Google Play Billing vs Steam Input
Google Play Billing
developer.android.comSteam Input
partner.steamgames.comSide by side
| Figure | Google Play Billing | Steam Input |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 0 |
| Spec score · Game DRM Software | 8.5 (#5) | 7.4 (#11) |
| Purpose | Google Play's billing system lets developers sell digital products and content in Android apps through one-time purchases or subscriptions. | Steam Input is the umbrella term for the software, hardware, and configuration utilities Steam uses to interface with games. |
| Support | The Google Play Developer API page directs developers experiencing API issues to Google Play support. | The Steamworks documentation links to Steam Support for contacting support. |
Plans
In their own words
Google Play Billing
Google Play Billing lets developers sell digital products and content in Android apps through one-time purchases or subscriptions. It is for digital items; developers selling physical goods or services are directed to the Google Pay SDK. One-time products may be consumable for repeat purchases or non-consumable for a lasting benefit, and can grant permanent access or a particular non-renewable use. Subscriptions grant defined benefits for a set period and support base plans, offers, prepaid plans, and add-on entitlements. The Play Billing Library connects an Android app with Google Play Services to retrieve localized offerings and launch purchase flows. Google recommends a secure backend using the Play Developer API for purchase verification and subscription management. That API can check purchase status and modify or cancel recurring purchases. Cloud Pub/Sub delivers notifications about changes to Google Play-managed subscriptions. Purchases that are not acknowledged within three days are automatically refunded. Google says service fees vary by developer and transaction; its overview says 97% of developers distribute apps and use Google Play at no charge, and 99% of developers subject to a service fee are eligible for a fee of 15% or less through available programs. The listed plan is free.
Steam Input
Steam Input is a controller configurator built into the Steam client. It processes supported device input according to a player's settings before passing it to a game or application. Supported controllers include Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch Pro, PlayStation 3, and DirectInput gamepads. Players can create multiple per-game configurations and share them online, with settings available through the Steam desktop client or Big Picture mode. For games using the Steam Input API, Native mode supplies named actions and lets games check which physical controls are assigned. For games without API support, Legacy mode maps controller input to keyboard, mouse, or gamepad input. That can cause glitches in games that expect mouse and gamepad activity to remain separate, and on-screen control glyphs may not match the assigned inputs. Developers can use the action-based API to define game actions and action sets. Steam Input is free; Steamworks is a free suite of tools for developers making games or software on Steam.