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6 Free Games Like GTA Online to Play While You Wait for GTA 6

By the Dynasty team · Checked on October 12, 2026

After two delays, Grand Theft Auto VI has a release date: Thursday 19 November 2026, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Two details on the official pages matter if you were hoping to play it with friends, or on a computer. No PC version has been announced. And the FAQ on PlayStation's page for the game calls it "a single-player experience". So at launch, the GTA you play with other people will still be GTA Online, which runs on GTA V and isn't free.

If what you want is a GTA-style world shared with other players, for free, on a PC, a phone or in a browser, this page is for you. One disclosure first: we make Dynasty, one of the six games below. To make up for that, we checked every game on its official store page or site on October 12, 2026, we say plainly what each one shares with GTA Online and what it doesn't, and we've tried to be at least as hard on our own game as on the others.

Short answer: pick the part of GTA Online you would miss most.

What GTA 6 will and won't give you on 19 November

Will that change? Rockstar's history suggests both gaps may close later, but history isn't a promise. GTA V came out on consoles in September 2013 and reached PC in April 2015, about nineteen months later. Red Dead Redemption 2 took about a year: October 2018 on consoles, November 2019 on PC. And GTA Online went live on 1 October 2013, two weeks after GTA V. Until Rockstar says otherwise, though, plan on GTA VI being a console game you play alone.

What "a game like GTA Online" usually means

GTA Online is several games in one. When people ask for something like it, they usually want some mix of these:

No free game does all four as well as a big-budget Rockstar game, and we'd be lying if we said otherwise. Each pick below does one or two of them well, and the headings say which.

How we picked them

Every game here is free to start, puts you in the same world as other real players, and had been updated within the last few weeks when we checked on October 12, 2026. We looked at the Roblox, Steam and Google Play listings and at each developer's own news. Most of them make their money from in-game shops, so "free" means free to play, not free of offers.

We left out the sites that offer GTA V, or something calling itself GTA, for free in a browser. Rockstar doesn't give the game away, so those sites are unofficial, and we wouldn't send you there. We also left out GTA V itself, because it isn't free, although it gets a note at the end.

Cops, robbers and car chases

Jailbreak (Roblox)

Computers, phones, tablets and consoles, through Roblox. Free, with optional Robux purchases.

Jailbreak has been on Roblox since 2017 and is still one of its biggest games: its page showed more than 8 billion visits when we checked, and its last update was on October 7, 2026. It takes GTA's chase loop and keeps only the fun part. You pick a side. As a criminal you break out of prison, then rob the bank, the jewellery store and other targets around the map, and escape in a car you've saved up for. As a police officer you hunt them down. Up to 30 players share a server.

What it doesn't have: a story or a business to run. It's all about the chase.

Southwest Florida (Roblox)

Computers, phones, tablets and consoles, through Roblox. Free, with optional Robux purchases.

If it's GTA VI's Florida you're looking forward to, this is a free way to drive around a Florida town tonight. Southwest Florida is a roleplay game by the studio Strigid, on Roblox since May 2020 and built around the real Bonita Springs area on Florida's Gulf Coast. You pick one of its jobs, drive its vehicles and act out town life with up to 50 people on a server. Its latest update, on October 10, 2026, added a racing system, new properties and a motorsports facility.

What it doesn't have: much crime of its own, or a plot. It's roleplay, so the story is whatever the people on your server make of it.

APB Reloaded (PC)

Windows, through Steam or its own launcher. Free, with an in-game shop. Listed for ages 18 and up on Steam.

The oldest game here (free on Steam since 2011) and the closest to GTA Online's shootouts. In the city of San Paro every player is either an Enforcer or a Criminal, and the game sets the two sides against each other in missions: one team robs, steals or delivers, the other tries to stop it, in third person, with guns and cars. It's also known for very deep customisation of characters, vehicles and even the theme tune your character plays.

Little Orbit, the studio that runs it, was still releasing updates in September 2026, with a new version on September 15 and a patch on September 28.

MadOut 2: Grand Auto Racing RP (phones)

Android and iOS, plus Windows through Google Play Games. Free, with ads and in-app purchases. Rated PEGI 18 on Google Play.

Of everything on this page, MadOut 2 looks most like a GTA game: a third-person open world with cars, guns, story missions and an online mode where, according to its Google Play listing, up to 200 players can share a server. It's set in a fictional Eastern Europe rather than an American city, has more than 30 story missions and more than 70 cars to customise, and can also be played offline. It has passed 100 million downloads on Google Play, and its last update there was on October 9, 2026.

What to expect: ads and in-app purchases, as in most free mobile games. It used to be called MadOut2 BigCityOnline, which is still the name many players search for.

Crime and business, in your browser

Torn

Browser, iOS and Android. Free, with optional donator packs.

Torn has been running since 2004 and is one of the best-known text-based crime games. There are no graphics to speak of. Instead there's a persistent city where you commit crimes, train battle stats at the gym, attack and mug other players, join a faction, work for player-run companies and trade on a stock market. It looks nothing like GTA, but it scratches the same itch, building a criminal reputation among real people, in quick daily visits. We compared it with six alternatives in our guide to games like Torn City.

Dynasty

Browser and Android. Free, with nothing for sale for real money. For players aged 18 and over.

Dynasty is our game, so read this part with that in mind. There's no driving, no shooting and no 3D city: you play through menus, and actions run on real-time timers. What it shares with GTA Online is the long game, the empire you build between the action, and here every rival, customer and tenant is a real player:

And one thing GTA doesn't do: your character ages a year every real day and eventually dies, and your heir inherits the clubs, the buildings and the money, minus an inheritance tax voted by parliament.

Its weak points, next to everything else on this page: no action at all, a far smaller community, and a pace measured in days rather than minutes. If you want to shoot something tonight, pick one of the other five. If crime is the part you care about most, our guide to browser crime games with a real economy goes deeper.

Already own GTA V on PC? Try FiveM

FiveM isn't a separate game. It's a free multiplayer framework for the PC version of GTA V, and a lot of the GTA roleplay you see on Twitch and YouTube runs on it: servers with their own rules, jobs, economies and police departments, each run by its own community. The team behind it, Cfx.re, became part of Rockstar in August 2023, so it's an approved way to play. You do need your own copy of GTA V for PC (the Legacy edition; a version for the Enhanced edition was in early access when we checked), so it's only free if you already own the game.

Frequently asked questions

Is GTA 6 coming to PC?

Not so far. As of October 12, 2026, Rockstar lists Grand Theft Auto VI for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S only, launching on 19 November 2026. Rockstar's last two big games did reach PC later: GTA V about nineteen months after its console release, Red Dead Redemption 2 about a year after.

Does GTA 6 have online multiplayer?

Not at launch, as far as anything announced goes. PlayStation's page for the game describes it as a single-player experience, and Rockstar hasn't announced an online mode. GTA Online arrived two weeks after GTA V in 2013, but that is a precedent, not a promise.

Is there a free game like GTA Online?

Yes, several, though none matches it feature for feature. Jailbreak and Southwest Florida on Roblox, APB Reloaded on PC and MadOut 2 on phones are free to play, with in-game shops. Torn and Dynasty are free text-based alternatives that run in a browser.

Can you play a game like GTA in a browser?

Yes, if you don't need 3D graphics. Torn and Dynasty run in any browser and are built around crime, money and other players. Be wary of sites that offer GTA V for free in a browser: Rockstar doesn't give the game away, so those sites are unofficial.

Is Dynasty like GTA Online?

Only in part. There's no driving or shooting. What it shares is the empire side: player-run nightclubs, property you can build and rent out, a casino, crime with jail and bail, a race car to tune and private militias, all shared with real players. Unlike GTA, your character ages, dies and leaves everything to an heir.

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The other games named on this page are mentioned for comparison only. Grand Theft Auto, GTA, GTA Online, Red Dead Redemption and FiveM are trademarks of Take-Two Interactive Software and its label Rockstar Games; Roblox, Jailbreak, Southwest Florida, APB Reloaded, MadOut 2 and Torn are trademarks of their respective owners. Dynasty is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any of them, and this page uses none of their logos or images. We checked every detail on October 12, 2026; games change, so see each game's own page for the latest.