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What is Easy Anti-Cheat?

Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) is an anti-cheat that is part of Epic Online Services and free for developers at its basic level. It runs a kernel-level driver while a protected game is open, checks for cheats and changes to the game, and reports to the game's developer, who decides on bans. Fortnite, Rust, Dead by Daylight, Hunt: Showdown and Squad are among the games that use it.

Published by GCS Cheats under our editorial policy. Last updated: .

In plain EnglishThis page explains what "Easy Anti-Cheat" means when people talk about game cheats, in simple words, and where on this site to read more. No cheat is ever 100% safe, so always check a product's status before you buy.

How Easy Anti-Cheat works

EAC installs a small Windows service with the game and loads its driver when you play. It checks the game's files and memory for changes, looks for known cheats and for programs reaching into the game, and sends what it finds to the game's backend. The developer sets the rules and issues the bans.

Because the basic tier costs developers nothing, EAC protects games of every size, from the biggest shooters to small early-access titles, and its strictness varies with how each developer sets it up.

What an EAC ban means

A ban is set by the game that issued it. Facepunch gives Rust cheaters a permanent game ban on the Steam account; other studios ban the account in their own system, and some ban hardware as well. EAC's support site takes appeals from players who think their account was banned by mistake.

Games that use Easy Anti-Cheat

Easy Anti-Cheat protects 17 of the 58 games we track, every one of them at kernel level. What a ban covers is set by each game, so it is listed per game. Where we sell builds for a game, its name links to our guide or shop page.

  • Fortnite - kernel-level, hardware and account bans (runs Easy Anti-Cheat + BattlEye)
  • Rust - kernel-level, game bans on the account
  • Dead by Daylight - kernel-level, account bans
  • The Finals - kernel-level, hardware and account bans (runs Easy Anti-Cheat + Denuvo)
  • Hunt: Showdown - kernel-level, account bans
  • Gray Zone Warfare - kernel-level, account bans
  • BattleBit Remastered - kernel-level, account bans
  • Hell Let Loose - kernel-level, account bans
  • Rogue Company - kernel-level, account bans
  • Squad - kernel-level, account bans
  • Insurgency: Sandstorm - kernel-level, account bans
  • Vigor - kernel-level, account bans
  • Halo Infinite - kernel-level, account bans
  • Sea of Thieves - kernel-level, account bans
  • New World: Aeternum - kernel-level, account bans
  • Splitgate 2 - kernel-level, account bans
  • Lost Ark - kernel-level, account bans

EAC on Linux and Steam Deck

EAC lists Windows, Mac, Linux and Steam Deck as supported platforms, but each developer decides whether to switch that support on. A game that has not will refuse to play online on Linux even though it uses the same anti-cheat as one that does.

Easy Anti-Cheat FAQ

Is Easy Anti-Cheat kernel-level?
Yes. Every EAC game in our anti-cheat database runs it at kernel level, according to the game's own Steam anti-cheat notice or its developer.
Is Easy Anti-Cheat the same as EA's anti-cheat?
No. Easy Anti-Cheat is part of Epic Online Services. EA uses its own system, EA Javelin, in games such as Apex Legends and Battlefield 6.
Can you appeal an EAC ban?
EAC's player support site has an appeal form for bans you think were a mistake. Bans for cheating are the developer's decision, and most developers do not lift them.

Sources

Official pages behind the facts on this page. How cheats are built and used is our own explanation, written under our editorial policy.

Keep reading

The full glossaryEvery cheat and anti-cheat term, each defined in one line.Anti-cheat guidesHow each game's anti-cheat works and what its bans cover.Anti-cheat databaseAll 58 games we track: system, driver, ban type.Compare cheatsBuilds for one game side by side, feature by feature.