Steam Link and Moonlight are software programs that allow you to stream your games from your PC to other devices via the cloud.
If you have your PC games set up on your home gaming rig, you can use these programs to play them on another device; say, at your work (while on break) or even on your phone.
However, which of these two is the superior choice for streaming? In this article, I will be reviewing Steam Link and Moonlight and comparing the two apps to see which one is better.
Let’s get into it.
Quick Summary
Moonlight is generally better than Steam Link for the following reasons:
- It is open source.
- It allows you to play any game, not only Steam games.
- Performance is typically better, with less lagging.
- You can play it on a wider range of devices, including Chromebooks.
However, for virtual reality gaming, Steam Link has the advantage.
Steam Link vs Moonlight: Overview
Steam Link
Steam Link is an app created by Steam that allows you to play and stream Steam games from your rig to other devices.
Whether you want to play your games on another headset, computer, or mobile device, Steam allows you to do so. It works both over the internet and over a local network.
Moonlight
Moonlight, on the other hand, was created as an open-source implementation of NVIDIA Gamestream. NVIDIA’s Gamestream software was a program created to allow users to stream games from their PC, provided they had an NVIDIA graphics card, to their TVs with NVIDIA Shield.
Moonlight was originally created by a bunch of students from Case Western Reserve University as part of a hackathon project.
Although NVIDIA announced the end of Gamestream, Moonlight is still going strong, having switched to Sunshine as its recommended server software.
Sunshine is a gaming streaming software for Moonlight. With Sunshine set up on your host PC, you can connect your client Moonlight apps to stream games from your host PC.
For example, you can set up games on your PC rig at home and use it as a server. You can then stream games from your PC rig to your mobile phone or other devices using the Moonlight apps on those devices.
Moonlight vs Steam Link: Software License
The first thing to know is the difference between the license type of these two software products.
Steam Link
Steam Link is proprietary software. It was created by Steam for Steam users.
That doesn’t mean it’s not free to use – it is. However, it’s still proprietary software, despite being freeware.
In other words, you can’t access or edit the source code.
Moonlight
Moonlight, on the other hand, is open-source software. That means that the source code is open and accessible for all to view.
If you are a developer, you can also tweak the source code to better meet your personal needs and customize it as per your wishes.
While most people won’t have the skills to do this, there are still many reasons you might want to insist on using open-source software instead of proprietary software.
Proprietary software is owned by a company: in this case, Steam. While it is free presently, there’s no guarantee that it will always be free.
At any time, Steam can decide to switch to a paid model. If that happens, you will have no option but to pay up or search for an alternative.
Whether that’s likely to happen is debatable, but it’s certainly a possibility. Open-source software, on the other hand, is always free, and you don’t have to worry about it being locked behind a paywall in the future.
You may also want to support open-source projects out of personal conviction. Many people believe that software should be free to all, and the open-source community makes that happen.
Open-source projects are made accessible to all by developers who contribute to the project not out of desire for profit but simply to give back to the community.
Steam Link vs Moonlight: Supported Games
Which games can you play with Steam Link or Moonlight? Depending on the games you play, one of these two programs might not be a suitable option at all.
Steam Link
Steam Link is designed for Steam games only.
If you only or primarily play games on Steam, Steam Link might be a good choice. However, if you play other games and want to stream them to your other devices, Steam Link probably isn’t the best choice, as it limits you to the Steam Library.
Moonlight
Moonlight, on the other hand, doesn’t limit you to games in the Steam Library. With Moonlight, you can play games from any provider.
That is why you should use Sunshine as your server hosting software for Moonlight. With Sunshine, you are not limited to playing with an NVIDIA GPU but can even stream games from an AMD GPU, for example.
In any case, Moonlight has a much broader use case than Steam Link. Why limit yourself to a specific game library when there are thousands of amazing games you can stream from your PC with Moonlight?
Moonlight vs Steam Link: Supported Platforms
Next up, let’s take a look at the platforms supported by Moonlight or Steam Link as client apps. To which devices can you stream from your PC rig?
Steam Link
Steam Link supports a decent range of client devices. It works on iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, Android phones, Android tablets, and Android TVs with the iOS and Android apps, respectively.
For external PCs, you can use Windows, macOS, Linux, and Raspberry Pi. It also supports Meta Quest headsets (Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, and the Meta Quest Pro).
As you can see, that covers just about any device most people are likely to use.
Moonlight
Moonlight, though, has a wider range of implementations. This is due to the open-source nature of the product; in fact, there are even some unofficial ports developed by the community.
For example, you may have noticed that there is no Steam Link support for Xbox, PlayStation, Chromebooks, and LG TVs running on webOS. Moonlight, on the other hand, does offer support for these platforms.
Moonlight supports the following operating systems for PCs: Windows, Linux, macOS, and Raspberry Pi.
With the Android and iOS apps, you can use it on Android and Apple phones, tablets, and TVs.
It is even available on the Amazon App Store and on F-Droid in addition to Google Play. That means that you can use it on Fire TVs and Fire tablets running Amazon’s operating system.
For Xbox, you can get it on the Xbox One and Xbox Series S|X.
It works on Wii U if you have Homebrew installed, Homebrew-enabled PlayStation Vitas, and Homebrew-enabled LG webOS TVs.
You can even use it on Chromebooks! This is not through a web interface, since a web-based version is impossible to create due to the TCP and UDP sockets which the app uses, which means a web client can’t work as browsers don’t support those protocols.
However, there is a Chrome application that you can use on ChromeOS (Chromebooks).
Although there is currently no web client, there is potential support for it via the proposed Direct Sockets web standard.
Without getting too technical, the idea is to use a different protocol that would allow web applications to talk to servers (such as Sunshine) that have protocols not currently supported by web browsers.
If you have a Steam Link hardware device, which was discontinued by Steam Link in favor of downloadable applications, you can also use Moonlight.
Check the Setup Guide for information on how to set up Moonlight.
In summary, you can use Moonlight on the following operating systems and devices that Steam Link does not yet support:
- Amazon Fire TV and tablets
- Xbox
- PlayStation Vita
- LG webOS TVs
- Chromebooks
- Wii U
The only advantage Steam Link has over Moonlight in this regard is its support for Meta Quest devices. Although you may have some success sideloading Moonlight onto your Meta Quest, I wouldn’t recommend it, as Moonlight is not built for that.
That brings us to our next topic of comparison: virtual reality.
Steam Link vs Moonlight: Virtual Reality
What if you want to play games in VR? If you have a VR headset like the Meta Quest, which one should you choose?
Steam Link
As I mentioned above, Steam Link supports Meta Quest devices. That allows you to stream VR content and games.
Virtual reality games via Steam Link work extremely well. However, there is a limitation, and that is that you must stream VR games over a local network.
In other words, if you have your PC set up at home, you can stream to your VR headset while connected to your home network. However, you can’t stream it wirelessly to a VR headset in another location.
Moonlight
Moonlight is built for 2D gaming, not virtual reality. Unfortunately, the official apps do not support virtual reality.
So, in this regard, Steam Link wins. If you love virtual reality gaming, Steam Link is the better choice.
You may still be able to sideload Moonlight onto your Quest, as I mentioned, and get it to play virtual reality games, but there may be bugs, or it may not work properly.
Moonlight vs Steam Link: Performance
What about performance? Which platform gives you better performance in terms of speed, latency, and smoothness?
Steam Link
Steam Link offers decent performance, but it’s not the best. You are likely to experience some lagging issues with Steam Link and occasional freezes or black screens.
According to NVIDIA, in fact, Steam Link lags behind Gamestream itself, on which Moonlight was originally built, by around 10 ms in latency at 4k and 60 fps, and that’s providing you have the most optimal settings.
Moonlight
While you can’t really rely entirely on anecdotal evidence to demonstrate that Moonlight is definitely faster and offers better performance, it’s still worth mentioning. If a bunch of people online report the same thing, there may be some truth to it.
One Reddit user reported that they experienced a 30-40 ms delay with Steam Link compared to Moonlight.
A YouTuber called Kei’s Retro Gaming also uploaded a visual side-by-side comparison of streaming the same game on Moonlight vs Steam Link. In a comment, he mentioned that Moonlight was better, and that he experienced lagging on Steam Link while Moonlight felt a lot smoother.
It’s a great watch if you are interested in some more research on the topic.
Others in the comment section concurred, saying that Moonlight was better than Steam Link in terms of performance.
A more in-depth study would be needed to confirm that. It would need to account for how the device’s hardware capabilities may affect gaming, for example, something that these anecdotal examples did not do.
Still, the general consensus is that Moonlight offers better performance than Steam Link for gaming.
Pricing
Both Moonlight and Steam Link are free to use. However, remember that you are limited to the Steam Library if you plan on using Steam Link.
While there are free games in the Steam Library, the reality is that the majority of games on Steam are not free and require payment.
Nevertheless, if you do want to play free games from Steam, check out the Free to Play section on the Steam Library. There are some really good and famous games that you can play for free there, including Dota 2, Counter-Strike 2, Apex Legends, and others.
Steam Link Pros and Cons
Pros
- It supports virtual reality out of the box, allowing you to use it with your Meta Quest.
- It is free to use.
- You can play games for free from the Free to Play section.
Cons
- It doesn’t support Fire tablets and TVs, PlayStations, Xbox, LG TVs, Wii, and Chromebooks.
- It is proprietary software.
- You will be limited to games in the Steam library.
- Most games in the Steam library are not free.
Moonlight Pros and Cons
Pros
- It is free and open source.
- You can use it to play any game, broadening your choices.
- You can use it on many more devices, including Chromebooks, Fire TVs and tablets, and Homebrew-enabled Playstation Vita devices, certain Xbox models, and webOS TVs from LG.
- It offers better performance than Steam Link.
Cons
- It doesn’t support virtual reality gaming.
- It has no native support for Meta Quest headsets.
- It requires slightly more technical skills to set up.
Steam Link vs Moonlight Comparison Chart
| Steam Link | Moonlight | |
|---|---|---|
| Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, Linux | ✓ | ✓ |
| Chromebooks | ✗ | ✓ |
| Homebrew Wii, LG webOS, Playstation Vita, Xbox | ✗ | ✓ |
| Meta Quest Headsets | ✓ | ✗ |
| Play Any Game | ✗ | ✓ |
| Open Source | ✗ | ✓ |
| Free to Use | ✓ | ✓ |
Conclusion
Overall, I would recommend Moonlight instead of Steam Link unless you plan on playing virtual reality games that are available in the Steam Library.
Otherwise, Moonlight simply gives you more flexibility, both in terms of which games you can play and on which devices you can stream them to (with the exception of Meta Quest headsets).
Since both are free, though, you may want to test both of them out for yourself and see which one works better on your device.
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