PlayCounter

Free automatic playtime tracker for PC games

Automatically track your playtime for every PC game

PlayCounter is a free game time tracker for Windows. It counts your hours played in the background—across Steam, Epic, Game Pass, GOG, and games that belong to no launcher at all.

Download free for Windows View the source on GitHub
  • Free
  • MIT open source
  • No account
PlayCounter recording Cyberpunk 2077 automatically, with its cover, current session time, total playtime, and session count
PlayCounter 1.0.6 recording a recognized game in the current Windows app.

Automatic tracking without another game library

Start a game from Steam, Epic, GOG, Game Pass, a desktop shortcut, or its own executable. PlayCounter watches what actually runs and builds your playtime record as you play.

  • Tracks what actually runs Recognized game processes start and stop the timer.
  • Works across launchers Keep using Steam, Epic, GOG, Game Pass, shortcuts, or executables.
  • Stays out of the way No launcher accounts, library import, or replacement frontend.

Install PlayCounter and keep launching games as usual

It stays in the system tray, records sessions for recognized games, and keeps the totals ready whenever you want to review them.

01 / INSTALL

Start it with Windows

PlayCounter can run from the system tray and monitor active applications without connecting a launcher account.

02 / PLAY

Launch any game

Start it from a launcher, shortcut, portable installation, or executable; timing begins when PlayCounter recognizes the running process.

03 / CHECK

Review your history

Check current sessions, total playtime, session counts, and recent activity whenever you want.

When PlayCounter needs your help A new, renamed, generic, or shared executable may require you to identify the game once. PlayCounter keeps any time it has already detected and stores your choice locally.

PlayCounter game library showing four tracked games with their cover art, total playtime, and session counts
The current game library with cover art, totals, and session counts for recognized games.

Questions before installing

Is PlayCounter free?

PlayCounter is free with no paid tier and no account. It is open source under the MIT license, and the installer is published on GitHub with release notes and checksums. See what it does and what it sends.

Does it show my total playtime across Steam, Epic, and Game Pass?

Yes, for the games it records. PlayCounter times the running Windows process, so recognized games from every launcher land in one list with the same measurement. It does not import the hours those launchers already recorded; its totals grow from the sessions it observes after installation. More in the cross-launcher playtime guide.

Can it track non-Steam and standalone games?

PlayCounter can track recognized games from Steam, Epic, GOG, Game Pass, shortcuts, portable installations, and standalone executables. Generic, renamed, or shared executable names may need a one-time choice, while emulators that use one process for every ROM may be tracked as the emulator.

Do I have to launch games through PlayCounter?

You do not have to launch anything through PlayCounter; start games normally and leave it running in the background to record recognized titles.

What happens when a game is not recognized?

You can add its executable locally or submit a match for review. Ambiguous matches are chosen once and remembered locally, while approved community submissions can improve recognition for future players.

Where is my playtime stored? What goes online?

Session history and totals stay in local app storage. Automatic matching sends executable filenames without full paths to PlayCounter's API, cover images may load from IGDB, and updates use GitHub. Feedback and community submissions are transmitted only when you choose to send them. Read the full privacy notice.

Where does each launcher hide your hours played?

Every store counts only its own games, and several count nothing at all. These guides explain where each one keeps the number, what it actually measures, and how to get one total across all of them.

Check playtime on Steam Epic Games Launcher hours Xbox Game Pass time played GOG Galaxy playtime Battle.net playtime EA app hours played Ubisoft Connect stats League of Legends hours Fortnite playtime Minecraft playtime Roblox time played Emulator playtime Total playtime across all launchers How much time do I spend gaming? Best free playtime trackers All guides

Download PlayCounter for Windows

Once installed, PlayCounter begins recording recognized games while you continue launching them exactly as you do now.

Download for Windows

Free · No account · Installer hosted on GitHub