Top 10 Free To Play MMOs in 2025
Author – Waydot
Links:
MMORPGs in 2025
Historically this is the genre that truly kicked off the free to play monetization strategy. Even if you think that has been a net negative of catastrophic proportions to most of the gaming industry by creating a profit incentive for developers to focus on other forms of monetization which might be hellbent on nickel and dining you for every slight inconvenience and gameplay loop that would have otherwise just been solved or included in a typical buy to play title… EVEN IF YOU THINK THAT
There are some positives to this, like the fact that most of the top ten MMORPGs that exist are actually free to play. Right now.
Lord Of The Rings Online
Released on April 24th of 2007 by Turbine Inc which later turned into Standing Stone Games LOTRO is definitely dated, however don’t let this deter you this game has been receiving updates the entire time and there is a ridiculous amount of content for you to delve into. LOTRO features an immersive open world middle earth with a ton of familiar locations such as the Shire or Moria, and you can select from a ton of different classes and races which you can combo together in order to lead to different playstyles.
Some of my complaints definitely include the dated user interface, you might think that’s not an issue but trust me it’s definitely a pain point, and some people find the levelling to be rather slow paced this could be either a positive or a negative depending on how you enjoy games. I personally played LOTRO for the first time in 2023 and I really enjoyed myself, as a long time fan it was awesome to jump into Tolkiens works through an MMO medium however I had one main issue which ultimately lead to me quitting… server issues; where I experienced lag and rubber banding, BUT earlier this year they actually released new 64 bit servers to help combat this issue and apparently the lag has mostly been fixed.
Other than that the monetization is pretty standard, I wouldn’t call this pay to win for the casual player or someone whos only focused on the story but they are going to be selling you a subscription and microtransactions, the subscription includes faster exp rates, access to a ton of content, and some quality of life including increased inventory space which is particularly important as you’ll often find your inventory is overflowing with new items.
With all that being said, I think LOTRO is still to this day an awesome experience, especially for fans of the IP and considering the amount of content and updates this game has and still continues to have its totally worth checking out even 18 years after its initial release and that’s why it deserves the number 10 spot on this list.
Defiance Online
Following that in the number 9 spot we have… the Defiance Relaunch a sci-fi third-person shooter MMO that was developed by Trion Worlds, and launched in April 2013. It was a crossover project tied to a Syfy TV series of the same name and Defiance is set in a post apocalyptic Earth following an alien invasion.
Now Defiance actually shut down in 2021 despite a pretty loyal and dedicated fanbase the developers didn’t consider the project worth continuing, and I never even got the chance to try it.. That is until it was recently re released by Fawkes Games just a couple of months ago, and wow I was actually blown away. It’s like if borderlands was multiplayer but set in the fallout universe. Defiance is what a proper shooter based MMORPG should look like with a massive world that allows for massive real time player interaction. Defiance will have you exploring a pretty sizable map with upwards of 1000 other players on any given server. You progress through the following the main questline, levelling up and customizing your abilities and kit, as well as participating in open world events with tons of other players. You can participate in massive open world raids, instanced PVP or even just drive around exploring the map.
Where the game falls a little short is in terms of its server stability, definitely some reports of server issues at the moment but hopefully this is temporary, as well as a lack of updates.. Fawkes Games claims they will be continuing to update the game frequently and its still a little too soon to tell just what they mean by frequent but at the moment the game feels a little lacklustre when compared to other MMOs in terms of just the amount of content
However with all that being said I personally had an awesome experience playing, randomly running into 40+ players doing an open world raid, it really felt like the actual open world looter shooter MMO that otherwise doesn’t really exist in the genre. Definitely worth checking out!
Throne & Liberty
Moving on to Number 8.. And this one could be considered somewhat controversial however in my opinion it totally deserves its spot on this list. Throne & Liberty Released just last October, and already having received some major updates this is a cross platform, tab target ability based combat MMO where you play as a shapeshifter and the weapons your currently using will dictate what class you actually are.
The world is absolutely stunning, the graphics the music the setting the colours all create a genuinely immersive experience that can’t be downplayed its probably my favourite part of Throne and Liberty, the levelling experience is engaging and the questing is fun, the dungeons are fantastic and challenging and the amount of player interaction in terms of open world bosses and group dungeons is top of the line in terms of the genre.. At some points there were upwards of 50 players all fighting the same boss and even on epic quality graphics i experienced literally zero lag.. So the game is optimized extremely well..
In march of this year we saw the Wilds of Talandre content update which really is Throne and Liberty’s first major update adding a new zone, a ton of group content, a ton of quality of life and its been generally well received
But the real issues start to arrive when you realise the gameplay loop is pretty time gated.. You can only participate in a certain amount of dungeons per day, you can only spend a certain amount of time in open world dungeons per day, you can only complete a specific amount of contracts per day, and for most people they won’t actually reach these daily limits you can also save them up over time but it can lead to a sour taste in your mouth especially if your the type of player to complete these activities every day, on top of that the world is controlled by the top guilds who will hoard access to certain areas by constant collaborating and politicking with the other top guilds, for some people this is a positive, for others not so much.
Either way throne & Liberty had a pretty successful launch all things considered, though we don’t know the actual numbers the player base has settled into a much smaller but still very dedicated and active amount. Despite following a lot of Korean MMORPG tropes especially in regards to its monetization, i genuinely had a great time playing through the game myself and I’m looking forward to returning and checking it out soon.
I know for some people Throne & Liberty is a hard pass, but in the current MMO climate I think it was actually a pretty well received game considering its developer and the expectations a lot of people had going in. Totally deserves a spot here at number 8.
Dungeons and Dragons Online
Next up, at the number 7 spot, A game I probably would have never featured on one of these lists previously is none other than DDO, Dungeons and Dragons Online. Though it never made it to an actual video on my channel, I tried DDO for the first time in 2024 and had a fantastic experience.
Very similar in terms of aesthetic and even monetization strategy to LOTRO, this makes sense considering both games were developed and published by Turbine, later Standing stone games.
DDO remains faithful to DnD in many ways, even just in character customization which is ridiculously in depth, there are so many different classes and customization options including skills, feats, and ability scores. There’s (multiclassing) which allows for really diverse builds, and all of this basically means you have near infinite options.
The world is split up into instances which you can enter solo or as a group and on varying difficulty levels which will dictate your reward, it sounds rather bland and copy paste but where i found DDO really shined was its combat system which is somewhat reminiscent of Guild Wars 1… definitely outdated but implements much more strategy than your typical MMORPG content.. For example the timing of your critical hits or heals or traps are basically the most important aspect of winning any confrontation.. I found the game to be quite challenging honestly, but its in that challenge that I found the reward and it was a really satisfying experience.
Players will undertake quests ranging from solo missions to group-based raids (up to 12 players). And Quests involve battling iconic D&D monsters, solving puzzles, and navigating traps.
DDO follows basically the exact same monetization strategy as Lord of the rings online so you can find a VIP subscription as well as microtransactions but the free to play experience still offers hundreds of hours of content
Honestly DDO offers a pretty authentic DnD experience through the MMO medium and for that alone it deserves to be praised as we’ve seen so so many titles attempting to use this IP and fail time and time again, especially in the MMO space.
If your a fan of DnD this MMO is a must try, and even if you know nothing about DnD the game genuinely holds up especially as a free to play option and that’s why its at number 7 on this list.
Lost Ark
Probably my favourite at least modern MMO to really ever come out of Korea recently… Lost Ark, released in the west in 2022 by Smilegate and Amazon.
This is an ARPG mixed with an MMO allowing you to explore an entire world by sailing across the ocean and gathering collectibles, or participating in extremely difficult boss fights and raids honestly Lost Ark was a complete blast on its release, the problems really started to appear after people had been playing for a while and started reaching the bottlenecks, where essentially in order to progress and stay at the top level of endgame content you either had to cough up money or treat the game like a full time job.. Even sometimes more than a fulltime job.
That was basically everyone’s first impression anyway, and i mean this game had a ridiculously successful western launch peaking at over 1million concurrent players on Steam
And while a lot of people were quite happy with its extremely challenging content, fluid gameplay, and immense amount of horizontal progression that was available, unfortunately a lot of people hit that wall where the game started to feel a little pay to win, and definitely not very solo friendly leaving groups of players disjointed in their progression and creating pretty toxic environments when it came to new content releases.
However, as of recently Lost Ark has actually done quite a good job to combat this by implementing a ton of catch up mechanics allowing new players to catch up to the most recent tier of content much faster than was ever possible before, the developers have also indicated a new focus on solo content allowing players to participate in raids and dungeons that were previously group only, as a solo challenge through a new progression system known as paradise.
Another issue is that despite ongoing efforts to combat it, Lost Ark still has quite the botting issue, though not as problematic as it was previously its definitely still relevant and has a negative impact on the games economy.
With that being said if you want an ARPG experience inside of an MMO I don’t think there are many other games that top the combat, fluidity, world, and systems of Lost Ark.. and the recent updates mean that new players can hop back in and catch up much faster than before.
Which places Lost Ark solidly at number 6.
Star Wars The Old Republic
Moving on, number 5.. One of my personal favourite MMORPGS of all time, Star Wars the Old Republic. Released in 2011 so a bit of an older title, it definitely doesn’t show its age quite as much as other MMOs released in that era.. SWTOR is A Tab target story driven MMORPG that runs on a subscription based monetization model that gives you access to the entirety of the game, however you don’t need to maintain your subscription to maintain access to future expansions and areas.
Star wars features 8 free to play playable story lines that are really well voice acted, each of your decisions you make in game will shape how your character is perceived and interacted with. Its a total narrative masterclass other than maybe final fantasy 14, i don’t see any other MMOs focusing this much on story and doing it so damn well. This alone makes up hundreds and hundreds of hours of gameplay that you can access completely for free.
However, I think its okay to categorize star wars as an RPG-MMO While playing the game you might realise that it doesn’t really offer too much incentive to play with others outside of a few niche scenarios, and most of the time your just going to be experiencing the world and the story completely solo
With that being said SWTOR was one of my favourite experiences while playing an MMO and as someone who is not really a massive fan of the franchise, i was pretty surprised to realise that actually had no bearing on how much fun and enjoyment i got out of the game. Your quite quickly roped into your characters world and the impact of your choices in dialogue or actions you take during quests get you immediately invested into your character.
I genuinely wish I could rank star wars even higher on this list but there are some absolute free to play juggernauts out there, and it’s tough competition.
Albion Online
Speaking of, and moving on to number 4… Albion Online.
Don’t let this game’s graphics put you off, this is genuinely one of the most unique MMOs currently on the market. Albion is a true PVP focused sandbox, now if PVP is not your favourite content there is still plenty to do in Albion such as a massive crafting and gathering system, a housing system featuring farming, and you can even own your own store in town.. but PVP is definitely the main focus and highlight of the game.
Featuring a subscription based monetization strategy that can also be purchased with in game currency, however with Albion their subscription known as premium doesn’t actually lock you out from any of the content in the game, it just allows you to progress faster, and receive a little more money and experience than someone who doesn’t have the subscription.
Albion is a classless MMORPG where you progress by levelling up and progressing the items which you actually wear and use, the combat is simple to understand but difficult to master and offers many different forms of PVP from no loot, to full loot, 1v1, 3v3, 5v5, and of course open world massive zergs between rival guilds.
You could focus completely on PVP, or focus on just gathering and skilling and crafting, Albion’s economy is absolutely booming and if your the type of player who likes to play with friends, Albion might be one of the best group experiences in terms of f2p MMORPGs, especially if you guys don’t take yourselves too seriously, and don’t mind losing some items along the way to becoming and learning how to be a better player.
Albion is a game where you can just truly do whatever you so please.. Whenever you like, it offers a massive amount of player choice featuring almost no quests and no real objectives.. Just get out there and forge your own path whether that be through crafting, gathering, PVP or even PVE.
This is a game that I come back to every couple of months and I have a really enjoyable experience every time.
Final Fantasy 14
And finally the top 3… in Third place we have none other than Final Fantasy 14… Square Enix’s contribution to the MMORPG genre after decades of providing some of the most influential games to the turn based story driven single player market. widely considered to be one of the best MMORPGs on the market currently, ff14 features an exceptionally immersive storyline, a true social gameplay experience, challenging and rewarding endgame group content, as well as a progression system that basically allows you to complete and level up every single class or job on one single character.
Originally this game was released to an extremely rocky start which prompted the lead developer to start fresh and create A realm reborn, basically re imagining the game in many different ways. These days there are 5 major expansions including the most recent Heavensward which has actually been received a little bit more negatively than the 4 prior.., I personally have only played through the first expansions so its tough for me to comment on that, however Final Fantasy gives you an insane amount of content completely for free, basically allowing you to play through all of the expansions except the most recent one on what is known as a trial account, there are a few more restrictions such as a level and currency cap and restricted social interactions but its pretty impressive just how much content you can participate in without paying a single penny.
You’d basically have to be living under a rock if you haven’t heard about Final fantasy 14 at this point. I mean there’s even a meme all about hearing about this game…
With that being said this is another narrative masterclass, and is basically the only MMORPG that’s truly in competition with world of warcraft in regards to its endgame group content.
Guild Wars 2
But if we’re just going on simply playtime alone… ill have to give the number 2 spot… to Guild Wars 2.
Released in 2012 guild wars 2 is a tab target hybrid action combat MMORPG that in my opinion still holds the spot as the single best horizontal progression focused MMO. The base game which you can access completely for free is filled to the brim with hundreds upon hundreds of hours of completionist content, due to the way the game is designed it’s not like these are empty zones either. The entire games identity is built around the fact that they hate content becoming irrelevant in any way shape or form, so Arenanet does whatever they can to keep any and all content active since the games release 13 years ago. Since then there have been 5 major expansions along with plenty of smaller updates which is mostly paid content, however these are not necessary additions to the game in order to enjoy guild wars 2. Their recent expansion in 2024 the Janthir Wilds introduced player owned housing which has been a long requested feature.
On top of that, Guild Wars respects your time.. No seriously, with account wide progression, birthday presents offering you a brand new max level character, gear that maintains its power and relevance even a decade after its release… It’s the perfect MMO to pick up or put down without ever feeling like you missed out.
In terms of grievances, the graphics are definitely starting to feel a little dated, inventory management can be quite a hassle, and if you’re looking for a game with an active as well as complex and robust end game raiding system, guild wars 2 doesn’t really fill that role.
But even though Guild Wars 2 plays wildly different from Guild Wars 1, and even with a future confirmed guild wars 3 on the horizon, i still think Guild Wars 2 is easily one of the best free to play MMOs on the market. And it definitely deserves its spot as number 2.
Old School RuneScape
Previously this would not have been my top choice out of all free to play MMOs to exist, mainly due to outdated graphics and the overly simplistic style of the game, however I can no longer deny that this is simply the best free to play MMO on the market. Originally released in 2004 as RuneScape 2, but re-released in 2013 as old school RuneScape.. This click to move.. Click to attack, click to do anything game might seem overly simple and childish but just beneath the surface offers one of the most in depth and addicting experiences available. Now, one thing to be aware of is that while this game is patently free to play, the free to play content is a mere fraction of the content totally available, there is hundreds of hours of content for you to work towards even as a free player, but you will be missing out on the majority of the game unless you purchase the subscription known as membership.
Luckily this can be purchased with both real life money or in-game gold, so while expensive it is possible to actually acquire this membership through playing the game.
On top of the game itself, we’ve recently seen massive surges in popularity due to temporary game modes like leagues where players log into temporary worlds with increased experience rates and where the rules of the world operate slightly differently, or more recently we saw a ton of world of warcraft streamers try Old School RuneScape for the first time and they brought a ton of new players as well, who were seemingly fascinated with this simple click to move MMO.
In my personal opinion what old school RuneScape does best that no other game seems to capture, is a never ending sense of progression that is paced almost perfectly to a tee, nothing comes across as too easy yet most things except for certain end game content don’t come across as overly complex either.. They’ve struck a perfect balance of grindy, yet fun, while still maintaining that sense of accomplishment when you finally complete or reach your goals.
Just typing this and talking about the game has me itching to hop back on.
In Summary
Anyway guys i hope this list can help some of you decide what free to play MMOs to try out in 2025, i understand these lists don’t change too often we see so many of the same titles time and time again, but i wanted to rank these in my personal order and well check back again in 2026 to see how the f2p MMO landscape has changed.
Looking for more articles in regards to what MMOs to check out?
Why not take a look at Top 10 Private MMO Servers You Should Play In 2025