How to Get Free Game Alerts in Discord (Epic and Steam)
Free games are the easiest way to keep a gaming server active: everyone likes a freebie, and nobody likes missing one by a day. This guide explains what "free to keep" actually means on Epic and Steam, the free ways to get alerts in Discord (including our open-source notifier), and the Steam caveats that trip people up.
What counts as "free to keep"
"Free" means different things, and only one of them is worth an alert:
| Type | What you get |
|---|---|
| Free to keep | A time-limited giveaway. Claim it before the timer ends and it's yours permanently. Epic does this every week; Steam does it occasionally. |
| Free weekend | Steam lets you play a paid game for a few days. When it ends, the game stays in your library but you can only uninstall it unless you buy it. |
| Free to play | Always free. No rush, so no alert needed. |
| Free DLC | An add-on at 100% off. Only useful if you own the base game. |
Option 1: Check the stores yourself
Epic Games Store says it "gives you a free game every week". Its Free Games page shows what's free now and what's coming next, with the dates. When we checked on October 17, 2026, two games were free until October 22 and the next two were already listed.
Steam is harder. Valve's own documentation for developers says Free to Keep promotions aren't promoted anywhere except the game's store page, that people who wishlisted the game aren't notified, and that there's no dedicated place on Steam to browse them. Steam's search with the Special Offers and Free filters gets close, but it mixes in free DLC: on October 17, 2026 it showed three items, all DLC, and no free-to-keep base games.
Checking by hand works, but it's exactly the kind of chore people forget, which is why an alert in Discord is so popular. To see both stores on one page, we keep a live list of free Epic and Steam games that refreshes every 3 hours, with an RSS feed.
Option 2: Free Games Notifier Lite (open source)
We publish a free, MIT-licensed notifier on GitHub: Free Games Notifier Lite. To be clear about its scope, it covers Epic only, not Steam.
- It checks Epic's public free-games feed and posts each game that's 100% off right now, with a store link and the end date.
- It posts through a Discord webhook, so there's no bot to invite and no token.
- It remembers what it posted in
posted.json, so each giveaway is announced once. - It's one Python file with no extra packages.
A post looks like this:
🎁 **Bad Cheese** is free on Epic until Oct 22: <https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/bad-cheese-4256d9>Run it free on GitHub Actions
- Create a webhook: hover over your
#free-gameschannel, click the gear (Edit Channel), then Integrations → Webhooks → New Webhook → Copy Webhook URL. - On GitHub, click Fork on the repository.
- In your fork, open Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions → New repository secret, name it
DISCORD_WEBHOOK_URLand paste the webhook. - Open the Actions tab and enable workflows. GitHub turns scheduled workflows off in forks by default.
- Run the notify workflow once to test. After that it runs every 6 hours.
Two GitHub rules to know. Standard GitHub-hosted runners are free for public repositories, so this costs nothing. But GitHub automatically disables scheduled workflows in a public repository after 60 days with no repository activity. If alerts stop after a couple of months, open the Actions tab and re-enable the workflow, or push a small commit now and then.
Prefer your own PC? Run python notifier.py once to see what it finds without posting, then schedule it with Task Scheduler or cron, as the README shows. There's also a Docker command.
What we checked (Oct 17, 2026): a fresh copy of the notifier listed the two games Epic was giving away that day, matching Epic's Free Games page. Epic doesn't document its free-games feed for outside developers, so it could change without notice. The notifier has a small test suite that runs on every push.
Steam free-to-keep caveats
- They're rare. Valve tells developers that a deep discount usually works better than a giveaway, so Free to Keep offers don't come around often.
- They're short. Steam requires at least 24 hours so every time zone gets a chance, and recommends keeping them under two weeks. Post them fast.
- Free weekends look similar. Both show a free package with a timer on the store page. Only Free to Keep stays yours, so check the wording before you tell 500 people "free game!"
- Claim it, don't just look at it. You only keep the game if you add the free package to your account before the timer ends. Installing it can wait.
- 100%-off DLC isn't a free game. Filter it out, or label it clearly with the base game it needs.
Keep the free-games channel tidy
- One post per game, with the end date, so people know how long they have.
- Ping an opt-in
@free-gamesrole instead of @everyone. - Link only to the official store domains (
store.epicgames.com,store.steampowered.com). "Free game" is a favourite scam lure, and members learn to trust what your channel looks like. - Check every few hours. Giveaways last days, so checking every minute adds nothing.
Want Epic and Steam in one alert?
Our Free Games Radar ($6) posts games that are free to keep on Epic and Steam, lists Epic's upcoming freebies, and never posts the same game twice. GOG is queried too, but we haven't confirmed it on a live giveaway yet. It's also built into the Gaming Community Kit ($25), next to moderation, Steam deals and patch notes. Both are one-time purchases you run yourself.