Free-to-play

The Old School RuneScape Wiki also has an article on: osrsw:Free-to-playThe RuneScape Classic Wiki also has an article on: classicrsw:Free-to-play

Free-to-play, also known as F2P, is the free version of RuneScape where no payment to Jagex is required to play. Players who play the free version of RuneScape are known as "free players", "F2Ps", or "non-members". This is in contrast to members, who pay a fee for access to a much larger map and a multitude of skills, items, quests, and activities, which are not available to Free to Play users.

Overview

Areas accessible to free players

F2P are limited to only 5 levels on certain skills

The free part of RuneScape is described by Jagex as being the game with close to 5,000 hours of skills to train to reach the maximum level of 99, while members is considered the expansion version. There is no limit to the amount of time players are able to continue playing for free, although free players are only able to enjoy about 20% of everything RuneScape has to offer. Free players can upgrade and become a member at any time by paying a fee, granting access to more skills, locations, items, etc.

Formerly, the free-to-play version of RuneScape was its only form, prior to the introduction of members and the subsequent creation of RuneScape 2. The pay-to-play servers were intended by Jagex to benefit all of the RuneScape community.

With respect to gameplay, the majority of new updates within RuneScape are restricted to pay-to-play members with the exception of updates concerning graphics or the addition of new servers. When the members service was announced, Jagex acknowledged that the free version would not be updated as often as it used to be.

Updates since launch of members version

The following are free-version updates that have been made available since the launch of the members service:

• Most holiday events
• RuneScape 2 in March 2004
  • Runecrafting and the Rune Mysteries quest
  • Ability to cut trees up to yew
  • Random events (later removed for all players)
• Various graphics updates
• Various bank space increases
• Various ranged equipment
  • Up to maple bows and adamant arrows in March 2005
  • Magic bows and rune arrows at launch of Evolution of Combat
• Some community events, such as the Cryptic Clue Fest
• The Tutorial Island and its later incarnations
• The Stronghold of Security in July 2006
• Party Room moved to Falador
• The Grand Exchange in November 2007
• The Duel Arena in November 2007
• The Misthalin Training Centre of Excellence and Stronghold of Player Safety
• Fist of Guthix
• RuneScape High Detail
• Lumbridge and Draynor Tasks
  • Some additional tasks when the achievement system was reworked
• The Crafting Guild and Makeover Mage in May 2002
• Some new Wilderness areas in May 2002
• The Mining Guild
• Revenants
  • Corrupt dragon equipment
  • Ancient artefacts
  • Forinthry Dungeon on free trade return
• Team capes
• The Runecrafting Guild in August 2008
• Beefy Bill (sells items in Lumbridge. Will bank your cowhides, raw beef, and pots of flour)
• Musicians and rest
• The Blood Pact quest
  • Lumbridge Catacombs
  • Mask of Dragith Nurn
• Lumbridge Fishing Supplies in September 2009
• Faruq's Tools for Games
• The Dungeoneering skill and some resource dungeons in April 2010
• Anvil next to the Lumbridge furnace in June 2010
• Swept Away and Myths of the White Lands made permanently part of free game in June 2010 (were temporarily available in 2008)
• Gunnar's Ground (replaces Romeo and Juliet) quest and swanky boots in September 2010
• Full access to Thessalia's services
• Wind Rush spell (removed for all players following Evolution of Combat)
• The sling (later changed to chargebow)
• The make-x feature in October 2010
• The ability to compare and change equipment while banking
• Clay rings and the Ring of Devotion
• Pottery urns in February 2011
  • Access to the water well in Barbarian Village and five new clay rocks
• Access to the Artisans' Workshop in March 2011
• Access to canoes in February 2011
• The Clan vexillium for clan members in April 2011
• Money pouch and tool belt in December 2011
• Squeal of Fortune (replaced with Treasure Hunter in February 2014)
• Access to the Lodestone Network in March 2012
• Dungeoneering tool belt in April 2012
• The Runespan in April 2012
• Bonfires in May 2012
• Solomon's General Store in July 2012
• Botany Bay
• Stolen Hearts (replaces Prince Ali Rescue) in September 2012
• What's Mine is Yours (replaces Doric's Quest) in October 2012
• Evolution of Combat in November 2012
  • Magic bows and rune arrows
  • Imphide, spider silk and batwing equipment
• Reworked Rune Mysteries (replaces Rune Mysteries (historical)) quest in November 2012
• Access to Burthorpe and Taverley in March 2013
  • Ability to train every members' skills up to level 5
  • Access to more items (such as potions and summoning familiars)
  • Four new quests (Death Plateau, Druidic Ritual, Let Them Eat Pie and Wolf Whistle)
• Dragonstone armour in June 2013
• RuneScape 3 and the Battle of Lumbridge world event in July 2013
• The Death of Chivalry in August 2013
• Bonds in September 2013
• The Bird and the Beast world event
• Daily Challenges (up to two at a time)
• 1.2x experience gain during members' double XP weekend since February 2014
  • Ability to use bonus XP during bonus XP weekends
• Treasure Hunter (replaces Squeal of Fortune) in February 2014
  • Small and medium cash bags
  • Ability to redeem all fallen stars (only small and medium stars at first; large and huge stars later made available to F2P in hidden update)
  • Ramokee and Warband cosmetic equipment
  • Various holiday promotional items
  • Magic notepaper (became available to free players at launch of Treasure Hunter)
  • Silverhawk feathers in March 2014 (no use in free version, but free players can sell them to members)
  • Portable skilling station in May 2014
  • Spring cleaner in June 2014
  • Elite training dummies in August 2014
  • Toy royal battleships in January 2015
  • Some elite skilling outfits and their lower tier counterparts, including Magic Golem, Infinity Ethereal, Fury Shark, Warped Gorajan Trailblazer, and Nature's Sentinel
• Veteran capes on 17 February 2014
• Hiscores returned in April 2014
• Bank organization feature (7 April 2014)
• Medium XP lamps for free skills (7 April 2014)
• Cabbage Facepunch Bonanza (14 April 2014)
• A Shadow over Ashdale (22 April 2014)
• The RuneScape Authenticator (24 June 2014)
• Legacy mode (14 July 2014)
• Ironman mode (13 October 2014)
• Ghost hunter equipment (20 October 2014)
• Old School RuneScape on 19 February 2015
• The Nexus on 16 March 2015
• Protean bars on 23 April 2015
• Goblin raids on 26 May 2015
• Tuska Comes world event on 1 June 2015
• Metal gauntlets and Battle robes on 10 August 2015
• Burthorpe Games Room on 5 October 2015
• Metal boots on 10 October 2015
• Mystic robes on 23 November 2015
• Beneath Cursed Tides on 14 December 2015
• RuneMetrics on 22 February 2016
• The Free To Play Extravaganza on 29 February 2016:
  • King Black Dragon and Giant Mole, along with the ability to sell their drops
  • Dual wielding and new abilities
  • Dungeoneering equipment up to level 50
  • Ability to wear arrowstorm, bladestorm and Spellstorm drapes
• Meg's cases on 3 May 2016 (later removed for all players)
  • ability to enter Player-owned port and unlock its music tracks
• Gower Quest and One Piercing Note on 20 June 2016
• ability to harvest cursed energy on 8 August 2016
• Skilling pets on 22 August 2016
• Prayer potions on 13 March 2017
• Wizard Rinsit's Runecrafting Shop and unstable essence on 20 March 2017
• Ring of luck on 27 March 2017
• Runecrafting urns on 24 July 2017
• Splitbark armour, snakeskin armour, turoth and basilisk boots, crossbows and bolts up to and including rune, and additional combat abilities on 14 August 2017
• Surge, Devotion, Barricade and Reflect on 14 August 2017
• Claws, darts, and throwing axes up to and including rune, as well as additional off-hand equipment (including defenders) on 21 August 2017
• Witch's House on 11 September 2017
• Free-to-play Content Additions on 9 October 2017
  • The Fletching skill
  • All combat abilities (excluding Metamorphosis, Berserk and abilities unlocked by member’s content)
  • Seven quests: A Soul's Bane, Priest in Peril, Gertrude's Cat, Missing, Presumed Death, Perils of Ice Mountain, Song from the Depths and Broken Home(along with its post-quest replay challenges, and although Asylum surgeon's ring is obtainable, it is not usable not free-to-play).
  • Two D&Ds: Shooting Stars and Evil Trees
  • Access to Silvarea
  • The Warriors' Guild
  • High level wilderness (including the Chaos Elemental and the Mage Arena cave)
  • Boss pets for Chaos Elemental and Giant Mole (King black dragon scale may be obtained by free players but requires 99 Summoning to unlock the pet)
  • Additional magic and ranged equipment
  • Blue and black Wizard Robes, coifs, blue Mystic Robes, green dragonhide armour, and blue dragonhide armour can be crafted
  • Green, blue and red dragons in the Wilderness
  • Dragon bones can be buried for Prayer experience
• Combat pets on 20 November 2017
• Improved shop stocks, energy potions, and access to more achievements on 4 December 2017
• Certain Treasure Trail rewards (mostly cosmetic) on 26 February 2018
• Scare Tactics and four new combat abilities on 12 March 2018
• Construction content up to level 5 and access to player-owned houses on 6 August 2018
• Violet is Blue on 17 December 2018
• Mining and Smithing rework on 7 January 2019
  • Strong mining urn
  • Strong smelting urn
• Chef's Assistant on 11 February 2019
  • Dairy churn and dairy products

In addition to the differences described above, the majority of features outside the games (such as the official RuneScape forums) are open to members only, but also to F2P players with at least 2.5 million total experience or a skill total of 350. This requirement was 12.5 million total experience or a skill total of 500 before an update by Jagex on 15 March 2010.

Features available to former members

Players who were members at one point retain access to a few features:

• Songs unlocked in members areas
• Emotes, titles and cosmetic overrides unlocked from members content
• Bonus Dungeoneering XP from the Scroll of Daemonheim
• Ability to view their materials if they have unlocked Invention
• Some free-to-play items that require membership to obtain - see Category:Free-to-play items that require membership to obtain
• Unrestricted trade (subscribing for the first time permanently removes the 25k trade limit from the account)
• Ability to obtain Unreadable pages if they meet the requirements
• No longer having to use a bait for fishing if the corresponding prawn perk has been unlocked.
• The gift from Sliske and the ability to see mysterious ghosts
• The 5% Runecrafting boost from completing Hero's Welcome
• Ability to use the Wicked Hood's Wizards' Tower teleport and access its interface via an ethereal outfit
• Any existing Grand Exchange offers beyond the three slots will continue to be fulfilled.
• Members-only Daemonheim achievements are counted when determining how many rusty coins the player receives at the beginning of a dungeon.
• Ability to retrieve and store certain items at Hidey-holes designated for Treasure Trails.
• Ability to store gold and silver ore in an ore box if Family Crest has been completed.
• Experience gained as a non-member will count towards harmony pillars.

Removed from free version

Jagex has also occasionally removed features from the free version:

• RuneScape Classic in August 2005
• Hiscores in November 2011 (returned in April 2014)
• Advertisements on 20 June 2016
• Daily Challenges for Member skills (so free players would stop receiving daily challenges they weren't able to complete) on 22 August 2016
  • After the release of member skill up to level 5, free players will now receive Daily Challenges for Member skills, but requiring no more than level 5 of that skill.
  • Daily Challenges for members skills were added back in December 2017, but a further update in January 2018 allowed free players to toggle these skills off if they have reached the level 5 cap.
• Access to Magic Evil Trees and Elder Evil Trees in 4 December 2017
• Ability to use Bladed Dive in 29 October 2018

Free versus members

Main article: /Compared to Members

Gallery

The following popups historically appeared once you reach certain milestones in F2P.

• 

  Interface about the benefits of members after getting level 5 Agility.

• 

  Interface about the benefits of members after getting level 5 Construction.

• 

  Interface about the benefits of members after getting level 5 Divination.

• 

  Interface about the benefits of members after getting level 5 Farming.

• 

  Interface about the benefits of members after getting level 5 Herblore.

• 

  Interface about the benefits of members after getting level 5 Hunter.

• 

  Interface about the benefits of members after getting level 5 Thieving.

• 

  Interface about the benefits of members after getting level 5 Slayer.

• 

  Interface about the benefits of members after getting level 5 Summoning.

• 

  Interface about the Wicked hood after getting 10 Magic or Runecrafting.

• 

  Interface about the Dwarven army axe after getting 10 Attack.

• 

  Interface about the Dwarven army axe after getting 10 Mining.

• 

  Interface about the Dwarven army axe after getting 10 Woodcutting.

• 

  Interface about the benefits of Dual wielding after trying to wield an Off-hand bronze dagger.

• 

  Interface after going through a tour of the Clan Citadel.

• 

  Interface after attempting to enter TzHaar City.

• 

  Interface about Fish Flingers if talking to the Fisherman.

• 

  Interface about the Refer a Friend programme when entering Daemonheim for the first time.

• 

  Interface about members only content when attempting to interact with certain member's only content.

• 

  Interface about new F2P content.

Update history

The update history project is a work-in-progress – not all updates to this topic may be covered below. See here for how to help out!

• patch 18 February 2019 (Update):
  • Ex-members in free-to-play worlds will no longer be able to use shield abilities whilst still wielding a members only shield.
  • Prevented teleporting using a PoH mounted amulet of glory on F2P worlds.

• ninja 21 August 2017 (Update):
  • Pay-to-play off-hand equipment from bronze to rune that isn't otherwise locked behind membership (such as darts, throwing axes, claws, defenders and some low-level shields) can now be equipped in Free-to-play.
  • Pay-to-play mainhand claws, darts and throwing axes from bronze to rune can now be equipped in Free-to-play.

• patch 11 January 2016 (Update):
  • Logging in to a free world with a members’ skillcape keepsake active will no longer remove it.

• patch 14 January 2013 (Update):
  • F2P players who lost membership while a pet cat was following them, should no longer have issues getting Ozan to follow them during Stolen Hearts.

• patch 3 January 2013 (Update):
  • Logging into a free world correctly restores the previous spellbook.

• patch 6 December 2011 (Update):
  • While on a free world, tooltips for members' only skills on the skills interface are now readable.

• patch 11 January 2010 (Update):
  • Sigmund no longer has a visible pickpocket option on free worlds.
  • Estate Agent icons are no longer visible on free worlds.
  • The farming patch spirit will no longer appear on free worlds.

• patch 21 July 2009 (Update):
  • Removed the 'Steal cow-bell' option in free-to-play.

• patch 8 July 2009 (Update):
  • Disabled certain switches on free worlds.
  • Removed a few more ops for members-only content on free worlds.