windows 10 decided to give me a reason to fully switch, when on the last day of support, it switched off my screen during use. 2 days later I had a Void Linux gaming machine setup, and using it ever since.
6 Likes
Quoting: ramieraI'm one of the "newcomers". (I had used BSD/Linux for a long time, just kept a Windows machine for gaming.)
Windows 10 decided to give me a reason to fully switch, when on the last day of support, it switched off my screen during use. 2 days later I had a Void Linux gaming machine setup, and using it ever since.
Like Windows winking good bye... :D
3 Likes
anyone knows the name for the steamdeck GPU and steam deck oled gpu on the hardware survey?
0 Likes
GustyGhost 3 hours ago
Quoting: EikeDebian is back in town!
I'd been wondering how one of the most well established distros had even disappeared from the stats at all.
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Quoting: elmapulanyone knows the name for the steamdeck GPU and steam deck oled gpu on the hardware survey?
Deck LCD: AMD Custom GPU 0405
Deck OLED: AMD Radeon Graphics (RADV VANGOGH)
Knowing those lets you do this:
External Media: You need to be logged in to view this.
Last edited by CatKiller on 2 Dec 2025 at 6:06 pm UTC
3 Likes
Quoting: GustyGhostQuoting: EikeDebian is back in town!
I'd been wondering how one of the most well established distros had even disappeared from the stats at all.
I guess it was too well divided between Bookworm and Trixie (and testing/sid/whatever).
0 Likes
Quoting: CatKillerInteresting. Looking at that graph, it appears that Mac has bottomed out, which I don't care about that much but am probably more pleased than not, and oddly Steam Deck has flatlined while Desktop Linux accounts for all the Linux rise lately.Quoting: elmapulanyone knows the name for the steamdeck GPU and steam deck oled gpu on the hardware survey?
Deck LCD: AMD Custom GPU 0405
Deck OLED: AMD Radeon Graphics (RADV VANGOGH)
Knowing those lets you do this:
External Media: You need to be logged in to view this.
That's perhaps less odd than it seems . . . as we've often noted, Steam itself is growing. So, for Deck to stay flat, that still requires an increase in actual numbers of Deck users . . . so if Deck sales have slowed down and are now just keeping pace (proportionally) with Steam overall growth, you'd see the percentage of Deck users being flat. I expect when they decide there's finally the hardware and release a Deck 2, there'll be another rise.
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