How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- First, know there are two games called mahjong: the four player tile game (riichi, Chinese, American rules) and mahjong solitaire, the tile matching puzzle. This list covers both and labels each.
- Mahjong Soul and Riichi City are the free homes of real online mahjong, with ranked ladders, tutorials and cosmetic purchases only.
- Microsoft Mahjong and Vita Mahjong are the calm free solitaire picks: daily challenges, large readable tiles and no pressure.
- Every app here is free to play; some sell cosmetics, hints or ad removal. None of them pays out money, and paid items inside them are entertainment purchases that cannot be cashed out.
- Real money mahjong sites exist elsewhere and are deliberately excluded; this list is social and puzzle play only.
Quick comparison
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The best free mahjong apps
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Mahjong Soul is where online riichi lives now. Published by Yostar, it pairs a serious implementation of Japanese mahjong (full rules, ranked ladders, statistics) with a character driven presentation that brought a generation of new players to a demanding game.
Its economy is the friendly kind for a free list to recommend: matches are free, the ladder is free, and money buys decoration. Nothing in the app converts play into prizes, which is exactly the line this article cares about, stated in the entry rather than assumed.
New players should live in the tutorial and the lowest ranked room for their first weeks. Riichi punishes impatience and rewards the patient learner with one of the deepest games ever made, and Soul is its most welcoming serious home.
What we like- The most popular riichi mahjong platform in English: ranked rooms for every level, friendly matches, tournaments and a proper tutorial path, anime presentation with voiced characters gives matches personality without touching the rules, cross platform between phone and browser, so your account follows you, monetisation is cosmetic (characters, decorations, gifts), with no wagering and nothing to cash out
Watch out for- Riichi rules are a real learning curve
- The tutorial helps, but expect a dozen confused games before hands make sense, gacha style character draws are designed to tempt spending on looks, and the temptation mechanics deserve a clear head, the anime style divides opinion among traditional players, ranked anxiety is real at higher rooms, as in any ladder
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Riichi City is the credible challenger: the same complete riichi mahjong, presented with a slicker, more modern skin and an eagerness that shows in its events and updates. Players who bounced off Soul's style often settle here, and the rules knowledge transfers perfectly between them.
The honest trade is population. Mahjong is a four player game and matchmaking is a numbers business; City's pool is healthy in the evenings of its main regions and thinner at odd hours and extreme ranks. Try both with your real schedule, and keep the one that seats you fastest.
Between Soul and City, riichi has never been easier to learn free, legally and without a cent of wagering. That sentence would have astonished the mahjong world of twenty years ago.
What we like- A newer riichi platform with a clean modern interface and a cyberpunk city theme over correct, complete rules, ranked and casual rooms with fast matchmaking in its growing player base, tutorials and practice modes aimed at converting the curious, cosmetic monetisation in the same no wagering mould as its rival
Watch out for- A smaller player pool than Mahjong Soul, so off peak matchmaking can take longer at unusual ranks, a younger platform, with features and events still being built out, riichi only: players wanting Chinese or American rules must look beyond both top entries, theme and characters again skew anime, which not every mahjong player wants
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Microsoft Mahjong is the solitaire most Windows users have already met: the tile matching puzzle done cleanly, with a new set of daily boards and no nonsense. As a free daily ritual it is hard to fault, and its tiles are among the clearest on a small screen.
Its presence here also does definitional work. Millions call this game mahjong, and they are not wrong in casual speech; they are simply playing the solitaire descendant, not the four player original. This list serves them gladly, starting here.
Choose it for the daily challenge habit and Microsoft polish. Choose the specialists below for hundreds of boards and adventure structures around the same matching core.
What we like- The classic solitaire implementation from Microsoft's casual games line: clean boards, daily challenges and a calm, ad supported free tier, multiple board layouts and difficulties, with themes that keep the tiles readable, progress and achievements tie into Xbox services for players who care, no purchases needed to enjoy the full game
- Premium removes ads for those who want it gone
Watch out for- Solitaire only, despite the name: no four player mahjong here, ads interrupt the free tier's calm at intervals, daily challenge design nudges daily logins, a habit feature some players prefer to skip, board variety is smaller than the dedicated solitaire factories below
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Vita Mahjong understands its audience beautifully. The tiles are big, the contrast is kind, the boards are plentiful and nobody is shouting a countdown at you. For senior players, and for anyone whose eyes are tired of squinting at decorative tile sets, it is the most considerate solitaire app in this list.
That consideration is a genuine design discipline, not a stripped down game. Under the calm surface sits a full board library with the matching mechanics intact; what Vita removed is friction and noise, not mahjong.
If you are choosing an app for a parent or grandparent, start here. Set it up for them, and the daily board becomes theirs.
What we like- Designed for older players without ever being patronising: extra large tiles, high contrast designs and a relaxed pace, hundreds of boards with a gentle difficulty curve and no timers pressuring the play, free with advertising kept comparatively light for the category, offline play works, suiting travel and waiting rooms
Watch out for- Solitaire only, in the matching sense, difficulty stays gentle, so puzzle veterans will want harder boards than its curve provides, ads exist, with removal as the main purchase, its design virtues (size, calm) are exactly what players seeking flash will not value
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Mahjong City Tours is for players who want their solitaire to go somewhere. Each city is a run of boards with a theme, and the tour structure turns a pile of puzzles into a trip with souvenirs, which is a stronger reason to return tomorrow than a bare board count.
Its economy is the modern casual standard, stated plainly: free to play, with boosters, hints and offers sold along the way, none of which buys anything outside the game and none of which a patient player needs. The boards are beatable free; the purchases sell speed and rescue, not victory.
Between Microsoft and Vita's calm and this, the choice is temperament. City Tours is the lively one, and for many players lively is the point.
What we like- Solitaire wrapped in a world tour: boards open across cities, with landmarks and souvenirs giving the matching a journey's shape, hundreds of levels with events and new cities added over time, polished production from Jam City, a major casual games studio, free to play throughout, with purchases for boosters and extras
Watch out for- Solitaire only, the energy and booster economy of modern casual games applies: free play is real, and so is the design pressure toward purchases at hard boards, ads and offers interrupt more than the calm entries above, progress lives in the app's systems, so changing phones means trusting its cloud save
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Treasure Quest is the veteran adventure solitaire: years of content, a story that keeps unspooling, and boards that experiment with the matching rules more boldly than the classic implementations dare. Players who finish Microsoft's layouts and want the puzzle to mutate will find their next hundred hours here.
It also carries the category's standard economy in full (lives, boosters, events with timers), so it is recommended with the same clear eyes: free means playable and enjoyable free, with purchases forever offering to make a hard board easier. Nothing in it pays out; it is entertainment spending, like a cinema ticket that argues back.
Choose it when solitaire is a hobby, not a habit, and depth matters more than calm.
What we like- An adventure frame around solitaire: a story journey with characters, quests and special boards beyond the classic layouts, varied mechanics (locked tiles, special matches and board events) keep the matching fresh across a long campaign, a long running, regularly updated game with a loyal player base, free to play, with the usual booster and lives economy labelled as such
Watch out for- Solitaire only, and the furthest here from the pure puzzle: story scenes and systems sit between boards, the lives and booster economy is the genre's standard pressure, present and worth recognising, older presentation beside City Tours' shine, progress is account bound within its own world
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Mahjong Epic is the quiet library: board after board of well made solitaire from Kristanix, a small studio that has tended this game for years. No tour, no story, no boosters shouting; just a deep catalogue and the puzzle itself.
For purists of the matching game it may be the best entry here. Its boards were designed by people rather than generated by systems, and the difference shows in how often a board is hard in an interesting way rather than a blocked way.
Its free tier carries ads, removable through its purchase options. Even paying that, Epic represents the old, honest casual games bargain: a small amount of money for a large amount of game.
What we like- One of the oldest dedicated solitaire apps, with a library of well over a thousand boards built up over years, editor made boards keep quality consistent, and new packs keep arriving, clean presentation without adventure systems or story interruptions, free with ads, and a modest one time style purchase path to remove them in its store model
Watch out for- Solitaire only, presentation is functional rather than beautiful beside newer rivals, fewer modern trimmings (no daily event circus, which some will count as a pro), check the current store listing, as very long running apps update at their own pace
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
MobilityWare built its name making the definitive mobile versions of classic games, and its mahjong solitaire applies the same craft: the tiles feel good to tap, the boards are tuned rather than generated, and the difficulty respects the player.
It closes this list as the safe recommendation for the solitaire majority: a friend could be handed this app with no explanation and be playing happily in a minute. Its monetisation is the standard free with ads and offers, nothing hidden, nothing cashable.
Between Microsoft, Vita, Epic and this, solitaire players are spoilt for genuinely free quality, which is a pleasant sentence to write about any app category in 2026.
What we like- MobilityWare's card game polish applied to mahjong solitaire: smooth animations, clear tiles and boards tuned to be challenging but fair, daily challenges and themed board sets keep a routine fresh, undo and hint systems are generous, suiting learners of the puzzle, from the studio behind the best known mobile solitaire games, with support to match
Watch out for- Solitaire only, free play is ad supported, with a subscription and purchases offered for the ad free, enhanced version, its tuning favours accessibility, so the hardest core puzzlers may find Epic's boards sterner, one more account in a casual game that does not strictly need one
How we chose
We selected free mahjong apps in both senses of the word (the four player game and solitaire), available to US players in October 2026, from established publishers and long running titles. Real money mahjong platforms were excluded by design; cosmetic and convenience purchases are described per entry and none of these apps pays winnings. Free tiers were judged on real playability from the publishers' pages and store listings.
How to choose a free mahjong app
Decide which mahjong you mean, because everything follows from it. The four player game: Mahjong Soul or Riichi City, both riichi rules, both free, differing in population and style. The tile matching puzzle: any of the other six, sorted below by temperament.
For solitaire, match the mood. Calm and clear: Microsoft or Vita. A journey with goals: City Tours or Treasure Quest. Depth and purity: Epic. All round polish: MobilityWare. All are free in a real sense; the differences are ads, boosters and how hard the game will try to sell you either's removal.
If you are learning real mahjong, give riichi the respect of a month. The first dozen games confuse everyone; the tutorials in both top apps are genuinely good, and free ranked play means your teachers are players at your level. The game repays the patience for decades.
Finally, keep the money framing that opened this article: in every app here, spending is optional decoration or convenience, and nothing spent or won inside converts back to money. Played with that understanding, free mahjong is exactly what it claims to be.
Frequently asked questions
Is mahjong solitaire the same game as mahjong?
No. Mahjong is a four player game of drawing and discarding tiles to complete a hand, with rulesets including riichi, Chinese and American. Mahjong solitaire is a single player puzzle that uses the same tiles for matching pairs. Both are in this list, labelled per entry.
Can I win real money in these apps?
No. Mahjong Soul and Riichi City run on cosmetic purchases, and the solitaire apps sell hints, boosters or ad removal. Nothing won or bought inside any of them can be cashed out. Real money mahjong exists on separate gambling platforms, which this article excludes.
Which app teaches real mahjong best?
Mahjong Soul, for its tutorial path, low stakes rooms and the largest pool of fellow beginners. Riichi City teaches the same rules with its own tutorials and suits players who prefer its presentation. Both teach riichi, the Japanese ruleset.
What is the best free mahjong app for seniors?
Vita Mahjong, for its large high contrast tiles, calm pacing and timer free boards. It is solitaire rather than the four player game. For a senior wanting real mahjong socially, the honest answer is a local club plus Mahjong Soul for practice.
Are these apps really free?
Yes: full games playable without payment. They earn through advertising, cosmetics, boosters or ad removal, each stated in its entry. A free player gets the game; a paying player gets it prettier, quieter or slightly easier.
Sources we checked (0)
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.
Mahjong Soul
Riichi City
Microsoft Mahjong
Vita Mahjong
Mahjong City Tours
Mahjong Treasure Quest
Mahjong Epic
Mahjong Solitaire by MobilityWare