The best solo-friendly mmorpgs in 2026
"Solo MMO" sounds like a contradiction until you notice it's one of the most-searched phrases in the genre. What people mean is: I want a living world around me, but I don't want my progress held hostage by a group finder. The games here score 4 or 5 on our solo-friendliness scale, which measures whether the leveling path, story, and meaningful chunks of endgame are genuinely completable alone.
Final Fantasy XIV defines the archetype — its entire main story is a solo JRPG that happens to have other people in it, and it now runs with NPC party support through most dungeons. Old School RuneScape is the other pole: almost everything is soloable because almost everything is self-directed. Being solo-friendly doesn't make these single-player games; it makes the multiplayer optional, which is exactly the point.
Ranked by the MMOlist tier score — review aggregate, update cadence, and monetization fairness, re-weighted for this list where it maps to a lens — the same published formula as the tier list, with review score and name as tiebreaks, refreshed daily. How scoring works →
Guild Wars Reforged
#1 · tier score 94/100
Solo-friendly: Very High · Buy-to-Play
Old School RuneScape
#2 · tier score 94/100
Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
City of Heroes: Homecoming
#3 · tier score 91/100
Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
Star Wars: The Old Republic
#4 · tier score 89/100
Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
AdventureQuest 3D
#5 · tier score 89/100
Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
Warframe
#6 · tier score 89/100
Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
The Lord of the Rings Online
#7 · tier score 88/100
Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
RuneScape: Dragonwilds
#8 · tier score 88/100
Solo-friendly: Very High · Buy-to-Play
Winds of Valen
#9 · tier score 88/100
Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
Where Winds Meet
#10 · tier score 87/100
Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
The rest of the field (60 more)
Every other game in our database that qualifies for this list, in the same score order — outside the top 10, but not out of the running.
- #11Star Stable Online86/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
- #12Palia85/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
- #13Final Fantasy XIV84/100Solo-friendly: High · Subscription
- #14Toram Online84/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
- #15Brighter Shores84/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
- #16Project: Gorgon82/100Solo-friendly: High · Buy-to-Play + Sub Option
- #17RuneScape81/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
- #18The Elder Scrolls Online80/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Buy-to-Play + Sub Option
- #19World of Warcraft79/100Solo-friendly: High · Subscription
- #20Star Trek Online79/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
- #21Ultima Online78/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
- #22Guild Wars 278/100Solo-friendly: High · Buy-to-Play
- #23Realm of the Mad God78/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
- #24Dune: Awakening76/100Solo-friendly: High · Buy-to-Play
- #25Once Human76/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #26Farever76/100Solo-friendly: High · Buy-to-Play
- #27BitCraft Online75/100Solo-friendly: High · Buy-to-Play
- #28Fantasy Online 274/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #29Villagers & Heroes74/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #30Tower of Fantasy73/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
- #31Tibia72/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
- #32Dungeon Fighter Online72/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
- #33Wizard10171/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
- #34EverQuest II71/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
- #35Wurm Online71/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
- #36DC Universe Online70/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #37Stars Reach70/100Solo-friendly: High · Buy-to-Play
- #38Mabinogi69/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #39TERA69/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #40Trove68/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #41Flyff Universe67/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #42AdventureQuest Worlds67/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
- #43MapleStory67/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
- #44PSO2: New Genesis67/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #45Ragnarok Online65/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #46Ragnarok X: Next Generation65/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #47PIONER65/100Solo-friendly: High · Buy-to-Play
- #48Elsword64/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #49Neverwinter64/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #50Star Resonance64/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #51Black Desert Online63/100Solo-friendly: High · Buy-to-Play
- #52NosTale63/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #53Cabal Online63/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #54Runes of Magic63/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #55Vindictus62/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #56Ship of Heroes61/100Solo-friendly: High · Buy-to-Play
- #57MU Online58/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #58Perfect World International58/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #59Blade & Soul NEO58/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #60Tree of Savior58/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #61Metin257/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #62Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues57/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
- #63Drakensang Online56/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #64Eden Eternal56/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #65Entropia Universe55/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #66Soul Land: Awakening World54/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #67Arcane LegendsSolo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #68EverQuest LegendsSolo-friendly: Very High · Subscription
- #69Ragnarok M: ClassicSolo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #70SWGEmu / SWG LegendsSolo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
A list ranks games in general; the Find My MMO quiz ranks them against how you play.
More lists: Best casual MMOs · Best MMOs for busy adults · Best PvE MMOs