Is WARFRAME Worth Playing In 2026?

Right now, Warframe is in a state better than it ever was.

In December 2025, Warframe set a new record high active player count as it hit over 108K active players.

For a game that’s over 12 years old, that’s such a massive achievement.
If you’re still wondering whether Warframe is worth playing now, there’s no need to second-guess it; Warframe is definitely worth it.

At a time when every MMO is getting cancelled or shut down, Warframe is such a refreshing experience that not only survived more than a decade but continues to thrive.

In this post, I’ll give a few more good reasons why you should give this game a try.

What is Warframe?

Warframe is a free-to-play looter-shooter game that’s also recognized as an MMORPG.

First released in 2013, Warframe is one of the few live-service games available today that have maintained its reputation and a very active playerbase for more than a decade.

Warframe features a space-themed setting and an engaging story campaign that takes you across the star system. It also has very addictive and fast-paced action combat, vehicular gameplay, space ship battles, as well as fishing, mining, and much more.

Warframe is a massive game with lots of ways to play, and it has something for everyone!

Tons of Content & Stuff To Do

I’ve been playing Warframe for many years and have 400+ hours in the game. And I’ve barely scratched the surface of this massive game.

When I get back to Warframe after a short break

There are players on Steam who have over 2k hours in the game. And they’re still playing the game every day.

Warframe has a great story and lots of missions you can play, just like a regular RPG. The story revolves around a space ninja-style concept. And it’s really fun, whether you play solo or with friends.

You get to control different characters, or Warframes as it’s called in the game, with awesome abilities. As you level up in the game, you can build these Warframes to suit your play style.

In addition, there are lots of weapons and gear you can build as well. This requires some effort and a grind, I’ll get to that in a moment.

Is It Pay-To-Win?

Warframe is a free-to-play game. And often more people refer to it as a pay-to-win game.

In a way, yes it does have some pay-to-win aspects. For example, if you want to collect resources faster to build a weapon, you can buy a resource booster that doubles the resources you get from missions.

But, let me assure you, you can play Warframe without spending any money at all.

When I got my PS4, I started a new playthrough in Warframe. And I lasted until the end of the campaign without spending any money.

The game even often hosts special events for earning skins in the game. So if you can be patient, you can play the game without spending any money.

But You’ll Have To Grind

Yes, Warframe is a very grindy game. Even if you spend money in the game, you’ll still have to grind to acquire most of the stuff in the game.

Having said that, I believe the grind is the best part of Warframe. I love the grind in games (hence the name of the blog) and Warframe has the best grinding mechanics in any game I’ve played.

The grind in Warframe is a fun activity. But it’s not for everyone. So if you hate that type of game, Warframe may not be for you.

Enhanced Graphics

If you log into Warframe today, you wouldn’t believe it’s a game released in 2013. The graphics and gameplay look phenomenal.

The game received enhancements on consoles and PC with high-end visuals. But if you have low-end specs, you can still switch to older graphic settings to play the game.

When it’s set to high-end graphics, the game looks stunning. But, you can still run the game on old PCs without noticing a thing.

And the game looks stunning on mobile platforms too.

Extensive Story Campaign

Warframe has a brilliant story campaign that takes you through the entire star chart in the game.

In December 2025, Warframe received one of its biggest story campaign updates ever released, and that brought in a ton of new players to the game.

With each new expansion, Warframe gets bigger and better. For players who enjoys a good campaign, this game always has something for you to return to.

Questing and doing missions is also quite satisfying in Warframe.

Free Content Throughout The Year

New content drops happen around every three months on Warframe. That’s in addition to regular events, alerts, and quests you can take part in.

Every year, the developer Digital Extremes releases content according to a schedule.

The best part is that all those massive expansions are completely free. Even the battle pass in Warframe is 100% free!

Cross-Play Everywhere

After releasing the cross-play update, Cross-save is now available everywhere.

You can now play the game on your PC, consoles, and even mobile (yes! mobile) on the same playthrough.

This means, you can use the same account to login to Warframe from PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, or even iOS or Android device and still continue from where you left off.

Imagine farming a couple of missions to gather resources while riding the bus or having a coffee at a coffee shop. Then get back home to do the main missions from your PC or console.

Is Warframe Worth Playing?

Yes! A thousand times Yes!

Did I mention this game is free? That’s right. Warframe, with all of its expansions, battle pass, DLCs, and on all platforms, is free to play.

It won’t cost you anything to try this game. It’s free! And it’s only about a 50GB download.

Try it out and see if it’s for you. At first, you may feel overwhelmed by all the mechanics in the game. It happened to me too. So try watching a few walkthrough videos to get a glimpse of the game.

Also, be sure to check out some of my Warframe guides, if you need any help.