GOG.COM vs itch.io

GOG.COM lands on Worth it, and itch.io lands on Depends.

GOG.COM

Worth it

Confidence: Medium

Buy if you play PC games and want to truly own them DRM-free; the store is legit, well-reviewed, with a 30-day refund.

Depends

Confidence: Medium

Buy it if you're an indie dev publishing free or experimental games, or hosting jams . it costs nothing and PCMag rates it well.

GOG.COM versus itch.io
Compare	GOG.COM	itch.io
Verdict	Worth it	Depends
Best for	Gamers who want offline, own-forever copies	Indie devs releasing free or experimental games
Who it's not for	Console-only gamers . this is a PC store	Studios relying on it as their main revenue channel
Privacy	Store itself is reputable (95/100 trust score, 2FA support); the Galaxy desktop app has a documented CVE history.^⁷	Solid posture: CyStack scores 88.8/100, 2FA and upload malware scanning available . but fake-update malware campaigns have targeted users.
Support quality	4/5 Trustpilot; mixed service threads	Slow responses, payout delay complaints
Public sentiment	Users broadly trust GOG as a safe, legit store and value DRM-free ownership; gripes center on regional pricing and Galaxy app bugs.^⁵	Users like as a free, friendly home for indie games but complain about slow payouts, slow support, and weak discoverability.¹³
Biggest gotcha	Galaxy app CVEs include local privilege escalation (2019-2022); plain installers avoid this entirely^⁷	Payout delays documented . one dev waited over 100 days¹⁴