Cheap Steam Keys: Complete Beginner’s Guide (2023)

This is a complete guide to buying cheap Steam keys.

In fact, the techniques I am about to show you helped me save $362 during the past year.

And this number is even bigger if you count the total amount of games I have bought in the last 6 years.

So if you want to know how to get cheap Steam keys and where to buy them, you will love this guide.

Let’s get started.

Contents

What are Cheap Steam Keys?
Best Place to Buy Cheap Steam Keys
Where to Buy Cheap Steam Keys?
How to Get Cheap Steam Keys?
How do Sites Sell Steam Keys so Cheap?
How to Activate Steam Keys?
Conclusion

What are Cheap Steam Keys?

Cheap Steam keys are keys bought online with a discount of up to 97% on official platforms other than Steam. This is the best way to get the desired game if you have almost no money.

And when it comes to buying Steam keys for cheap, make no mistake:

Reading this guide is ESSENTIAL.

In fact, more and more players prefer buying Steam keys online rather than on Steam itself because the Internet gains more credit as a merchant and this saves a ton of money, especially if you buy them frequently.

Best Place to Buy Cheap Steam Keys

If you think there is a single website that offers the cheapest Steam keys as if a panacea, I am going to disappoint you.

Buying cheap keys is not that simple. I wouldn’t be writing this tutorial if it was that easy.

This is a skill that you need to master before going to the battlefield.

But don’t you worry!

I have a teaching degree (at least somewhere it came in handy), and you will become an expert after you finish reading this piece.

For now, all you need to know is that there are multiple websites you need to monitor in order to get the biggest discount for Steam keys.

It looks like real hunting of the XXI century.

In the upcoming section, I will share with you my personal recommendations.

And after that, we dig deeper into the secret technique of buying cheap Steam CD keys.

Where to Buy Cheap Steam Keys?

I have made a complete overview of the best places to buy Steam keys in the previous article.

But unless you want to spend some time learning each of these websites in detail, continue reading this section. I’ll do my best to deliver the most important information about their terms and pricing in short.

Also, before we get started, I wanted to let you know that this is a ranked list of my favorite places where I buy cheap Steam keys myself; thus, you should treat it that way too.

1. Green Man Gaming

Green Man Gaming is my go-to place when it comes to new game releases and pre-orders. They always provide generous discounts for such titles.

For example, right now you can purchase Control Ultimate Edition for only $23.23 while its original price is $39.99.

Control Ultimate Edition Green Man Gaming

As a result, we’ve just saved $16.76 for one of the best games of the year that was released only two months ago.

Visit Green Man Gaming

2. CDKeys

This is my second favored website.

Being almost no different from Green Man Gaming, it always has competitive pricing.

However, if we check out a price for the same copy of Control Ultimate Edition in this store, we will be able to save only $5.40 on it.

But it doesn’t mean that Green Man Gaming offers the cheapest Steam keys all the time. Instead of relying only on this reseller, you should use it with CDKeys and other platforms on the list interchangeably. Their prices always fluctuate and you will never know which one has the best offer.

Moreover, the assortment is bigger on CDKeys, so don’t get upset if you can’t find your game on Green Man Gaming.

Visit CDKeys

3. Fanatical

The next place I highly encourage you to visit afterward is Fanatical.

I have discovered it for myself less than a year ago, and now I tend to buy cheap Steam keys here even more often than on the two previous websites.

Fanatical always offers amazing deals with up to 97% discount, which allows saving a ton of money on the most anticipated titles.

Yet, in the example with Control Ultimate Edition, it loses to Green Man Gaming for $2.36.

In addition to low prices, I admire Fanatical for their approach to the customers. Comparatively to all of the websites on my list, they hold the best special events and have a lot of cool promotions that make the experience of purchasing video games very exciting and even more advantageous.

Visit Fanatical

4. IndieGala

When I was writing this guide in the first place, I didn’t mention IndieGala, so the comparison with Control Ultimate Edition won’t be accurate at this moment.

However, to prove that this website is worth checking I want to show another example with ELDEN RING.

Right now, you can get it on IndieGala for $50.39, the lowest price among all platforms.

Beside deals for new titles, IndieGala has awesome sales where you can get bestsellers at the lowest possible price.

So, make sure to check their specials from time to time.

Visit IndieGala

5. GamersGate

GamersGate is another wonderful place to buy cheap Steam keys with one of the biggest assortment of games among all of these websites.

You can find here not only all new games but old titles as well.

To illustrate, this is the only place where I could find STALKER: Call of Pripyat when I was looking for it.

And if we compare the pricing for Control Ultimate Edition again, it will cost us exactly $12 cheaper than on Steam. On top of this, you will also receive $1.40 of cashback for further purchases on the platform.

Not bad, right?

Although the price on Green Man Gaming is ultimately cheaper, we can’t deny the fact that the assortment of video games on GamersGate is unbelievably extensive. And in case your title isn’t available on the rest of the websites, there is a big chance to get a good deal for it here.

Visit GamersGate

6. ENEBA

Unlike all of the websites I mentioned before, ENEBA isn’t a reseller who works only with game developers and publishers. This is a marketplace where game distributors can set up offers by themselves and sell keys directly to customers.

So, ENEBA doesn’t purchase Steam keys for cheap and then resells them, it just takes on the role of a middleman and ensures the success of every transaction.

The big amount of merchants on the platform creates competition which makes all of them significantly decrease the price in order to stand out.

Therefore, it usually turns out that ENEBA is exactly the platform that has the lowest price and the biggest amount of available titles among all of the websites that sell cheap Steam keys.

When it comes to Control Ultimate Edition, it is only 11 cents expensive from Fanatical and $2.47 from Green Man Gaming.

At the same time, the deals on Fanatical and Green Man Gaming are going to expire within hours, whereas, on ENEBA, the price remains stable all the time.

Visit ENEBA

7. Voidu

Another great place you should check for cheap Steam keys is Voidu.

Having a relatively small assortment, the website always offers new games at a good discount. But most of the time, they are no cheaper than on CDKeys or Green Man Gaming, despite the fact that the price for Control Ultimate Edition is really impressive right now.

In addition to that, Voidu holds a weekly sale all the time.

All in all, make sure to visit their website at least once a week but don’t expect to get new Steam keys cheaper than on the first two platforms.

Visit Voidu

8. Kinguin

As well as ENEBA, Kinguin is a marketplace. Though, Kinguin is less reliable since it allows selling games not only to verified distributors but everyone. Therefore, buying cheap Steam keys on this website isn’t totally safe. However, you can easily protect yourself by choosing only verified vendors that have a special badge on the platform.

With that said, these marketplaces are no different from each other. There are some titles that might be exclusively available on Kinguin or ENEBA, but if we talk about the same game, the price won’t differ considerably.

So, just choose the most advantageous deal and make sure that it is from a trusted seller.

Visit Kinguin

How to Get Cheap Steam Keys?

Now you know where to buy cheap Steam keys.

But how can you do this effectively so that at the end of the day you would get the utmost discount?

Well, it’s time to reveal the secret.

If you haven’t already guessed, it is pretty simple.

Whenever you want a new game, all you need to do is to research all of these websites and find the best possible deal.

Let me show you the exact steps you need to follow in further examples.

Example #1. Cheap Steam Key for Death Stranding

For the purpose of the experiment, let’s pretend that you want to get the cheapest Steam key for Death Stranding.

Step 1. Go to Green Man Gaming and search for the game there.

As you can see, there is a 44% discount right now, and the game costs only $33.59.

Step 2. Go to CDKeys and do the same.

CDKeys also has a discount, but it isn't even close to what Green Man Gaming has to offer - $43.88.

Step 3. Check out the price on Fanatical.

Today, Fanatical isn't as generous as Green Man Gaming either, and the price of a Steam key for Death Stranding is $47.87.

Step 4. Now do this on IndieGala.

Unfortunately, there are no deals for Death Stranding on IndieGala right now.

Step 5. On GamersGate.

On GamersGate, it is a lot cheaper than on CDKeys and Fanatical - $36.53. But in addition to the Steam key, you will also get $1.83 in the form of a cashback. So basically, we can say that it would be $34.70.

Anyways, even this bonus isn’t enough to compete with Green Man Gaming.

Step 6. On ENEBA.

ENEBA is the closest alternative to our leader, losing to it only 16 cents. However, after the sale on Green Man Gaming ends, ENEBA undoubtedly will be our front-runner.

Step 7. Voidu.

Voidu has an average price on the market - $38.63.

Step 8. And don’t forget Kinguin.

Here, the price is $1 cheaper from Voidu.

After taking all of these steps, you can make a conclusion that buying a Steam key for Death Stranding would be a lot cheaper on Green Man Gaming.

And if that’s the game you are looking for, do this immediately!

Now let’s consider a couple of other examples without going into the details.