Drop is a self-hosted game distribution platform: an open-source alternative to Steam and Epic that lets you run your own store, library and download service on your own hardware. It is a Vue and TypeScript web application released under the AGPL-3.0, built to scale to libraries of thousands of titles, and designed so that an instance is never reachable without authentication.

What it does

Drop separates the catalogue from the storefront. Games live in a library directory on the server, are imported into the database, and are then browsable, searchable and installable by anyone you give an account to.

• Built-in store — users browse, filter by tag and platform, and build collections of the titles they want.
• Rich metadata editor — names, descriptions and icons are editable per game, with Markdown and image support.
• Automatic metadata imports — pulls cover art and details from IGDB, GiantBomb and PCGamingWiki.
• Flexible authentication — simple local accounts for a small setup, or OpenID Connect single sign-on, with multi-factor authentication support.
• Native desktop client — a cross-platform Drop client downloads, installs and launches the games in your library, so players never have to touch the web UI.
• Server news — administrators publish articles that appear both in the browser and in the desktop client.
• Windows titles and emulated platforms — Windows games can be run through Proton, and the documentation covers attaching emulator-based libraries.

Requirements and deployment

Drop is distributed as a Docker image (ghcr.io/drop-oss/drop) and the official quickstart is a two-service compose file. It needs a PostgreSQL 14 database, a directory holding the game files (mounted at /library) and a directory for stored objects (mounted at /data). The container listens on port 3000; set EXTERNAL_URL to the address clients will use, particularly when the instance sits behind a reverse proxy. Running it on a machine with a GPU that can do hardware transcoding and Proton installs makes for a smoother experience, but the server itself is light.

Project status

Drop is in maintenance mode. The maintainers are not adding large new features, but bugs are still fixed and outside contributions are still merged, so it is a safe choice for a stable private game library rather than a project to bet on for rapid change. Release candidates such as 0.4.0 are available from the container registry.

Related tools

• Lutris — open source game launcher and manager for Linux, local library rather than a server.
• Heroic Games Launcher — open source launcher for Epic, GOG and Amazon games.
• Steam — the proprietary platform Drop is modelled on.