Is Idle Startup free?

Yes — Idle Startup is free to play, so you can install and play it without buying anything.

Is Idle Startup Steam Deck compatible?

Mostly. Valve rates Idle Startup Playable on Steam Deck: it runs, but may need some manual tweaking — a community controller layout, or zooming in on small text.

Can I play Idle Startup on Mac?

Yes. Idle Startup has a native macOS version on Steam.

Is Idle Startup multiplayer?

No — Steam lists Idle Startup as single-player only.

Is Idle Startup on PC Game Pass?

No — Idle Startup is not on PC Game Pass right now.

Idle Startup

Name: Idle Startup
Brand: Merrill Lines
Availability: InStock

Merrill Lines · June 21, 2026 · 2D Platformer, Casual, Simulation, Economy, Management

Idle Startup is free to play — no purchase needed. We track it so you know if that ever changes.

Simulation deals

Mixed60% · 34774playing now

Best price

Free

Get it free on Steam

This game is free to play. Get it on Steam →

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Idle Startup price

Idle Startup is free to play — there is no purchase price, on Steam or anywhere else we track. We keep watching it, so if it ever stops being free the price history on this page will show when that happened and what it changed to.

About Idle Startup

From a garage to a global empire

You started with a laptop and an idea. Idle Startup is a relaxing incremental game about growing that idea into a tech company — one completed task at a time.Pick a skill, and it goes to work. Progress bars fill, XP rolls in, money stacks up. Spend it on upgrades, level up, and watch new skills and whole departments unlock as your company grows.

Every skill is its own journey

Each of the six skills has its own upgrade store — a tree of nine upgrades gated by skill level and cost. Most boost that skill alone, but every skill hits milestones at levels 25, 50, 75 and 99 that reward a permanent, company-wide bonus. There's always a reason to push one more level.

Simple to start, deep to grow

The whole game makes sense in under a minute — select a skill, earn, upgrade, repeat. But there's always a next unlock: a costlier upgrade, a milestone, a new department, the next achievement. Max a skill out and it keeps earning Mastery, a slow bonus that never stops growing.

Always progressing

Idle Startup respects your time. The game keeps earning while it's closed (up to 4 hours), and a free Coffee Break speed boost is yours to claim a few times a day. Your save syncs through Steam Cloud, so you can pick up on any device.

Optional boost packs (you don't need them)

Three small optional purchases let you skip ahead if you want to: an Energy Drink for a 2× speed boost across four hours, a Coffee Pot for a full 24 hours, and a one-time Productivity Suite for a permanent 2× speed boost and unlimited offline earnings. None of them are required — the whole game is playable and completable without spending anything.Features

One-click idle loop — pick a skill, it runs itself
6 skills across 4 company tiers, from Garage Startup to Corporate Office
Per-skill upgrade trees plus a company-wide store — 66 upgrades in all
Milestone upgrades at Lv 25/50/75/99 that buff your whole company
Skill Mastery — maxed skills keep earning a permanent money bonus
29 Steam achievements, from First Day to Trillionaire
Two interface themes — sleek Midnight, or warm Poolside FM sunset
Offline progress — earn while you're away
Steam Cloud saves — play on Windows and macOS (Steam Deck supported via Proton)
A free recurring speed boost, no ads ever
Optional one-time boost purchases — never required, never gated
Clean, modern interface designed to stay out of your way

Idle Startup — game info

Platforms: Windows, macOS
Steam Deck: Playable
Player modes: Single-player
PC Game Pass: Not included

More games like this:Mac games

What Steam players say

Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.

Not recommended Oct 16, 2026

At first, I had a lot of fun playing this game, but after just two weeks, I had already achieved everything there was to achieve. I still wanted to support the developer, though, since the game had provided me with two weeks of good entertainment, so I bought a "permanent" item for $9.99. It didn't take long for me to discover that the developer and I apparently have very different ideas about what "permanent" means. Since the game gets pretty boring once you've unlocked everything, I decided to reset my save file so I could start over from scratch. And sure enough, all my achievements and cards were gone, but so was the supposedly permanent item. Was I warned that resetting my save file would also delete this item? No, of course not. So, if you're only expecting to get two weeks of entertainment out of a game, then this is the game for you. In every other case, stay away from it. And under no circumstances should you buy anything from the in-game shop, because these "permanent" items aren't nearly as permanent as you might think.

1 found this helpful

Recommended Oct 11, 2026

100% I have paid for games that cost money that's worse than this.

1 found this helpful

Recommended Oct 17, 2026

d

Recommended Oct 17, 2026

I selected 'Yes' for my recommendation because this game is a fun time killer and if you're someone like me that likes to watch numbers go up, it is a good time. The only issue i have is the inconsistency of Founder Points gained during offline hours. I have the card that is supposed to let me be offline for 24 hours and still gain FP. However it seems to be broken. I can open this game back up after 16 hours and it says I've only gained 400K, but other times it will say 2 million or slightly more. My goal was to get as high as i could in some of the records, but it seems like that is impossible with how the cards don't seem to actually work.

Recommended Oct 5, 2026

number go up

Not recommended Oct 4, 2026

Ok at best, leader boards full of cheater. Not much to do but farm founder points after a point.

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