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 →
Old School RuneScape
#1 · tier score 95/100
Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
Guild Wars Reforged
#2 · tier score 94/100
Solo-friendly: Very High · Buy-to-Play
RuneScape: Dragonwilds
#3 · tier score 92/100
Solo-friendly: Very High · Buy-to-Play
City of Heroes: Homecoming
#4 · tier score 91/100
Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
Winds of Valen
#5 · tier score 90/100
Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
Warframe
#6 · tier score 89/100
Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
AdventureQuest 3D
#7 · tier score 88/100
Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
The Lord of the Rings Online
#8 · tier score 88/100
Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
Star Wars: The Old Republic
#9 · tier score 87/100
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
- #12Final Fantasy XIV84/100Solo-friendly: High · Subscription
- #13Brighter Shores84/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
- #14Toram Online83/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
- #15Project: Gorgon83/100Solo-friendly: High · Buy-to-Play + Sub Option
- #16Palia82/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
- #17The Elder Scrolls Online80/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Buy-to-Play + Sub Option
- #18RuneScape80/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
- #19World of Warcraft79/100Solo-friendly: High · Subscription
- #20Realm of the Mad God79/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
- #21Ultima Online78/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
- #22Star Trek Online78/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
- #23Ragnarok X: Next Generation77/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #24Guild Wars 277/100Solo-friendly: High · Buy-to-Play
- #25Dungeon Fighter Online77/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
- #26Villagers & Heroes77/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #27Farever76/100Solo-friendly: High · Buy-to-Play
- #28BitCraft Online76/100Solo-friendly: High · Buy-to-Play
- #29Dune: Awakening75/100Solo-friendly: High · Buy-to-Play
- #30Once Human74/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #31Wurm Online74/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
- #32Tibia72/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
- #33Tower of Fantasy72/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
- #34Wizard10171/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
- #35EverQuest II70/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
- #36Mabinogi70/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #37MapleStory69/100Solo-friendly: Very High · Free-to-Play
- #38TERA69/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #39Star Resonance68/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #40DC Universe Online68/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #41Trove68/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #42Flyff Universe67/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #43AdventureQuest Worlds67/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
- #44PSO2: New Genesis67/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #45Elsword66/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #46PIONER66/100Solo-friendly: High · Buy-to-Play
- #47Ragnarok Online65/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #48Black Desert Online64/100Solo-friendly: High · Buy-to-Play
- #49NosTale63/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #50Neverwinter63/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #51Cabal Online62/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #52Runes of Magic62/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #53Vindictus62/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #54Blade & Soul NEO61/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #55Tree of Savior59/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #56MU Online58/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #57Perfect World International58/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #58Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues58/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play + Sub Option
- #59Metin257/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #60Entropia Universe56/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #61Soul Land: Awakening World55/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #62Drakensang Online54/100Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #63Arcane LegendsSolo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #64Eden EternalSolo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #65EverQuest LegendsSolo-friendly: Very High · Subscription
- #66Fantasy Online 2Solo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #67Ragnarok M: ClassicSolo-friendly: High · Free-to-Play
- #68Ship of HeroesSolo-friendly: High · Buy-to-Play
- #69Stars ReachSolo-friendly: High · Buy-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