10 Best Free Sudoku Games of 2026

Sudoku.com ranks first because it covers the daily habit better than any other free sudoku here, in a browser or on a phone. Easybrain's app offers thousands of classic puzzles, Daily Challenges that award unique trophies, and Seasonal Events with medals. Notes update automatically when you fill a cell, and hints, auto-check and duplicate highlighting are all optional, so you can play with help or without it. The developer says every puzzle has one solution. The website at sudoku.com adds Classic and Killer modes, levels from Easy to Extreme, and daily challenges with no install. The app has 1.9 million ratings on the US App Store. The free version shows ads, and the No Ads purchase is $14.99, one of the higher ad-free prices on this list. The hints point you to a cell rather than teaching a technique. We compared documented features and published prices only.

Microsoft Sudoku is the strongest pick for players who want a bigger daily routine. Every day it sets 3 Daily Challenges: one Classic, one Irregular with odd-shaped blocks, and one Ice Breaker, where correct numbers send shockwaves that break ice across the board. Outside the dailies you get freshly generated Classic and Irregular puzzles at 6 difficulty levels. Notes update automatically, settings include Block Duplicates and Show Mistakes, and you can enter a square first or a number first. Signing in with a Microsoft account saves progress to the cloud across Apple devices and earns Xbox Live achievements. The free app shows ads. Premium costs $1.99 a month or $9.99 a year, removes ads and opens Daily Challenges from previous months, but it applies to mobile only. That is still the cheapest ad-free plan on this list. We compared documented features and published prices only.

Sudoku by Brainium is the classic sudoku app for players who want to get better, not just get unstuck. Its Hint button gives you the technique needed to make progress, with animations and colored visuals that are unique to each puzzle, so you learn why the answer is right. There are five difficulty levels from beginner to expert and an unlimited supply of puzzles. Daily Puzzle Challenges earn points and gold checkmarks, and statistics and achievements track progress. Comfort options are strong: two grid styles, nine backdrops, adjustable font size, auto light or dark mode, portrait or sideways play with a left-handed option, and iPad keyboard support. Number Painting fills open squares fast. The free app shows ads, and Remove Ads is a one-time $11.99 purchase. It sticks to classic 9x9 sudoku, so variant fans should look elsewhere. We compared documented features and published prices only.

Good Sudoku is the pick for players who want to go deeper than classic apps allow. Zach Gage and Jack Schlesinger wrote their own generator for over 70,000 puzzles at 5 difficulty levels, and the hardest require techniques such as XYZ Wings, Jellyfish and Swordfish. The solver runs while you play, reads your answers and notes, and when you are stuck suggests the technique you need next. Each difficulty lists the techniques it requires, and you can practice them outside of puzzles. There are three standard modes, Good, Arcade and Eternal, plus 3 daily modes that get harder through the week and come with global leaderboards. A Custom mode lets you import a puzzle from paper and share it. Optional tools reduce counting, which some purists may not want. The app is free to download, and the full game is a one-time $4.99 purchase. We compared documented features and published prices only.

NYT Sudoku is the choice for players whose daily routine already runs through New York Times Games. The Times describes it as a numbers game minus the math: fill each 3x3 set of boxes with the numbers 1 to 9, with a new puzzle every day in easy, medium or hard mode. It plays at nytimes.com/puzzles/sudoku or inside the free NYT Games app, which also holds Wordle, Connections, Spelling Bee, Pips and the Crossword, and has Editors' Choice on the App Store. The sudoku page invites players to subscribe for unlimited access, and the US App Store lists Games - Monthly offers from $4.99, which also opens an archive of over 10,000 past puzzles across the Times games. The trade-off is volume: three daily grids and no endless mode, so heavy players may want a second app. We compared documented features and published prices only.

Web Sudoku is the plainest way to play free sudoku online. Gideon Greenspan and Rachel Lee launched it in June 2005, and the site says it is played by millions of visitors monthly. You open websudoku.com, pick Easy, Medium, Hard or Evil, and play in any browser, including on tablets and phones, with no account. A Pencil Marking option shows up to 5 candidate numbers in a cell, and the How am I doing? button flags mistakes instead of giving away the answer. A Daily Sudoku Variation adds a different puzzle type each day. Web Sudoku Deluxe, a one-time $14.95 download for Windows with a Mac version, adds offline play, an Extreme level, Sudoku-X, Squiggly and grids from 4x4 to 16x16, plus printing and solutions. The free site shows ads and has a dated look next to the apps on this list. We compared documented features and published prices only.

Killer Sudoku by Sudoku.com is the best next step once classic grids start to feel routine. The rules are the same as classic sudoku, but every cell belongs to a cage marked by dotted lines, and the cage's numbers must add up to the sum in its corner without repeating. Easybrain notes that each row, column and 3x3 region always adds up to 45, a fact that becomes a key solving tool. The app has thousands of levels, daily challenges that win unique trophies, seasonal events with medals, and hints and notes when you get stuck. Easybrain says it designed the game to be approachable for all skill levels even though Killer is harder than classic. It has 219,000 ratings on the US App Store. The free version shows ads, the No Ads purchase is $14.99, and it covers Killer only. We compared documented features and published prices only.

PeopleFun Sudoku is for players who treat each grid as a score to beat. The app offers thousands of free classic 9x9 puzzles in Easy, Medium, Hard and Expert, and awards points for speed, accuracy and every row, column and block you complete. Runs count how many puzzles you solve without breaking your streak, and Game Center leaderboards let you compare scores and achievements with friends and players worldwide. Pencil notes, hints, undo and auto-check are there when you want help and can be switched off for a cleaner challenge. The board is designed to be readable on iPhone and iPad. With 665,000 ratings on the US App Store it is one of the most rated sudoku apps. The listing does not describe a dedicated daily puzzle mode, and the optional Ads Free Subscription shows $2.99 without a stated billing period. We compared documented features and published prices only.

Sudoku: Brain Puzzle Games from Oakever Games is the pick for players who want to race people as well as solve alone. It offers over 5,000 classic puzzles in easy, medium, hard and expert, with new ones added weekly, plus daily challenges with trophies. Killer Sudoku and Letter Sudoku add variety, and real-time multiplayer tournaments let you compete with players worldwide. Smart hints, pencil notes, undo and redo, auto-save, duplicate highlighting and dark mode cover the basics, and the developer says it works fully offline with no login. It is listed in English and 61 more languages. The pricing is the busiest here: Remove Ads is a one-time $4.99, but the US App Store also lists subscriptions at $1.99 a week, $4.99 a month and $15.99 a year, and battle tickets for tournaments. Stick with the one-time option if ads are the only issue. We compared documented features and published prices only.

Sudoku Master from Malpa Games earns its place with grid sizes the other apps here do not offer. Alongside classic 9x9 puzzles it has 6x6 boards that suit beginners and 16x16 boards for players who want a long, demanding solve. There are thousands of puzzles across five difficulty levels from Easy to Master, a daily puzzle, pencil notes and smart hints you call up only when needed, plus detailed stats, achievements and light and dark themes. The developer stresses full offline play, which suits flights and commutes without signal. The free app has ads, and the paid side is cluttered: the US App Store lists Sudoku Premium at $2.99, $7.99 and $39.99, No Ads at $6.99 and $14.99, and a hints offer at $1.99, without saying which is which period. It has about 17,000 ratings, far fewer than the leaders. We compared documented features and published prices only.