CS2 Premier vs FACEIT: Which competitive platform is best in 2026?

With video games in 2026, we’d anticipate builders to have refined their matchmaking platforms, particularly after operating their video games for over 20 years. However in CS2, the overwhelming majority of the playerbase opts for a third-party matchmaking platform, FACEIT. However what attracts gamers in is it simply historic habits? Or is CS2 Premier actually that dangerous? 

Counter-Strike has by no means had a single house for aggressive play, from group servers to third-party hubs, the gaming playerbase has all the time been fragmented lengthy earlier than the CS2 launch date, however from the primary iterations of CS, all the best way up until CS2 premier season 4, which was simply launched.

CS2 Premier is Valve’s new try at matchmaking. It was constructed so as to streamline it extra into the esports world, the place you queue right into a 5v5 bomb defusal map like we’re all used to, however you undergo a veto course of to decide on your map, the place you’ll ban and choose till you’re down one out of the seven lively obligation maps. 

CS2 ranks are performed just a little in a different way in Premier, the place as a substitute of a named rank plus tier, like “Legendary Eagle Grasp,” you get a CS Score from 0-30,000+, and the upper your score, the higher. This supplied a refreshing distinction from the identical outdated system we’re used to; nevertheless, we’ve seen the implementation of this technique to be lower than best, with delays between seasons and inconsistent updates by Valve. 

FACEIT CS2 is actually the identical, nevertheless, with just a few stark variations. You’ll want to play on a third-party platform, which suggests utilizing their very own kernel-level anti-cheat, which many gamers choose for added peace of thoughts. You queue into both 5v5 Free or 5v5 Premium. These are two separate queues for paid and free play. You’ll then Veto for server location and map, then be part of a FACEIT-owned server to play. 

FACEIT permits for hubs and totally different queues to play in as nicely, which permits content material creators to host video games with their very own group simply, in addition to girls to have women-only queues to get away from the sexism of regular queues. Whereas in principle these are good, in observe, we are able to see a few of them are very empty and deserted. I’ve performed within the ICL (Irish Circuit Professional League) in addition to the Feminine CS Hub; each of those had many gamers of their time, however lots have moved on, and it’s exhausting to get a match. 

FACEIT ranks work barely in a different way from CS2 Premier’s ranks. Whereas CS2 Premier makes use of the 0-30,000+ score system, FACEIT makes use of a 0-2,000 elo system, break up into ranges 1-10. You possibly can, nevertheless, transcend 2,000 elo, however this doesn’t mirror in greater ranges. It is going to try to match you with gamers of an identical elo, however the greater you go, the tougher that is, and you may even see some very uneven matches with perhaps just a few 3,000 elo gamers matched with two 2,000 elo gamers towards a full group of two,500 elo gamers.

When doing a CS2 Premier vs FACEIT comparability for the ranks, we must always point out rank decay. This isn’t a factor in FACEIT, so after getting a rank, you retain it irrespective of how lengthy you’ve it. I personally have sat at 3,000 elo on FACEIT for a number of months with out taking part in. It’s actually refreshing that we don’t get punished for merely not taking part in the sport, nevertheless it does inflate the variety of Degree 10 gamers to round 10.5% as of 2024, after they final launched these numbers 

However Valve punishes gamers for taking breaks: after three weeks, your CS score will probably be hidden and slowly lower over time. You possibly can solely cease this course of and reveal your rank by profitable one recreation. Even higher-ranked gamers are held to tighter restrictions as nicely, and gamers with a 23,000 score or greater will begin seeing rank decay after solely eight days of inactivity, forcing the extra aggressive gamers to maintain within the recreation. 

Whereas traditionally FACEIT CS2 servers have been much better with extra areas and 128tick fee, which felt much more responsive, and bullets truly hit the place you have been aiming, however with the introduction of CS2, Valve has compelled FACEIT to make use of its new “subtick” based mostly servers. Whereas this was fought by FACEIT, they have been compelled to evolve to regular Valve servers.

Although many gamers would relatively grind FACEIT ranges on its servers because of the higher infrastructure and community reliability, although the info of this we don’t 100% know. That is simply hypothesis, and the texture gamers get on their servers. Since these servers are hosted by FACEIT themselves, we are able to assume they might be of upper high quality than Valve’s. 

From the esports scene, gamers wish to have their very own enjoyable off the primary stage. Most gamers go for FACEIT as a substitute of CS2 Premier, with the addition of FPL (FACEIT Professional League). That is an invite-only hub that lets professional gamers and gamers who qualify by way of a league play on the FACEIT platform away from the usual queues.

The inclusion of professional gamers provides the typical participant a purpose inside FACEIT itself, so we’re not solely grinding for FACEIT ranks and elo, however to get ok to play within the FPL qualifier and find yourself in matches with a few of the greatest gamers on this planet. This layers extra techniques on prime, protecting all the pieces contemporary in a recreation we’ve performed for 1000’s and 1000’s of hours. 

Whereas taking part in by way of FACEIT, I’ve seen superb matchmaking. It tries to put the identical common elo of each groups, and if it’s off, the win/lack of elo will probably be adjusted. In CS2 Premier, we see an identical manner of rating, the place it will get the typical elo even on either side, whereas in Premier, we do see a really apparent distinction within the quantity of cheaters you get in every recreation. 

On the finish of the day, it solely actually issues the place you’ve extra enjoyable. For my part, given all FACEIT has to supply, it’s simply higher than Premier in practically each manner, even because the CS2 Premier Season 3 finish date, the place we might assume they’d have Premier extra refined. Nevertheless, we see time and time once more, it’s an terrible expertise for brand new gamers, particularly. FACEIT nonetheless wins out in all features, with higher servers, inclusive hubs the place you’ll be able to play with the individuals you wish to play with, and fewer cheaters because of the kernel-level anti-cheat. Total, you’re simply going to have a greater time taking part in FACEIT.