Free Jackbox alternatives: browser party games compared

At a glance

What Jackbox does well

It is worth being fair: Jackbox is very good. Each Party Pack has around five different games, the writing is sharp, and players only need a phone browser to join at jackbox.tv with a room code. Many games also let extra people join as an audience and vote.

The catch is the cost and the setup. The host buys each pack (a new one is around $30 at launch, older packs are often on sale) and runs it on a computer or console, usually shared on a TV or over a stream. Most games cap players at around eight. If nobody in your group owns a pack, a free browser game is a much easier start.

Nichenaut: the closest free fit

Nichenaut works like a Jackbox room: one person hosts, everyone else joins on their own phone with a four letter room code, and you can put the game on a TV with big screen mode. It is free, runs in any browser, and nobody needs an account.

The game itself is simple. Everyone gets the same prompt and types one answer. Every right answer scores, and the rarer it is, the further your astronaut flies off Earth, from Liftoff (10 points) to Supernova (100). Typing “banana” for name a fruit is safe. Typing “rambutan” is how you win.

• Name a Pixar film
• Name a YouTuber
• Name a Mario Kart track (any game; cups and battle courses count)
• Name a pop star
• Name a capital city
• Name a snack
• Name a dog breed
• Name something you'd find in a garage

• Hosted rooms: up to 12 players by default and up to 25 if the host raises the limit. Only preset shouts and reactions, no open chat.
• Custom missions: every player writes a prompt and the room rates the answers, which is the most Jackbox-like mode.
• Open Orbit: a public round that is always running, up to 50 players, with filtered and moderated chat.
• On your own: solo themed missions, an endless mode, and Today's Mission, the same seven prompts for everyone each day.
• On iPhone: a free app on the App Store adds ranked 1v1, duels and a pass-the-phone mode for one phone round a table.

Where it is weaker: it is one kind of game, not five, so it is best mixed with a drawing game or Codenames on a long night. It is for players aged 13 and over.

Host a free room now

Gartic Phone and Skribbl.io

Gartic Phone is the telephone game with drawings. Everyone writes a sentence, the next person draws it, the next describes the drawing, and so on. The reveal at the end, watching a sentence turn into chaos, is the best bit. It is free in the browser and handles big groups well.

Skribbl.io is classic draw and guess: one person draws a word and everyone else races to type it. It is free, instant and competitive. Guesses are typed into a chat box, so for a group of friends use a private room rather than a public one with strangers.

Both need people who are happy to draw badly, which is most people after a few rounds.

Codenames online

The board game's makers run an official free browser version at codenames.game, with no downloads or accounts. Two teams, a grid of words, and one word clues from each team's spymaster. It needs at least four people and works best on a voice call. Calmer and more strategic than the rest of this list.

Krillion.io and Stopots

Krillion.io is a free daily browser game with open prompts where rarer answers score more. It is mostly played on your own, once a day, and compared with friends afterwards, so it suits a group chat more than a live party. If you like it and want to play the same idea live with a room of friends, that is what Nichenaut is for.

Stopots is a free online take on Categories (Scattergories): a letter, a list of categories, and a race to fill them in. Players vote on whether answers count.

Which one to pick

• One TV, a room full of people: Nichenaut in big screen mode, or Jackbox if you own it.
• Friends on a call: Gartic Phone, Skribbl.io in a private room, or a Nichenaut room code.
• A competitive group that knows stuff: Nichenaut.
• Four or more who like to think: Codenames.
• Something every day: Today's Mission in Nichenaut, or Krillion.io's daily dive.