Best free games to play online with no download required
A good game isn’t always about how expensive it is. Some of the most popular games, like Fortnite and Apex Legends, don’t even charge players. But what about free games to play online with no download?
There are still some options if you want to save space on your computer.
Ahead, we’ll take a look at eight free online games, and no download is required.
These are all browser games that you can start playing now - just by going to a website.
We've also done a guide on the best mobile games - check those out here.
GeoGuessr
GeoGuessr was one of the more unlikely free internet games with no download to become a massive hit on Twitch and YouTube. Essentially, the game pits two or more players against one another as they try to guess the location from a random Google Earth link.
There are a few different game modes and settings that you can change to make it easier or more difficult. What’s insane about GeoGuessr is how good some people have gotten at it. There are even pro GeoGuessr players who can guess the location within a second without moving.
While you can certainly play GeoGuessr alone, it’s more fun with friends as you can see which of you knows less about language, license plate designs, and trees. As far as free online internet games with no download, GeoGuessr is a fun place to start.
Slither IO
Slither IO is a classic free game to play online with no download. There’s been a decent number of .io games coming out recently, but Slither IO was probably the first to blow up on Twitch and YouTube. And players are still going at it to this day.
Slither IO is like PvP Snake. Your goal is to grow as long and big as possible by eliminating other snakes and chomping up the essence they leave behind. Games are sneakily competitive, and being one of the biggest snakes on the map can feel surprisingly high-stakes, as your biggest enemy tends to be the little guy who doesn’t care about losing.
There are also some browser plugins you can download to add features to the game, like skins, the ability to zoom out on the map, make multiplayer lobbies, and more.
Agar IO
Agar IO is like Sliter IO but with circles. Your goal is the same, although the mechanics are quite a bit different. Agar IO was released after Slither IO and has enjoyed recent popularity due to the streamer CaseOh, who plays Agar IO quite a bit.
There isn’t much more to say about this one that hasn’t been said about Slither IO. It’s a fun, low-stakes PvP game that you can play in your browser. It’s relatively competitive and addicting for how simple it is, and many people prefer it over Slither IO. We recommend trying both and seeing which one you like better.
Chess
Chess is the oldest existing competitive game for a reason. It’s easy to get into but incredibly difficult to master, leaving ample room for learning, grinding, and improving. If you’re looking for a free game to play online with no download that offers a truly competitive experience, Chess might be the answer for you.
Interestingly, Chess is probably more popular today than it ever was in the past. There are full-on Chess celebrities who make a living streaming and teaching the game. You can learn a lot from free videos and join a growing community of Chess enthusiasts.
Community is the key word here.
Chess is the only game on this list with a true, dedicated community. If you’re looking for something like that without paying or downloading anything, just go to Chess.com.
Skribbl IO
Skribbl IO is another free .io game, but it’s far different from Slither and Agar. This is a multiplayer game that is basically a free-for-all Pictionary game.
In each round, one person draws a picture from a prompt while the rest of the players try to guess the word. You get points for guessing correctly, and the drawer gets more points when more people choose right.
Minesweeper
Minesweeper is the simplest game on this list, but it’s a fun option if you just want to kill some time without going too deep. It’s so simple that you can just google “Minesweeper” and play it within the search engine. You don’t even need to go to a dedicated website to play.
Most people are aware of Minesweeper, but many still don’t understand exactly how it works. Your goal is to correctly identify all of the squares that contain mines on them.
Each time you break safe blocks, you get a number showing how many mines are around the area. Through the process of elimination, you can find the mines once you know the trick.
Wordle
Wordle is a word-based game from the New York Times, of all publishers. Every day, you get a word that contains five letters. You then have six attempts to guess the word correctly. You can then track your streaks to see how many days you can guess the word in a row.
Although Wordle has fallen off a bit since its peak popularity in 2022, it still has a lot of players who tune in every day to guess the word. The fun part about Wordle is that everyone gets the same word, so there’s a sense of community when trying to find out what it is. You can check in with your friends to see if they guessed correctly and flaunt your streak to other players.
Runescape
Runescape is more of a “real video game” than any other entry on this list. MMO fans might not know that this classic MMO started as a browser game before moving to a dedicated client.
Although the developers suggest that you download the client to play, you don’t need to. You can still play it as a free game and no download.
Runescape was one of the first big MMOs to hit the market and the oldest MMO that’s still around today.
Runescape 2 offers more updated graphics, but the microtransaction system sent a lot of players back to classic Runescape - which is the version that you can play in your browser.