What Can steam.tools Do for Steam Trading Cards, Emoticons, and Backgrounds?

Updated

steam.tools is a collection of browser-based utilities for Steam community items, not a marketplace or a game store. You use it to look up, filter, sort, and organize trading cards, emoticons, and backgrounds, and to sort your own inventory by market value. It is useful if you already have a Steam account with community items and want a faster way to browse or assess them; it does not sell items or process trades itself.

What the site actually is

The homepage describes steam.tools as "a set of Steam related WebApps built around trading cards, emoticons and backgrounds," with the stated purpose of viewing, sorting, and filtering up-to-date item lists. The site is credited to Ehsan Kia, carries a 2013–2019 copyright line, and lists affiliate links to Steam UI Customizer, SteamLadder, SteamSignature, and TwitchCenter.

Two boundaries follow from that description:

  • It is a viewer and organizer, not a storefront. Nothing on the page indicates item sales, trade execution, or checkout.
  • It depends on Steam data. The tools present Steam community item information; they do not create items or change your account.

The five tools and what each one does

Tool What it does When to use it
Trading Cards Shows stats about Steam trading card sets, kept up to date Checking set details or card-related statistics
Emoticons Browse, filter, and sort an up-to-date list of Steam emoticons on one page Finding a specific emoticon or narrowing a large list
Backgrounds Browse, filter, and sort an up-to-date list of Steam backgrounds on one page Searching for a background by filtering rather than scrolling
Mosaticon Generates a mosaic of a chosen image using Steam emoticons you own Turning your own emoticon collection into a picture
Games Filter Views the intersection of users' Steam games and filters by categories Finding games shared across accounts
Item Value Sorter Loads your Steam Community items and sorts them by market value or filters by type Valuing or organizing your own inventory

The homepage presents these as separate apps, each with its own "Check it out!" entry point. The Emoticons and Backgrounds tools are explicitly described as single-page browsers with filter and sort controls, which is the main convenience over paging through Steam itself.

How to use it, step by step

  1. Open steam.tools in a browser. The homepage lists each tool; pick the one matching your task.
  2. For browsing (Emoticons, Backgrounds, Trading Cards): open the tool, then apply the filter and sort controls on the page. Expected result: a narrowed, ordered list of items instead of an unfiltered catalog.
  3. For your own inventory (Item Value Sorter): load your Steam Community items into the tool, then sort by market value or filter by item type. Expected result: your items ranked by value, or reduced to one type.
  4. For image output (Mosaticon): choose an image and generate a mosaic built from emoticons you own. Expected result: a mosaic image composed of your emoticons.
  5. For shared games (Games Filter): view the intersection of users' Steam games, then filter by category. Expected result: only the games common to the selected users, narrowed by category.

Verification: after filtering or sorting, confirm the list changed in the way you selected (fewer rows, different order). For inventory tools, check that the item count matches what you expect from your Steam inventory.

Common sticking points

  • Inventory-based tools need your items to be visible. Item Value Sorter and Mosaticon work from items you own, so an empty or private inventory limits what they can show.
  • "Up to date" is the site's claim, not a guarantee. The copyright line ends at 2019, so treat displayed data as the site's current snapshot rather than a live market feed.
  • No pricing or login terms are stated on the page. Do not assume the tools are free of login requirements or that they show real-time market prices; the page only mentions sorting by market value.
  • It is not a trading venue. If your goal is to buy, sell, or trade items, this site is the wrong tool; it organizes and displays information.

Choosing the right tool

  • Want to find an emoticon or background? Use the Emoticons or Backgrounds browser with filters.
  • Want card set statistics? Use Trading Cards.
  • Want to know what your inventory is worth? Use Item Value Sorter, keeping in mind the value data comes from the site's own source.
  • Want a creative output from your emoticons? Use Mosaticon.
  • Want games you and a friend share? Use Games Filter.

If your task is buying or playing games rather than managing community items, steam.tools does not cover it.