Shadow PC doesn’t rent you games, it rents you an entire Windows 11 computer. You install Steam, Epic, Battle.net, mods and work software on it, then connect from a laptop, phone, TV or browser. That makes it a product for a different kind of player than GeForce NOW or Xbox Cloud Gaming, where you pick from a catalog and install nothing. There’s one big catch, though: Shadow only supports a limited list of countries.
How Shadow differs from a gaming subscription
Shadow itself sets out how it differs from classic cloud gaming: regular cloud services keep you inside their catalog, while Shadow gives you the freedom to install and use all your software. It behaves like a computer sitting in your home. In practice that means three things catalog services can’t do: you play games from any store, you mod them because you have access to the game files, and you can use the machine for anything else, from video editing to work.
There is a limit, and Shadow isn’t the one setting it. The company admits that a handful of games aren’t compatible with cloud gaming because of anti-cheat rules, and adds that it comes down to each publisher’s policy – some configure their anti-cheat or DRM to detect virtual machines. How the whole category differs from traditional gaming is covered in our overview of what cloud gaming is.
Which countries Shadow supports
The country switcher on Shadow’s website offers the United States, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Sweden and Denmark. Countries outside that list, such as the Czech Republic or Slovakia, aren’t supported.
That doesn’t mean the door is fully closed. The company answers directly: you can technically subscribe to Shadow from anywhere, but outside supported countries it doesn’t guarantee quality because of distance and internet providers. When ordering, you pick the nearest country and data center, you can pay in a foreign currency, and your Shadow PC’s IP address will match the country you chose.
That last point matters more for everyday use than any spec in the table below, because a foreign IP shows up everywhere content depends on region. Shadow doesn’t publicly list where its data centers are – unlike Boosteroid, which has servers right in the Czech Republic.
Seven plans and what’s in them
| Plan | Price per month | Max. resolution | SSD | Hours per month | Session length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neo Lite | €25.99 | 1440p / 60 Hz | 256 GB | 120 h | 4 h |
| Neo | €32.99 | 5K / 240 Hz | 512 GB | 210 h | 6 h |
| Power Lite | €39.99 | 1440p / 60 Hz | 256 GB | 120 h | 4 h |
| Neo Pro | €39.99 | 5K / 240 Hz | 256 + 512 GB | 210 h + Always On | 8 h |
| Power | €49.99 | 5K / 240 Hz | 512 GB | 210 h | 6 h |
| Power Pro | €54.99 | 5K / 240 Hz | 256 + 512 GB | 210 h + Always On | 8 h |
| Expert Pro | €74.99 | 5K / 240 Hz | 256 + 512 GB | 210 h + Always On | 8 h |
Prices and specs are valid as of 11 September 2026, subscriptions have no commitment and storage can be expanded up to 5 TB. You can connect 1 monitor on the Lite plans, 2 on Neo and Power and 3 on the Pro plans. After inactivity the machine shuts down in 30 minutes, or up to two hours on Pro.
The table hides one trap. Power Lite at €39.99 costs the same as Neo Pro, but it gets you 1440p instead of 5K, one monitor instead of three, 120 hours instead of 210 and a four-hour session instead of an eight-hour one. You accept worse limits across the board in exchange for a stronger GPU, which only pays off if you actually use it.
What computer you’re actually renting
The hardware doesn’t depend on whether you have Lite or Pro. Shadow puts it bluntly: all tiers run on the same hardware and Neo Lite is just as powerful as Neo Pro. What matters is the family name.
- Neo, Neo Lite, Neo Pro: GeForce RTX 4060-class graphics with 16 GB (NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada), AMD EPYC with 8 virtual cores at 3.25 GHz, 16 GB of memory.
- Power, Power Lite, Power Pro: GeForce RTX 3070 Ti-class graphics with 20 GB (NVIDIA RTX A4500), AMD EPYC with 8 virtual cores at up to 3.7 GHz, 28 GB of memory.
- Expert Pro: NVIDIA Quadro RTX 6000 with 24 GB, Intel Xeon with 12 virtual cores at up to 4.5 GHz, 41 GB of memory.
Shadow’s own measured numbers: Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p with RTX on runs at 68 frames per second on Neo and 95 on Power. That’s the provider’s figure, not an independent test. Inside your Shadow PC you also get a gigabit line no matter how slow your home internet is, so a 100 GB game downloads in a few minutes.
What you need at home
The client runs on Windows, macOS, Ubuntu, Android and Android TV, iOS and tvOS, Raspberry Pi and in a browser. Requirements are minimal: on Windows, Windows 10, an Intel processor from 2011, 2 GB of memory and DirectX 9c are enough; on Mac, an iMac from late 2009.
On connection speed, Shadow contradicts itself. The homepage says a stable connection of 10 Mbps or more ensures a smooth experience, while the FAQ on the plans page promises smooth performance “even with low bandwidth, from 15 Mbps”. Both checked on 13 August 2026 on Shadow’s website. The safer bet is to plan for fifteen megabits.
Where the limits are
- Hour cap. Shadow calls it fair use and resets it every billing month. You can’t buy extra hour packs yet; the company promises them for the future.
- Session length. The number of sessions isn’t limited, but a four- to eight-hour cap will interrupt a long weekend marathon.
- Anti-cheat and DRM. Some games won’t run on a virtual machine, and that’s the publisher’s call.
- Foreign IP and no quality guarantee outside supported countries. For players outside the list, the toughest of the four.
For comparison: on 15 January 2026, NVIDIA introduced a cap of 100 hours per month on paid memberships, with at most fifteen carrying over. The details are in our piece on the GeForce NOW hour limit, and prices are compared in GeForce NOW plans.
Who Shadow makes sense for and who it doesn’t
It’s worth it if your games are spread across several stores, if a modded game is the main game you play, or if you also want to use the machine for work. It’s also a good fit for an old laptop that can’t run any new game on its own.
It’s not worth it in four cases:
- You want games included in the subscription. Shadow is an empty computer. For included games, look at Game Pass plans or the PS Plus catalog.
- You play competitive shooters with strict anti-cheat. That’s exactly where the risk of a game not starting on a virtual machine is highest.
- You want a quality guarantee outside supported countries. Shadow explicitly doesn’t give one.
- You only want to play now and then. The cheapest plan costs more than most gaming subscriptions.
An easier way into the cloud is GeForce NOW or streaming in PS Plus Premium. If you’re considering your own machine instead of a subscription, the math is in our article cloud gaming or your own PC. And another service with limited country availability is Amazon Luna.
FAQ
Officially it supports the United States, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Sweden and Denmark. You can technically subscribe from anywhere, but outside supported countries Shadow doesn’t guarantee quality, and your cloud computer’s IP address will match the country you pick when ordering.
The seven plans start at €25.99 per month for Neo Lite and go up to €74.99 for Expert Pro, all with no commitment. Prices are valid as of 11 September 2026 and Shadow changes them, so check the current amount directly with Shadow.
Almost. Shadow is a full Windows 11 machine, so you can install games from any store as well as mods. Some titles won’t run on a virtual machine, though, because publishers configured their anti-cheat or DRM that way.
Shadow gives two different numbers: the homepage talks about a stable connection from 10 Mbps, the FAQ on the plans page about smooth performance from 15 Mbps. Both checked on 13 August 2026. The safer bet is to plan for fifteen megabits, especially at higher resolutions.
It’s a different category. GeForce NOW streams games from its catalog and linked stores, nothing gets installed and it even has a free tier. Shadow rents out a whole computer where you can install anything including mods, but it has no free version and only supports a limited list of countries.
Shadow changes its prices and plan specs, so before you pay, check the current table on its website – and whether your country has been added to the supported list in the meantime. More articles on cloud services are published in the cloud gaming section on Gamers Together. Information verified as of 13 August 2026.