Valve released the data for the Steam Hardware & Software Survey for May 2026, showing a dip in the overall Linux user share.
The overall operating system stats for May 2026 show:
- Windows = 93.85% +0.38%
- Linux = 3.99% -0.53%
- macOS = 2.16% +0.15%
Here's a snapshot from our dedicated Steam Tracker for the trends over time:
Check out the dedicated page linked above for the proper interactive charts.
And the bundled trends of distributions:
As for the most popular surveyed Linux distributions for May 2026:
- SteamOS Holo 64 bit 23.34% +0.29%
- CachyOS 64 bit 13.36% +4.99%
- Arch Linux 64 bit 8.70% -0.08%
- Linux Mint 22.3 64 bit 7.65% +0.18%
- Bazzite 64 bit 7.28% +2.54%
- Freedesktop SDK 25.08 (Flatpak runtime) 64 bit 5.49% +1.33%
- Ubuntu Core 24 64 bit 3.44% -0.14%
- Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS 64 bit 2.84% +0.48%
- Nobara Linux 43 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition) 64 bit 2.02% +2.02%
- Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie) 64 bit 1.86% +0.46%
- EndeavourOS Linux 64 bit 1.86% +1.86%
- Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 64 bit 1.70% +1.70%
- Fedora Linux 44 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition) 64 bit 1.57% +1.57%
- Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS 64 bit 1.56% +1.56%
- Fedora Linux 43 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition) 64 bit 1.42% -0.30%
- Manjaro Linux 64 bit 1.26% -0.16%
- Other 14.66% -5.99%
The overall reduction in Linux is pretty much to be expected. It flickers up and down a fair bit but this looks like the sharpest drop we've seen for a while. Likely not helped by the Steam Deck going out of stock (and then coming back with a much higher price) and the Steam Machine and Steam Frame which both use SteamOS Linux currently missing in action.
Source: Valve
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
About the author - Liam Squires-Hand
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. You can follow me personally on Mastodon [External Link].
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11 comments
Those numbers are fluctuating wildly indeed but they are still in line with an accelerating trend.
This github page (https://github.com/jdegene/steamHWsurvey) does some math magic with the Hardware Survey OS numbers, I don't know how justified that is but they also appear to show quarter based averages, it certainly leads to a much cleaner looking curve. According to their numbers Linux would have had 3.62% share in April 2026, but more or less continuously rising. That would be also where I would estimate the trend on the above curve to be approximately located.
This github page (https://github.com/jdegene/steamHWsurvey) does some math magic with the Hardware Survey OS numbers, I don't know how justified that is but they also appear to show quarter based averages, it certainly leads to a much cleaner looking curve. According to their numbers Linux would have had 3.62% share in April 2026, but more or less continuously rising. That would be also where I would estimate the trend on the above curve to be approximately located.
5 Likes
The overall reduction in Linux is pretty much to be expected. It flickers up and down a fair bit but this looks like the sharpest drop we've seen for a while. Likely not helped by the Steam Deck going out of stock (and then coming back with a much higher price) and the Steam Machine and Steam Frame which both use SteamOS Linux currently missing in action.I think it's more that the last couple of months had those derpy distro strings like "0 64 bit" that suggested they weren't quite counting properly. The Deck isn't that big a share of Linux, and hasn't changed much over that period.
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3.99% is still close to the maximum that Mac has had over the Steam Tracker period (4.05%) and over the entire time of the Hardware Survey (4.36%), and the trend is still upwards.
7 Likes
Quoting: wytrabbitThey sometimes release a correction soon after 🤞I would say that this is the correct one.
February had the massive China overcount, March & April had suspicious distro strings. This month's result doesn't have those. Somewhere around 4-4.2% is where you'd expect it to be now from previous trends.
3 Likes
It's so over...
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Quoting: andytrxIt's so over...Welcome at GoL and many thanks for your first comment! You did help to make the world a better place! 🥰
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The "Exponential Trend" is at 3%, we are so good ! 😊
0 Likes
PlayingOnLinuxphone 4 hours ago
Quoting: CatKillerFebruary had the massive China overcount, March & April had suspicious distro strings. This month's result doesn't have those. Somewhere around 4-4.2% is where you'd expect it to be now from previous trends.Don't forget January, since Chinese New Year starts the last ~10 days of it. There is a drop of every January, too. With February and March I agree, April still looks like the straight forward linear line from August to December from last year, so a very plausible number. The new data could be below the real trend.
I am waiting for around August to see what really happened around the time right now. At that point we should have enough data. But right now everything is pure speculation.
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the distros pretty much stay the same over time. It all boils down to three bases. Arch / Ubuntu / Fedora.
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