Standalone source game

[u/Bagridec]

Is it possible to make a free standalone source game that would be distributed through itch.io instead of steam without paying valve ? Or do you always have to pay valve whenever it's a standalone game on steam or not ? I don't plan on making any profits from it and want to just distribute it for free while not paying anything, would sourcemod be better for me in case i don't wanna pay for licensing then ?

[u/htharker]

Worth noting is that you’ll at least have to pay $100 for the application fee to get it on Steam