Where to Publish HTML5 Games (2026): Portals, itch.io, App Stores and More

Where to publish HTML5 games depends on what you want back: ad revenue, players and feedback, or sales. Web portals such as Poki and CrazyGames bring the most players and pay a share of ad revenue, but they choose which games they take and expect their SDK inside your build. itch.io and Newgrounds accept anyone and give you a page and a community. Facebook, YouTube and Discord run HTML5 games inside their own apps through developer programs, and app stores take them inside a native wrapper.

Everything below was checked against each platform's own documentation in October 2026. Portal terms are mostly negotiated and change often, so treat this as a map, not a contract. For the money side, read it alongside how to make money with HTML5 games.

Best platforms to publish HTML5 games in 2026

Poki

Poki is a curated web portal, and its developer pages describe the deal plainly. You apply through a form with a playable browser build (or a gameplay video), three screenshots and a note on why Poki's players would enjoy the game. The default deal is web exclusive: on the open web the game is published only on Poki, and Poki counts Discord and YouTube Playables as web. Exclusive deals run for 5 years by default, though Poki calls those specifics indicative and sets real terms in each agreement. For games already live elsewhere, Poki may offer a one-time flat licence fee with no revenue share instead. Ads run through the Poki SDK.

CrazyGames

CrazyGames has the most transparent process. You submit through its developer portal and test the build in its preview tool. Accepted games start with a Basic Launch: 7 to 21 days in front of a limited audience, no monetization, and the SDK optional. The test ends after at least 7 days and 500 plays (or automatically after 21 days). If average playtime, conversion to gameplay and retention meet CrazyGames' benchmarks, you're invited to integrate the SDK fully and resubmit for Full Launch, which turns on revenue share.

Its requirements include an initial download of 50 MB or less, a total of 250 MB (50 MB without the SDK), no more than 1,500 files, content suitable for PEGI 12, and no external ads.

GameDistribution

GameDistribution works differently: you upload once, and its catalog is embedded by many publisher websites, from game portals to media sites. Ads are served through its SDK, which the developer integrates, and revenue from those ads is shared. It's a way to reach many small sites without dealing with each one, but you don't control where the game appears.

itch.io and Newgrounds

Both accept any game and give it a page right away, which makes them the best way to let others play your HTML5 game when you're starting out. itch.io suits game jams, demos and paid or pay-what-you-want releases. Newgrounds has a long-standing browser game community that votes on and reviews uploads. Neither will bring the traffic of a big portal, but you keep full control and can ship updates whenever you like.

Facebook Instant Games

Instant Games are HTML5 games that run inside the Facebook app, Messenger and facebook.com. Meta's FAQ sets out the rules: the developer must be accepted into the Approved Partner Program before a game can go live, the game uses the FBInstant SDK, and the upload is a ZIP of up to 400 MB with index.html at its root. Meta recommends an initial bundle under 5 MB, says most reviews take 5 to 7 business days, and takes 30% of in-app purchase revenue. Ads come from Meta's Audience Network.

YouTube Playables

YouTube Playables are web games played inside YouTube. Google's developer page says developer access is in an early access stage and that interested studios fill in a Playables interest form. Accepted developers integrate the Playables SDK and pass certification; the published requirements include an initial bundle under 30 MiB (ideally under 15 MiB) and a total under 250 MiB. Phaser, Three.js, PixiJS and Godot are among the engines Google lists as used before.

Discord Activities

Discord Activities are web apps that run in an iframe inside Discord and talk to it through the Embedded App SDK. An HTML5 game is a natural fit, especially a social or multiplayer one, but it's a platform you build for deliberately rather than upload an existing build to.

App stores and Steam

To publish an HTML5 game on Google Play or the App Store, wrap it in a native shell such as Capacitor; our guide to turning an HTML5 game into an app walks through it. Apple's App Review Guideline 4.2 expects features and content beyond "a repackaged website", so a game needs to feel like an app: offline play, proper icons, no browser chrome. Steam takes HTML5 games packaged with Electron or NW.js; Steam Direct charges US$100 per product, recoupable once the game reaches US$1,000 in adjusted gross revenue.

Kongregate: can you still make an HTML5 game for it?

No. Kongregate stopped accepting new games on 1 July 2020, ahead of Flash's end of life, and we found no sign that it has reopened submissions since; existing games stayed up and their developers can still update them. If you're following an old tutorial about making an HTML5 game for Kongregate, target CrazyGames, itch.io or Newgrounds instead: the build you'd have made works there with the same ZIP.

Decide on exclusivity before you upload anywhere

The order you publish in matters more than most developers expect. A web-exclusive offer usually assumes the game isn't already on other web portals, and Poki's non-exclusive route pays a flat fee instead of a revenue share. CrazyGames, on the other hand, says games already published elsewhere can be specifically invited to skip Basic Launch.

A sensible sequence for a new game:

1. Share early builds privately (an unlisted itch.io page or a link on your own host) for feedback.
2. Apply to the curated portal you'd most like an exclusive deal with, before the game is public elsewhere.
3. If that doesn't work out, publish non-exclusively: CrazyGames, GameDistribution, itch.io, Newgrounds and your own site.
4. Treat app stores and Steam as a separate release with its own wrapper and store page.

How to publish your HTML5 game, step by step

Whatever the platform, publishing an HTML5 game follows the same path:

1. Finish a portal-ready build. It should load fast, work with touch and mouse, handle any screen size, pause when the tab is hidden and have a mute button. Meta lists missing pause or mute controls among the common reasons Instant Games are rejected.
2. Make one build per platform. Each portal has its own SDK for ads, loading events and pause/resume. Keep the SDK calls behind one small adapter in your code, so switching platforms means swapping one file.
3. Prepare the store assets: a square icon, landscape and portrait thumbnails, 3 to 5 screenshots, a short gameplay video, a one-line pitch and a description with the controls.
4. Check the platform's limits (next section) and remove anything they forbid: external links, your own ads, outside logins.
5. Submit, then read the numbers. Portals decide on playtime, retention and conversion to gameplay. The first version rarely gets the best results; a shorter tutorial or a faster first level often moves those numbers more than new content.

Our own games follow the same idea: each one is a static build that takes host parameters for language, mute and quality (?lang=es&mute=1), so a host changes behaviour without a code change.

How to upload an HTML5 game: what every platform asks for

Every platform that takes uploads wants the same basic package: a ZIP of your build folder's contents, with index.html at the root of the ZIP and every path relative. Zipping the folder itself, so the ZIP contains dist/index.html, is the most common reason an upload is rejected.

Most HTML5 games are far below these limits. Our games download 300 to 750 KB to start, well under every limit above.

How to mark a game as HTML5 on itch.io

On the project's edit page, set Kind of project to HTML, upload your ZIP, and tick the box on the upload that says it will be played in the browser. Then open Embed options and choose "Embed in page" (with the game's width and height) or "Click to launch in fullscreen", and tick Mobile friendly if the game works on phones. If the page shows a download button instead of the game, the browser checkbox wasn't ticked. Our hosting guide covers itch.io's file rules in more detail.

Publishing on your own website

Your own site is the one platform with no review, no SDK and no revenue split, and it's where portal operators and brands publish the games they license. The trade-off is that you bring every player yourself. Hosting is cheap (see how to host HTML5 games), embedding takes one iframe, and you choose the ads: our guide to HTML5 game ad networks compares the options.

If you'd rather publish finished games than build them, that's what our catalog is for. Our licences cover your own sites and products: the Standard licence one end product, the Extended licence up to 5 products or up to 3 portal domains your company owns (both draft terms). They don't allow uploading the games to third-party portals like the ones above. Portal operators should start with licensing for publishers; other site owners with HTML5 games for websites. Developers who want to sell their own games rather than publish them should read how and where to sell HTML5 games.

We make and sell HTML5 game source code; links to our games are marked as ours.