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The guide

13 Idle Farming Games That Keep the Crops Growing While You Do Something Else

Idle farming games worth your time: 13 picks from desktop-strip farms to code-your-drone puzzles, with prices, Steam scores and the catch with each one.

Source-checked guideMaintained by Maxwell PrehodaHow we choose

The best idle farming game for most people is Rusty's Retirement: a small farm that sits along the bottom of your screen while robots plant and harvest, 97% positive on Steam. If you want to automate the farm by writing code, play The Farmer Was Replaced. If you want it free with no ads, try Cheeky Chooks.

Idle farming covers three quite different games: background farms you glance at, automation farms you engineer, and farm-flavored number games where the field is mostly a theme. Every pick below is from our catalog, with Steam review shares from the store's counts and US prices as listed on Steam in November 2026. Prices change with sales.

01

Rusty's Retirement: best for a farm that lives at the bottom of your screen

Platform: Steam · paid

Rusty's Retirement is built to sit in a strip along the bottom of your monitor while you work. Rusty, a retired robot, waters and harvests crops; you turn crops into biofuel, sell it to other machines, and spend the money on more land and helper bots you can customize. There is a vertical mode for the side of the screen and a Focus Mode that slows crop growth when you need fewer distractions.

It is $6.99 on Steam for Windows and Mac and is the most loved game on this list: 97% positive from 14,873 reviews as of November 2026. Our catalog records an ending and estimates 15 to 30 hours, so it is a farm you can finish rather than one you tend forever.

Pick it first if you want something gentle on a second monitor. It also has Twitch integration, where viewers each control a robot on the streamer's farm.

Watch out for: It needs the game window open on screen to be useful, so it is less suited to a laptop with one small display.

Read the profile →Rusty's Retirement on Steam ↗

02

The Farmer Was Replaced: best for learning to code by automating a farm

Platform: Steam · paid

In The Farmer Was Replaced you program a drone in a simple Python-like language to plant, water and harvest for you. There are no separate levels: the harvest buys new technology, the new technology asks for smarter code, and the opening teaches programming concepts one at a time. The developer says it will not hold your hand on the tasks themselves, which can be hard if you have never coded.

It is $9.99 on Steam for Windows and Mac, made by Timon Herzog, and holds 97% positive from 1,543 reviews as of November 2026. Experienced programmers can get through the early game quickly and spend their time on the harder optimization problems later.

Pick it if pressing "execute" and watching a field get cleared sounds better than clicking crops. For more games built on the same idea, see our incremental programming games guide.

Watch out for: It is a programming puzzle first. If you want to switch off, this is the wrong farm.

Read the profile →The Farmer Was Replaced on Steam ↗

03

Plantera 2: Golden Acorn: best for a garden that keeps growing while the game is closed

Platform: Steam · paid

Plantera 2 starts with a flat plot and a few vegetables and grows into a garden of bushes, trees, water features and animals around a magical oak. Round blue creatures called Mellows pick up and harvest for you, and they keep working while you are not playing, so there is gold waiting when you come back. You grow the oak toward the sky to harvest its golden acorns.

It is $4.99 on Steam with 95% positive from 1,209 reviews as of November 2026, and it supports mouse-only play. The original Plantera is $2.99 with 89% positive from 5,785 reviews, if you want the simpler first game.

Pick it if you like decorating as much as earning. Offline growth makes it a good morning-and-evening game.

Watch out for: Windows only, and the progression is gentle rather than deep, so number-crunchers may run out of goals.

Read the profile →Plantera 2 on Steam ↗

04

Tiny Terraces: best for watching tiny workers garden on their own

Platform: Steam, Mobile · paid

Tiny Terraces is an idle farming game where little workers water, weed and harvest a terrace garden while you do things outside the game. You craft more workers from crops and parts, and spend money on decorations for the terrace.

It is $6.99 on Steam, in Early Access, with 92% positive from 952 reviews as of November 2026. Our catalog rates it 90% idle, which puts it among the least demanding games here, and it also has an iPhone version on the App Store.

Pick it if you want a living diorama more than a strategy game.

Watch out for: Windows only on Steam and still in Early Access, so content is thinner than in finished games.

Read the profile →Tiny Terraces on Steam ↗Tiny Terraces on the App Store ↗

05

PomoFarm: best for pomodoro focus sessions

Platform: Steam · paid

PomoFarm is half focus timer and half idle farm. You play Tomato the Duck, start a timer, and go do the real task: work, homework, cleaning. The farm grows while you focus, and you come back to harvest. There are 60 crops, 68 skills, four seasons with their own crops and four friends who hang out on the farm.

It is $4.99 on Steam for Windows and Mac with 97% positive from 462 reviews as of November 2026, and it uses pixel art.

Pick it if the real goal is getting work done and the farm is the reward. It pairs well with our idle games for studying guide.

Watch out for: The farm only advances with the timer, so it is not a game you can open and play for an hour on its own.

Read the profile →PomoFarm on Steam ↗

06

Cheeky Chooks: best for a free chicken farm with no ads or purchases

Platform: Steam · free

Cheeky Chooks has you build a chicken ranch from a dusty shed into what it calls a CHOOKTOPIA. You hatch different breeds and rarities of chooks, keep them fed and uncrowded so they lay better eggs, and spend profits on buildings and upgrades while completing missions.

The Steam page states plainly: no ads or in-app purchases, 100% free. It is co-published by the RSPCA, runs on Windows and Mac, and has 94% positive from 2,670 reviews as of November 2026.

Pick it when you want something free that will not try to sell you anything. It is also one of the few farm idlers here that suits younger players.

Watch out for: Neglect costs you: hungry or crowded chooks hurt profits, so it is not a set-and-forget game.

Read the profile →Cheeky Chooks on Steam ↗

07

Farmer Against Potatoes Idle: best for farm-themed idle combat with deep systems

Platform: Steam · free-to-play

Despite the name, Farmer Against Potatoes Idle is an idle RPG with a farm theme. An amnesiac farmer fights waves of mutated potatoes across five-plus worlds of 9 areas with 100 waves each, spending potatoes and skulls on upgrades, equipment, classes and talents. The Steam page counts over 250 visually different items.

It is free to play on Steam with in-app purchases, made by Oni Gaming, and has 95% positive from 8,191 reviews as of November 2026. Our catalog records offline progress and no ending.

Pick it if you came for the farmer and stay for the numbers. If you want actual crops, the games above are closer.

Watch out for: Windows only, and it has in-app purchases. There is very little farming in the farming.

Read the profile →Farmer Against Potatoes Idle on Steam ↗

08

Farm RPG: best for a social, menu-based farm with other players

Platform: Steam · free

Farm RPG is a menu-based farming RPG and MMO. You grow crops, fish, craft, cook, explore and trade, take help requests from townsfolk, and work toward long item mastery goals. The developers stress a friendly, non-competitive community and say there are no ads or pop-ups.

It is free on Steam for Windows and Mac with in-app purchases, and has 88% positive from 464 reviews as of November 2026. It plays online with other players and needs a network connection.

Pick it if you want farming with people around. For more games built around other players, see our idle MMO guide.

Watch out for: Needs an internet connection, and it is menus and text rather than a farm you can look at.

Read the profile →Farm RPG on Steam ↗

09

Tuin: best for a tiny Sokpop garden that fully automates

Platform: Steam · paid

Tuin is a small idle garden from the Sokpop Collective, the studio that releases a new game every month. You plant seeds, pull weeds and sell vegetables while doing something else, then buy plots, irrigation and electricity until the farm runs itself. There are 8 crops, 50+ buyable items, 10+ farm animals and online highscores.

It is $4.99 on Steam for Windows and Mac and has 80% positive from 135 reviews as of November 2026.

Pick it for a short, charming arc from hand weeding to full automation. It is a little-known one worth finding.

Watch out for: Small in scope by design, so expect an evening or two rather than weeks.

Read the profile →Tuin on Steam ↗

10

Micro Macro Farm: best for cooking crops into products

Platform: Steam · paid

Micro Macro Farm is a small game designed to run while you do other things. You plant, harvest and turn produce into food with machines, then level up to open more seeds and machines. Gnome helpers keep the farm going when you look away. The store page lists 15+ plants, 6+ machines and 26+ recipes.

It is $5.99 on Steam with 79% positive from 126 reviews as of November 2026, and it has full controller support.

Pick it if you like the crop-to-product chain more than the planting. It is a light taste of the production side of farming.

Watch out for: Windows only, and the content list is short, so it is a small game at its price.

Read the profile →Micro Macro Farm on Steam ↗

11

refarm: best for a two-hour farm you can finish tonight

Platform: Steam · paid

refarm has you raise sunken farmland out of the ocean one tile at a time, farm each tile to fund the next, and slowly gain helping hands and simple automation as you find out what else is under the surface.

The developer is upfront: "This is a short game and you'll click a lot!" with a completion time of about 2 hours. Our catalog records an ending. It was $2.99 on sale (normally $3.99) on Steam in November 2026, with 87% positive from 112 reviews.

Pick it when you want the whole idle-farming arc in one evening.

Watch out for: Windows only, and it is semi-idle: expect a lot of clicking, not background play.

Read the profile →refarm on Steam ↗

12

The MachinEGG: best for a free chicken farm for a lunch break

Platform: Browser · free

The MachinEGG is a free browser game where you buy chickens, feed and water them, sell eggs at the market and automate the process with belts. The campaign lasts about 20 to 25 minutes, and a later update added an Endless Mode for longer idle play.

On galaxy.click it has 4.3 stars from 184 ratings. The developer notes that some code is AI-assisted and some translations are AI-generated, while the art and sound are not.

Pick it for a single break at work. One commenter says they finished it across their work breaks.

Watch out for: It is active for its short run, and a player found Endless Mode slow, with food costs draining money.

Read the profile →Play The MachinEGG on galaxy.click ↗

13

Really Grass Cutting Incremental: best for deep prestige layers behind a lawn

Platform: Browser · free

Really Grass Cutting Incremental is a free, open source browser game inspired by the Roblox game Grass Cutting Incremental. You cut grass for resources and climb a stack of layers: Level, Tier and Astral, then realms with challenges, a refinery that makes rocket fuel, and a space map that opens at Level 200.

The page lists endgame goals such as Level 22,000+ and Planetary Tier 10+, so it goes much further than the lawn suggests. It recommends a 1920x1080 screen.

Pick it if you want a farm-themed game with the layered prestige of a classic browser incremental. See more like it in our free browser incremental games list.

Watch out for: Dense menus and many layers; it is not a cozy farm. Our catalog marks it dormant, so do not expect new updates.

Read the profile →Play Really Grass Cutting Incremental ↗Source on GitHub ↗

How to choose an idle farming game

Decide what the farm is for, and the list gets short.

01

Match it to your screen

If you want a farm in the corner while you work, Rusty's Retirement and Tiny Terraces are built for that, and PomoFarm turns the farm into a focus timer. For more games that sit on the desktop, see our desktop idle games guide.

02

Match it to how you like to automate

Writing code: The Farmer Was Replaced. Buying helpers: Plantera 2, Tuin and Micro Macro Farm. Building machines and belts: Assembly Planter, which sits in our idle factory games guide. Pure upgrade layers: Really Grass Cutting Incremental and Farmer Against Potatoes Idle.

03

Match it to your budget and time

Free with nothing to buy: Cheeky Chooks, The MachinEGG and Really Grass Cutting Incremental. Free with purchases: Farmer Against Potatoes Idle and Farm RPG. Short and finished: refarm in about two hours, Rusty's Retirement in our catalog's 15 to 30 hour estimate. Check How long to beat for more.

Plant something before bed

If you want one answer, buy Rusty's Retirement and park it at the bottom of your screen tomorrow. If you want free, install Cheeky Chooks. If you want to learn something, start The Farmer Was Replaced.

For more games that run with little input, our list of mostly idle Steam games is sorted and filterable.

See mostly idle games on Steam →

Common questions

What is the best idle farming game on Steam?

Rusty's Retirement, at 97% positive from nearly 15,000 Steam reviews as of November 2026. The Farmer Was Replaced also has 97% positive, from a smaller number of reviews, but it is a coding game.

Are there free idle farming games?

Yes. Cheeky Chooks is free on Steam with no ads or in-app purchases. The MachinEGG and Really Grass Cutting Incremental are free in the browser. Farmer Against Potatoes Idle and Farm RPG are free to play with in-app purchases.

Which idle farming games grow while the game is closed?

Plantera and Plantera 2 say their helpers keep working while you are not playing, and our catalog records offline progress for Farmer Against Potatoes Idle. Rusty's Retirement and Tiny Terraces are designed to run open in the background instead.

Is Egg, Inc. a farming game?

It is a chicken farm on the surface, but it plays like a tycoon: upgrade buttons, prestige and contracts rather than fields. We cover it in our idle tycoon games guide.

Is The Farmer Was Replaced good for learning Python?

It teaches programming concepts in a Python-like language, introducing them one at a time. The developer says the language is not exactly Python but close enough that Python tooling works with it, and warns that the puzzles can be hard for complete beginners.

Sources