A Steam profile has more moving parts than it looks, and they are paid for in four different currencies. Some are free. Some come from crafting badges. Some cost Steam Points. And the ones people usually ask this site about — showcases and the badge around your avatar — come only from your level. Knowing which is which stops you paying for something you could have had for nothing.
What can you customise on a Steam profile?
Your profile name, avatar, summary text and custom URL are free and set from the profile edit page. Emoticons and profile backgrounds come from crafting badges or the Community Market. Avatar frames, animated avatars, the shop's own backgrounds and game-themed profiles come from the Points Shop. Showcases, badge colour and badge shape come only from your Steam level — one showcase per 10 levels, capped at 20.
The rest of this article goes through each group, what it costs, and the order that makes sense.
Four currencies, one profile
| What you change | Where it comes from | What it costs |
|---|---|---|
| Name, avatar, summary, custom URL | Profile edit page | Free |
| Emoticons, profile backgrounds | Badge crafts (random), or the Community Market (specific) | A card set per craft, or the item's Market price |
| Avatar frames, animated avatars, shop backgrounds, game profiles, stickers, chat effects | The Points Shop | Steam Points, earned as a by-product of buying games |
| Showcases, badge colour and shape, friend slots | Your Steam level | Card sets — one craft is 100 XP |
The mistake this table prevents: people spend Steam Points or money chasing something that was in a different column all along. A specific background is a Market purchase, not fifty crafts. More showcases are levels, not points. A frame is points, not levels.
Free: the parts that cost nothing
Name, avatar, summary and custom URL are set on the profile edit page — Steam Support points people at steamcommunity.com/my/edit/info when the client's editor misbehaves, and it is the same page either way.
Three things Valve says about the free parts that are worth knowing before you set them:
- Your name and avatar are always public. They cannot be made private, because they identify you everywhere on Steam — in games, chat, forums, reviews. Steam Support also warns that other sites scrape and keep them, so treat both as permanent even if you change them later.
- Steam keeps your last 10 profile names, visible from the dropdown by your name. There is a clear previous aliases option there if you want the history gone.
- Avatar history is not stored on your profile, but the images stay on Valve's servers and cannot be purged. Upload accordingly.
Setting an avatar is also one of the checklist items for the free Community badge — the free XP article has the full list — so a blank profile is leaving XP on the table as well as looking blank.
From crafting: emoticons and backgrounds
Every badge you craft hands you a random emoticon and a random profile background from that game's pool, alongside the 100 XP. How to craft badges on Steam covers the mechanics; the point here is what those items are for.
Backgrounds are the big visual change on a profile — the full-page image behind everything else — and emoticons are what you use in chat and comments. Most can be sold on the Community Market, and that produces the one rule for this column: if you want a specific background, buy it on the Market. Crafting the same badge repeatedly hoping to roll it is almost always dearer than the listing price, which for most backgrounds is cents.
The reverse also holds. A leveling run to 100 is 550 crafts, so it drops 550 emoticons and 550 backgrounds you did not choose. Keep the ones you like, sell the ones with a price, and turn the junk into gems — booster packs and gems explains how those feed back into more cards.
From the Points Shop: frames, animation and full themes
Everything animated on a Steam profile comes from one place. Valve's Points Shop lists animated avatars, avatar frames, backgrounds, game profiles, animated stickers, chat effects, emoticons, keyboards and startup movies, plus a seasonal badge and an extra showcase slot. You pay in Steam Points, which you earn by buying games on Steam — roughly 100 per dollar — and which have nothing to do with your level.
Three facts from Valve's own FAQ that shape how to spend them:
- Points do not expire and the shop is open year-round, so there is no reason to rush a purchase.
- Points Shop items are not marketable or tradeable. Unlike a crafted background, a frame cannot be sold later. Buy what you will actually use.
- Refunding a game takes its points back, and can remove recent Points Shop items if that leaves your balance negative.
Valve's shop also has a Game Profiles category — profile looks tied to a specific game — which is the place to browse if you want one big change rather than one item at a time.
From your level: showcases and the badge
This is the column money cannot buy directly. Three things on a profile change only with level:
- Showcases — the configurable panels below your summary. One slot per 10 levels, capped at 20 at level 200. The showcases guide has the count at every milestone and why the first few are the ones that matter.
- Badge colour and shape — the frame around your level number changes colour every 10 levels and shape every 100. It is the most recognised status marker on Steam, precisely because it cannot be bought in a shop.
- Friend slots — 250 base, +5 per level, to a maximum of 2,000. Not cosmetic, but it lives here because level is the only way to get more.
Levels come from XP, and XP comes from crafting badges: one complete card set is one craft is 100 XP. What Steam levels actually unlock has the full list, and the complete guide to leveling up covers every way to get the sets.
A sensible order
Because the four columns cost different things, there is a cheap order to do this in:
- Do the free parts first. Name, avatar, summary, custom URL. Ten minutes, and it earns Community-badge XP.
- Fill the showcases you already have with the emoticons, backgrounds and badges you already own. A level 30 profile with three configured showcases looks better than a level 100 profile with three configured showcases.
- Spend the Steam Points you have, on a frame or a game profile you will keep. Never buy games to earn them.
- Then decide on a level. If you genuinely want more showcases or a higher badge tier, that is card sets, and levels 30–60 are where a showcase is cheapest. Put the target on the calculator and the cost in sets is worked out for you.
Most profiles that look "high level" are really steps 1–3 done properly. The level is the last 10%.
The short version
- Free: name, avatar, summary, custom URL — from the profile edit page. Name and avatar are always public.
- From crafting or the Market: emoticons and backgrounds. Buy a specific one; never craft hoping for it.
- From the Points Shop: frames, animated avatars, its own backgrounds, game profiles, stickers. Never expire, never tradeable.
- From your level only: showcases (1 per 10 levels, max 20), badge colour and shape, friend slots.
- Order: free → fill what you have → points you already own → then a level worth paying for.
Frequently asked questions
How do I change my Steam profile background?
Backgrounds are items in your inventory. You get them randomly from crafting badges, or buy a specific one on the Community Market, then select it on the profile edit page. The Points Shop sells its own backgrounds as a separate category, paid in Steam Points.
Are avatar frames free on Steam?
No. Avatar frames come from the Points Shop and are paid for with Steam Points, which you earn by buying games on Steam at roughly 100 points per dollar. They do not expire, and once redeemed they cannot be traded or sold.
Can I hide my Steam profile name or avatar?
No. Steam Support states that your avatar and profile name cannot be made private, because they identify you across Steam. Steam also keeps your previous 10 names, though you can clear that list from the dropdown next to your name.
Does customising my profile raise my Steam level?
Only indirectly. Setting an avatar and similar actions count toward the one-off Community badge, which is worth XP. Beyond that, level comes from crafting badges — one card set per 100 XP — and no cosmetic purchase changes it.