The best desktop pets for Windows, honestly.

Bongo Cat: best for reacts to your typing

Bongo Cat is made by Irox Games and was released on Steam in March 2025. A cat sits on your taskbar and hits a drum for every key press and click, and you collect points and hats. It is free on Steam, optional paid cosmetic packs are about $5–$10 on the US store, and hats are earned through item drops. It runs on Windows and macOS, it is instant and tiny, it reacts to every keystroke, it has a huge community, and over 100,000 Steam reviews call it Overwhelmingly Positive. See Desksquattaz vs Bongo Cat or the official Steam page.

VPet-Simulator: best for free care sim with mods

VPet-Simulator is made by LB Game and was released on Steam in August 2023. It is a desktop pet you feed and look after, with work and study interactions and Steam Workshop mods. The app is free and open source, and it runs on Windows. AI chat is available through community Workshop mods that use your own API key, which is the point if you like managing a lot of stats. About 50,000 Steam reviews call it Overwhelmingly Positive. See Desksquattaz vs VPet or the official Steam page.

Shimeji-ee: best for climbing mascots, fan-made characters

Shimeji-ee is little desktop companions that run around your screen. You pick from characters drawn by artists around the world. It requires Java and runs only on Windows, and the price is free and open source. See Desksquattaz vs Shimeji or the official project page.

Desktop Goose: best for chaos and pranks

Desktop Goose is by samperson. It is “a goose that lives on your desktop” that steals your cursor, tracks mud, and drags memes and notes onto the screen. The latest Windows version is 0.31 (October 2022), and the Mac build is older. It is pay what you want, it runs on Windows and macOS, and about 2,000 ratings on itch.io average 4.8/5. See Desksquattaz vs Desktop Goose or the official itch.io page.

Sill Cats: best for realistic cats

Sill Cats is made by SQOOL and was released on Steam on 12 May 2026. Tiny realistic cats walk along the tops of your windows, nap, bat at your cursor, and get zoomies in the middle of the night, with up to two cats on screen. The base app is free with two cats, Abyssinian and Tuxedo, and extra breed and toy packs are about $1.99 each. It runs on Windows, and it wins on very faithful real-cat behaviour and several breeds. See Desksquattaz vs Sill Cats or the official Steam page.

Desktop Mate: best for licensed 3D characters

Desktop Mate is made by infiniteloop and was released on Steam in January 2025. 3D characters sit on your windows, play with your mouse cursor, and respond to head pats, with a built-in alarm. The base app is free, and officially licensed character DLCs are $14.99 each, for example Hatsune Miku. It runs on Windows and macOS, and it wins on official licensed characters, 3D models, and Mac support. See Desksquattaz vs Desktop Mate or the official Steam page.

My Desktop Cat: best for a cat behind your windows

My Desktop Cat is made by hirsch-dev and was released on Steam on 1 October 2026. It lives behind your windows. You can feed, pet and brush it, it shows thought bubbles for hungry, thirsty and sleepy, it has mini-games, you can decorate its room, and it grows to level 100 with 20 Steam achievements. It is free to play, with optional cosmetic purchases and no random draws, and Steam lists it as Single-player. It runs on Windows. See Desksquattaz vs My Desktop Cat or the official Steam page.

Pets Therapy: best for a crowd of pixel pets

Pets Therapy is made by Csquared Digital and runs on macOS, Windows and Linux. It has 100+ pixel pets, you drag food onto them (87 have their own food), there are 132 toys, and pets talk to each other when they meet. The app is free. Mac App Store Lifetime is $12.99, Year of Pets is $5.99, and Steam is $6.99. See Desksquattaz vs Pets Therapy or the official site.

Desksquattaz: best for a cat with Tamagotchi-style care and a computer full of games you can play together

Desksquattaz is a desktop pet for Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit, downloaded from this website and not from the Microsoft Store or Steam. Toastah is a deadpan lilac box cat. He roams, naps, moves desktop icons and never deletes them, and goes on trips that leave souvenir files. His food bowl, litter box, and My Stash are real folders. He has his own Win95-style computer, the Meowputer, with a Journal, Meowter, My Bank, My Shop, Meow Painter, a Territory map, and Scratch Boom. He plays co-op games, Battle City and a dungeon crawl. Free is $0 forever, with no ads and no card. Cat Plan is $4.99 a month or $39 a year, with a 7-day free trial and no card. A Mac version is a waitlist only. Read the homepage, the plans, or download it.

How we picked

• Runs on Windows 10/11.
• Available to download in October 2026.
• Facts taken from each app's official store or project page.

The list is not a ranking. Each row is the job that app is actually for. If you want the typing drum, get Bongo Cat. If you want stats and Workshop mods, get VPet-Simulator. If you want fan-made characters, get Shimeji-ee. If you want a goose, get Desktop Goose. If you want realistic cats, get Sill Cats. If you want licensed 3D characters, get Desktop Mate. If you want a cat with Tamagotchi-style care and a computer full of games you can play together, get Desksquattaz.