Old School RuneScape cost to play

Old School RuneScape is Jagex's online role-playing game rebuilt from a backup of RuneScape as it was on 10 August 2007. Jagex opened its first servers on 22 February 2013 after players voted for it, released it on phones in October 2018 and on Steam on 24 February 2021. It is free to play, with a paid membership that unlocks more of the game.

How it plays

Old School RuneScape is an open-world fantasy online role-playing game (MMORPG) based on the 2007 version of RuneScape. Jagex describes it as an adventure you shape yourself in the world of Gielinor: you can follow the story and lore, fight, play alongside or against other players, or simply explore.

Progress comes from training skills. There are 24 skills across a wide range of playstyles, from cooking to magic, and more than 140 quests, dozens of bosses, PvP encounters and a player-driven economy. Gear is a long-term goal, and Capes of Accomplishment mark mastery, up to the Max Cape.

The game is free to play. Membership adds eight more skills, including Farming, Thieving and Slayer, the whole world map, over 120 extra quests and members-only items and minigames. Players vote on every improvement, updates arrive weekly, and accounts work across PC and mobile.

What membership costs

On Steam UK one month of membership costs £10.99 and twelve months £95.88, which works out at £7.99 a month. Paying monthly for a year costs £131.88, so the yearly plan saves £36.

These prices date from a change Jagex announced on 10 March 2026, which applied to new payments from 9 April 2026. At the same time Jagex stopped selling six-month membership and set the UK price of a bond at £7.49. A bond is an item worth 14 days of membership that players can also trade in the game, so people who earn enough in-game gold can buy their membership with it instead of money. Monthly subscribers who started before 27 September 2024 keep their older price.

There are no paid random items. The cost to play is the membership.

Drop rates

Old School RuneScape's rare drops, such as boss pets, are famous for their long odds. Most of the rates players quote come from the community wiki rather than from Jagex. Jagex does sometimes state rates in its own update posts: when it reworked the Nex boss in January 2022 it gave a unique-drop chance of 1 in 53 per kill, shared between players by contribution. Because Jagex doesn't publish its drop tables as a whole, we haven't added the game to the drop-rate index.

Players

The 30-day peak on Steam Charts was 1,876 concurrent players on 3 October 2026. Players on Jagex's own launcher and on phones aren't counted, so this is only part of the game's audience.

How we checked

The PEGI 16 rating comes from pegi.info, read on 4 October 2026. Membership prices and the other age ratings come from the Steam UK store and Valve's store data, read on 3 October 2026. The 2026 price change, bond price and Nex rate come from Jagex's own update posts, read through the Old School RuneScape Wiki's copies because Jagex's news site didn't load for us. Player figures are from Steam Charts on the same day. The gameplay description is based on the publisher's Steam store page.

Card art and page images: in-game screenshots from the Old School RuneScape Steam store page. Created using intellectual property belonging to Jagex Limited under the terms of Jagex's Fan Content Policy. This content is not endorsed by or affiliated with Jagex.