How to Get Keys in CS2
What keys cost, exactly where to buy them, and the 2019 rule that means you can never trade one
You buy CS2 keys straight from the in-game store for $2.49 each — open a case or your inventory, hit buy, and Steam charges your wallet. That is the only official source. The catch every new player should know: since October 2019, keys you buy are untradeable and unmarketable. They can only open a case — you cannot sell, trade, or gift them. The pricey keys you see on the Community Market are old pre-2019 ones that kept their tradeable status.
Keys are the simplest item in CS2 to acquire and one of the most misunderstood. You need one to open a case, they cost the same $2.49 they have for years, and buying one takes about ten seconds. The confusion is entirely around what you can do with a key afterward — and the answer, thanks to a 2019 rule change, is: only open a case with it. Nothing else. Here is the full picture.
How to buy a CS2 key
There is exactly one legitimate way, and it is built into the game:
- From a case in your inventory. Open your inventory in CS2, click a case you own, and choose to buy a key for it. Steam charges $2.49 to your wallet balance or linked payment method, and the key appears ready to use.
- From the store page. Each case also has a store listing where you can purchase its key directly.
That is the whole process. There is no cheaper official channel — Valve sells keys at a fixed price, so anyone advertising "discount CS2 keys" is either selling scarce legacy keys at a markup or running something you should stay well away from. If you do not have a case to open yet, our guide on how to get CS2 cases covers the free drop system.
What a key costs
A CS2 case key is $2.49, and that price has been remarkably stable for years across regions (local currency conversions aside). Combined with a case — often just cents for a current-rotation container — your total cost to open one case is a little over the price of the key alone. Worth keeping in mind that this is the cost of a gamble: the combined key-and-case cost usually exceeds the average value of what falls out, which is the whole reason case opening favors the house. See best CS2 cases to open if you want to minimize how badly the math works against you.
Why you can't trade or sell keys
This trips up almost every new player, so it is worth being precise. In October 2019, Valve announced that all newly purchased keys would be untradeable and unmarketable. The reason was blunt: worldwide fraud networks had shifted to using CS:GO keys to launder money, and Valve stated that nearly all key trades at that point were believed to be fraud-sourced. Cutting keys out of the trade and market economy killed that laundering channel overnight.
The practical consequences for you:
- A key you buy today can only open a case. You cannot sell it back, trade it to a friend, or list it on the Community Market.
- Buy keys as you need them. There is no reason to stockpile — you cannot cash them out if you change your mind, and they hold no resale value to you.
- Legacy keys are the exception. Keys purchased before October 2019 kept their tradeable status. That is why you will see keys listed at $15, $18, or more on the Community Market — those are pre-2019 keys, priced on scarcity and collector demand, not something a new purchase can ever become.
The short version
Getting a key is easy: buy it in-game for $2.49, use it to open a case, done. Just go in knowing it is a one-way purchase — a key is a token to open a container, not an asset you can resell. If the goal is a specific skin rather than the thrill of the unbox, buying the skin directly is almost always cheaper than feeding keys into cases. And if you just want to feel the unbox without spending, our case simulator and the full cases hub let you explore every container and its odds for free first.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much does a CS2 key cost?
- A CS2 case key costs $2.49 from the in-game store, and that price has held for years. You buy it directly through Steam using your wallet balance or a linked payment method — there is no cheaper official source.
- Where do you buy keys in CS2?
- Inside CS2, open your inventory or a case, choose to buy a key, and Steam charges $2.49 to your account. You can also buy from the store page for the specific case. The key lands in your inventory ready to open that case.
- Why can’t I trade or sell CS2 keys?
- In October 2019 Valve made all newly purchased keys untradeable and unmarketable, after finding that fraud networks were using key trading to launder money. Any key you buy today can only be used to open a case — it cannot be sold or gifted.
- Why do some keys still sell for $15 or more on the market?
- Those are legacy keys purchased before the October 2019 change, which kept their tradeable status. Their fixed supply plus collector demand pushes them well above the $2.49 in-game price. Any key you buy now will never join that tradeable pool.