How to Download & Set Up osu! (Beginner First Steps)

osu! is free, and getting started takes about five minutes. This guide walks you through downloading the game, choosing between the two clients, logging in, getting your first beatmaps, and the handful of settings worth changing before your first serious play.

Downloading osu!

• Go to the official site, osu.ppy.sh, and download the installer - never a third-party mirror.
• osu! is free to download and free to play; there is no paid version of the game itself.
• Run the installer and let it finish - it is small and installs in seconds.
• On first launch you will log in or create a free account.

lazer or stable?

osu! ships as two clients. Stable is the classic, battle-tested client most players still use; lazer is the modern rewrite with new features that is gradually becoming the default. New players can start on either - lazer is the future, but stable has the widest skin and tournament support. See the dedicated lazer vs stable guide to choose.

Your first beatmaps

• The game comes with a few tutorial maps; you download the rest yourself.
• Browse and download beatmaps from the website, or use in-game direct download.
• Start with Easy and Normal difficulties - do not jump straight into Insane maps.
• Beatmaps are free; you build your own collection over time.

First settings to change

• Bind two comfortable keys - most players use Z and X - rather than clicking with the mouse.
• Set a sensible universal offset if your hits feel consistently early or late; see the offset guide.
• Pick a skin with a clean, high-contrast hit circle so you can read maps easily.
• Turn on raw input for sharper, lower-latency aim.

That is everything you need to start. From here, the improvement guides cover how to actually get good - aim, reading and consistency.