CS2 Stickers Explained: Tiers, Crafts, Scraping and the Most Expensive Ones (2026)
CS2 stickers are cosmetic decals you apply to weapons, and a handful trade for more than a car.
Most cost a few cents. A pristine iBUYPOWER Holo from 2014 sells for five figures. This guide breaks down the rarity tiers, how sticker crafts and scraping actually work, which stickers hold value, and the priciest ones in the game right now.
How CS2 Stickers Work
Stickers are decals you apply to the body of a weapon. You pull them from sticker capsules, which drop in-game or sell on the Steam market and third-party CS2 trading sites for anywhere from a few cents to thousands of dollars. Each gun has four sticker slots. Place one and it locks to that slot.
Here is the rule that catches new players out. Stickers do not come off. Peel one and it is deleted, not returned to your inventory. That single mechanic drives the whole sticker economy, because supply only ever shrinks. Every iBUYPOWER Holo someone applies is one fewer left in the world.
Sticker Finishes and What They Mean
Finish is the biggest single factor in what a sticker is worth. The same team logo can cost cents as paper or thousands as a holo. Here is how the finishes rank.
Crafts and Scraping Explained
A craft is a weapon wearing applied stickers, usually picked to fit a theme or colour. A four-sticker craft on a clean skin can sell for far more than the bare skin when the stickers are rare or the combo is well known. Crafters chase specific placements and float values, and a tidy craft can take months to assemble.
Scraping is wearing a sticker down on purpose. In the apply menu you click a sticker to scrape it, dropping its condition from 100 percent toward zero. Players scrape to reveal the gun underneath, mute a colour, or bring out a holo's pattern. It cannot be undone. One scrape too many and a valuable craft loses its shine, literally and in price.
Which Stickers Hold Value
Three things set a sticker's price: the finish, the team or player on it, and whether the capsule still sells. Holo and Gold versions from old tournaments are the blue chips. The paper version of the same logo is usually worth cents.
The Katowice 2014 capsule is the famous example. Valve never reissued it, so every sticker applied or deleted thins an already tiny pool. That is the scarcity logic behind investing in CS2 skins, where discontinued items with steady demand tend to climb. The org matters too. Defunct teams like iBUYPOWER and Titan carry a nostalgia premium that active rosters rarely reach.
The Most Expensive CS2 Stickers
The priciest stickers in CS2 are all Holos from the Katowice 2014 EMS One capsule. Clean, low-wear copies of the rarest team logos reach well into five and six figures. Float and demand swing the numbers hard, so read the prices below as mid 2026 market ranges, not fixed tags.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you remove stickers in CS2?
No. Scraping or peeling a sticker deletes it permanently. It does not go back to your inventory, which is why applying a rare sticker is a one-way decision.
How many stickers can you put on one gun?
Four. Every weapon has four sticker slots along the body. Knives and gloves cannot hold stickers.
What does scraping a sticker do?
It wears the sticker down from 100 percent toward zero, revealing more of the gun beneath and changing the look. The effect is permanent.
Why are Katowice 2014 stickers so expensive?
They came from a capsule Valve never reissued, so supply only shrinks as people apply them. Add the Holo finish and defunct teams like iBUYPOWER, and you get the rarest stickers in the game.
Are CS2 stickers a good investment?
The blue-chip Holos have held value for years, but prices are volatile and liquidity is thin at the top end. If you are comparing them to skins, our guide to the most expensive CS2 skins shows how the wider market behaves before you commit real money.
CSGamble may earn a commission from links to trading and gambling sites. 18+ only. Trade and gamble responsibly.
Related Articles
Best Cases to Open in CS2 (2026): Value, Odds & Top Picks
The best CS2 cases to open in 2026 balance a low entry price against a realistic shot at a profitable unboxing. Right now the standout picks are the Kilowatt Case, the Revolution Case, and older discontinued Operation cases whose limited supply props up their drops. Below we break down which cases give the best value, the real odds, and how to think about case opening without fooling yourself.
CS2 Best Knife Animations Ranked — Top 10 Knives You Need to See
Read more
How to Invest in CS2 Skins: A Beginner’s Guide to Making Profit
Read moreHot Promo Codes
View all promo codes
Browse All Sites