Most people looking for a Microsoft Solitaire alternative arrive with one specific complaint: the game that came free with Windows now plays a video advertisement between hands, and the only official way to stop it is a subscription.
That is a fair complaint, and this page answers it. We are TrySolitaire, a free browser solitaire site, so we are an interested party rather than a neutral reviewer. We have no connection to Microsoft. Microsoft Solitaire Collection is a genuinely good product and we will say where it beats us.
Microsoft Solitaire Collection ships with Windows 10 and Windows 11 and also runs on phones and in a browser. It contains five games: Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid and TriPeaks. Each is well made, and the collection has a Daily Challenge, streaks, coins, a Star Club and Xbox achievements attached to it.
Microsoft Solitaire is also the direct descendant of the Windows 3.0 game that taught a generation to use a mouse. That history is not nothing, and it is a large part of why people search for it by name.
The collection is advertising-supported. Banner advertisements appear around the board and video advertisements play between games. Microsoft's own remedy is a Premium subscription, which removes advertising across the game modes and adds bonus coins and boosts. It is billed monthly or yearly through your Microsoft account; the current price is on Microsoft's store rather than here, because it changes.
Whether that is objectionable depends on your view. Microsoft is running a free product with real hosting and development costs behind it, and a subscription is an honest way to fund one. But if what you want is a quiet game of Klondike without a thirty-second video first, the subscription is a strange thing to be asked for, and it is why this page exists.
Four things, and we will not pretend otherwise.
It is already on your computer. No URL to remember, no browser tab. For many people that convenience settles the question on its own.
It works offline. The installed app plays on a train or a plane. We are a website, and while we install as an app and cache a good deal, we are not the equal of a native application with no connection.
Xbox achievements and the Star Club. Achievements that count towards a Microsoft gamerscore, and a Daily Challenge streak system with years of history behind it. We have achievements and levels, but they live on our site and count towards nothing outside it.
Polish. Five games made carefully by a large team, with animation and sound that we do not try to match across 300.
| Microsoft Solitaire Collection | TrySolitaire | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free, with a paid Premium tier | Free, with no tier |
| Advertising | Banner and video, unless you subscribe | None at present |
| Number of games | Five | 300 card and puzzle games |
| Installation | Ships with Windows | Nothing to install — a browser tab |
| Account to play | Not required; needed to save and sync | Not required; optional and free |
| Statistics without an account | Local only | Yes, from the first game |
| Statistics across devices | Yes, with a Microsoft account | Yes, with a free account |
| Offline play | Yes, a native app | Partly — installs as an app and caches |
| Xbox achievements | Yes | No — our achievements are site-only |
| Daily challenge | Yes, with streaks and the Star Club | Yes, on a guaranteed-winnable deal |
| Leaderboards | Within the Microsoft ecosystem | Cross-game daily and all-time boards |
| Works on a Mac, iPad or Chromebook | Through the app or browser version | Yes, any modern browser |
Stay with Microsoft Solitaire if you want offline play, you care about Xbox achievements, or you have a Daily Challenge streak you do not want to abandon. A long streak is a real thing to lose and we would not tell you to throw it away.
Try us if the advertising is what drove you to search, you do not want to subscribe to remove it, or five games has stopped being enough.
A note on the games themselves. If you only ever play Klondike, the honest answer is that Microsoft's Klondike is excellent and you are not missing much. The case for switching gets stronger the more variety you want.
TrySolitaire runs 300 card and puzzle games in a browser. Nothing installs, no Microsoft account is involved, and we serve no advertising at present — no banners, and no video between hands.
All five of Microsoft's games are here: Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid and TriPeaks. So are the ones it never included — Yukon, Canfield, Forty Thieves, Scorpion and a long list beyond them — plus Sudoku and Mahjong.
Play Solitaire Free — No Ads, No Sign-InYes. It ships with Windows 10 and 11 and is supported by advertising. Microsoft sells a Premium subscription that removes the advertising.
Microsoft's own route is the Premium subscription. The alternative is to play somewhere that serves no advertising in the first place.
Five: Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid and TriPeaks.
Not to play. You need one to save progress, sync between devices and keep Daily Challenge streaks and achievements.
No. Streaks and achievements stay with Microsoft. That is a genuine reason to stay, and we would rather say so than pretend the cost of switching is zero.
No. We are an independent free games site with no relationship to Microsoft. Microsoft and Microsoft Solitaire Collection are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation and are named here only to compare the two.
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