Is World of Warcraft free to play?

World of Warcraft is one of the most popular and longest-running live service games on the market. However, playing it doesn’t come cheap. Is there a free-to-play version of World of Warcraft you can try to see how the game plays today? Well, yes and no.

Can you check out World of Warcraft for free?

For those ready to party at the tavern, World of Warcraft does have a free-to-play trial. You can play the game up to Level 20 and explore the introductory areas of this MMO. If you want to go past Level 20, you’ll need to pay a subscription fee. This ranges from $12.99 to $14.99 a month. Additionally, you typically have to purchase the game’s latest expansion if you want to experience everything the game offers.

This free trial offer does pale in comparison to Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIV. In that MMO, you can play up to Level 70. It even includes the expansions Heavensward and Stormblood. With potentially hundreds of hours of gameplay to access before hitting any paywall, Final Fantasy XIV is offers quite a bit more for those looking to not spend any money. We can only hoped Blizzard will update the World of Warcraft trial version to compete in the future.

Does the free version lack features?

Unfortunately, there’s a downside to World of Warcraft‘s free-to-play option. Some social features are missing from the experience if you decide to play World of Warcraft for free. To be fair, this is a common restriction in free-to-play trials for MMOs, as it curbs bots and other unscrupulous gamers looking to cause trouble. Final Fantasy XIV has many of the same restrictions in its trial.

Additionally, World of Warcraft Classic isn’t supported with this program.

Is World of Warcraft on Game Pass?

With Xbox recently acquiring Blizzard and Activision, some have wondered if World of Warcraft will be fully accessible to all Xbox Game Pass subscribers. Currently, there are no plans to bring World of Warcraft on Xbox Game Pass. We’ll let you know if this ever changes.