SteamStats vs Steamworks reports: same data, different questions

Steamworks is Valve's partner site and the official record of a game's sales, wishlists, traffic and payments. SteamStats reads the same reports with the studio's Financial API key, wishlists every 60 min on Indie, Studio, and Publisher, and builds on them: every source and game on one screen, net to studio by day, a forecast over any horizon and alerts.

Last reviewed · SteamStats team

What each one does

Steamworks reports and SteamStats, checked 1 November 2026
QuestionSteamworks reportsSteamStats
Where the numbers come fromValve's own records for the partner accountThe same Steamworks reports, read through Valve's partner API with the studio's key, on Indie, Studio, and Publisher
Sales todaySales & Activations: a near real-time view of revenue, units, player counts and countries, before refunds and taxesSales, refunds and countries every 4 h on Indie and every 60 min on Studio and Publisher, with the day's pace against a typical day
WishlistsWishlist report: additions, deletions and purchases, updated daily for the previous day; countries in the regional sales reportWishlists every 60 min on Indie, Studio, and Publisher, including the current day, with the hourly pace and countries
What gets paidMonthly report: gross less refunds, chargebacks and taxes, times the revenue share, paid about 30 days after the monthThe same chain to net to studio, with Steam's share and US withholding from Settings, and the date of each payout
Store traffic and UTMTraffic breakdown and UTM analytics pagesBoth reports daily on Indie, Studio, and Publisher through the browser extension, with campaign windows compared against the usual level
ForecastNot part of the reports Valve documentsNet revenue to year end and beyond as Low, Expected, High and Viral, updated daily, with every past forecast kept
Several games and sources togetherSeparate reports for sales, wishlists, traffic and UTMWishlists, sales, players, reviews, store ranks and traffic of every game on one screen, with alerts by email or Telegram depending on the plan
Day boundariesWishlist dates are Pacific time daysEvery day starts at midnight in the organization's own time zone
Store page, prices, discounts, builds, tax formsYes: this is where they are managedNo: SteamStats only reads
PriceIncluded with a Steamworks partner accountRadar is free for one game; Indie is $29.00 per game a month; Studio is $79.00 per game a month

When Steamworks alone is the better choice

  • Checking the amount Valve will pay. The monthly report in Steamworks is the payment; SteamStats shows the same chain but the report is the record.
  • Changing anything: store page, prices, discounts, builds, bank and tax details. SteamStats does not write to Steamworks.
  • A single game checked now and then. The Sales & Activations portal answers most daily questions without another account.
  • When no third party should hold a key. The Financial API key reads every app on the partner account, so some studios keep it inside Steamworks only.

When SteamStats adds something

  • Launch weeks and campaigns, when the current day's wishlists and sales matter more than yesterday's report.
  • Studios with several games, or teams that want one screen instead of several Steamworks pages and a spreadsheet.
  • Planning: the forecast to year end and beyond, payouts after Steam's share and withholding, and the discount calendar with Steam's cooldown rules.
  • Signals between visits: review labels close to changing, sales outside the expected range and wishlist spikes arrive as alerts.

How the data moves

The studio creates a Financial API Group in Steamworks and pastes its key into SteamStats. The key is encrypted with AES-256-GCM under its own data key, and only the background service that calls Steam can decrypt it. If Steam rejects the key, SteamStats stops using it at once. Earlier days are imported from Steam after connecting, and when Steam corrects a past day, SteamStats updates it.

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