StatTrak™ vs Souvenir Skins in CS2: Key Differences

StatTrak™ skins carry a counter that records the kills their owner makes with them, while Souvenir skins commemorate a Major match and usually come with gold stickers from it. StatTrak™ items mostly come from weapon cases and Souvenirs from Major souvenir packages, and no item can be both at once.

What StatTrak™ means

StatTrak™ is an item quality that adds a small digital counter, the StatTrak™ module, to the weapon model. In the game’s own words, the technology « tracks certain statistics when equipped by its owner ». On guns and knives the statistic is Confirmed Kills. On StatTrak™ music kits it is Official Competitive MVPs.

Because only the owner’s kills count, a teammate who picks up your StatTrak™ rifle adds nothing to it. The item’s description also warns that its stats reset when it goes through Steam Trading or the Community Market, so the number you see is not a permanent record of the item’s history.

How to get StatTrak™ items

• Weapon cases. Any case item that has a StatTrak™ version, knives included, has a one-in-ten chance of dropping as StatTrak™, according to the odds Perfect World publishes for CS2 in China. Browse the cases in the wiki to see what each one contains.
• Trade-up contracts. Ten StatTrak™ skins of one rarity return a StatTrak™ skin of the next rarity. StatTrak™ and normal skins can’t be mixed in the same contract.
• Music kits. New music kits and music kit boxes are usually sold in the in-game store in both standard and StatTrak™ versions.

A StatTrak™ skin looks the same as the normal version apart from the counter and the StatTrak™ tag in its name, for example StatTrak™ AK-47 | Redline.

What Souvenir means and how to get one

Souvenir is the quality given to skins that commemorate a Major. Major Souvenir weapons come with event stickers already applied. On most of them these are gold stickers of the two teams in the match, joined by the tournament logo, the map or a player’s autograph depending on the event.

The classic source is the Souvenir package. Each package is tied to one Major match and its map, and holds skins from that map’s collection: a Cologne 2016 Cobblestone Souvenir Package, for instance, can contain the AWP | Dragon Lore. Early Majors dropped packages to viewers watching on GOTV or Twitch, while later ones handed them out through Viewer Pass coin upgrades, Souvenir Tokens and the Pick’Em Challenge, as with the Paris 2023 Anubis Souvenir Package. Souvenir packages open without a key.

The contents are weighted towards the lowest grades. For a package that holds all six grades, the odds Perfect World publishes are 79.872% Consumer Grade and only 0.027% Covert, and in a Cobblestone package the only Covert is the Dragon Lore.

Two newer formats changed the picture. At the Austin 2025 and Budapest 2025 Majors, playoff matches got Souvenir Highlight Packages, whose weapon comes with a charm that replays a highlight from the match. For IEM Cologne 2026, souvenirs worked differently again through the Souvenir-O-Matic: you choose a normal or Souvenir weapon from your inventory, a completed match and one of its players, and the weapon is permanently converted into a Souvenir with gold team, autograph and map stickers. Any stickers already on it are removed first. That is why case skins such as the AK-47 | Redline now exist in Souvenir quality.

A few Souvenirs have nothing to do with a Major. In December 2018, for example, Prime players could earn the Souvenir MP5-SD | Lab Rats by gaining XP in the Danger Zone mode.

Why an item can’t be both

StatTrak™ and Souvenir come from routes that never overlap. Cases and trade-ups create StatTrak™ versions but never Souvenirs, Souvenir packages only hold Souvenir items, and the Souvenir-O-Matic only accepts normal or Souvenir weapons, so a StatTrak™ skin can’t be converted. Trade-ups keep them apart as well: since the update of May 22, 2026, Souvenir skins can go into a contract alongside normal skins, but they lose their Souvenir attributes and the result is a normal item.

The two are easy to tell apart by name. On the Steam Community Market, StatTrak™ AK-47 | Redline (Field-Tested) and Souvenir AK-47 | Redline (Field-Tested) are separate listings from the plain version, and their type lines read StatTrak™ Classified Rifle and Souvenir Classified Rifle.

The StatTrak™ Swap Tool

A StatTrak™ Swap Tool exchanges the counter values of two StatTrak™ items of the same type. Steam Support gives the example that kills from a StatTrak™ M4A1-S can only move to another StatTrak™ M4A1-S, not to a different gun. It is a true swap, so each item takes the other’s count, which lets you carry your kills over when you switch to a new skin for the same weapon. Each tool works once, and since the update of November 12, 2025 newly bought Swap Tools can no longer be traded or listed on the Community Market.

Knives, gloves and the two qualities

Knives can be StatTrak™. When a case drops its knife, the same one-in-ten roll applies, so a finish such as the ★ Karambit | Marble Fade also exists as ★ StatTrak™ Karambit | Marble Fade. Since October 2025, five StatTrak™ Covert skins can also be traded up into a StatTrak™ knife. The counter module is fitted to knives just as it is to guns, and the item’s type line reads ★ StatTrak™ Covert Knife.

Knives are never Souvenir. They are not part of any map collection, so no Souvenir package contains one, and the Souvenir-O-Matic only takes weapons of normal or Souvenir quality, which leaves out ★ items. Gloves are neither: they have no StatTrak™ version, a StatTrak™ Covert trade-up can only return a knife, and no Souvenir gloves exist.

FAQ

Can a skin be StatTrak™ and Souvenir at the same time?

No. Every item is one, the other or neither, because no case, package, trade-up or conversion produces both.

Does the counter go up when someone else uses my weapon?

No. StatTrak™ only tracks the item while its owner has it equipped, so kills by anyone who picks it up are not added.

Does a StatTrak™ skin keep its count when it changes hands?

No. The notice on StatTrak™ items says their stats reset when the item goes through Steam Trading or the Community Market, so a new owner does not inherit the previous count.

Can Souvenir skins be used in trade-up contracts?

Yes, since May 22, 2026. They can be mixed with normal skins of the same rarity, but the Souvenir status is removed and the result is a normal skin.

Do StatTrak™ or Souvenir skins play differently?

No. Both are cosmetic. The counter and the stickers change how the weapon looks, not how it performs.