Board Games · Updated June 2026
If Catan got you into modern board games, you're not alone — and you're probably ready for what's next. This is an honest, opinionated list of games to play instead of (or alongside) Catan, split into three groups: free online Catan-likes, gateway games at the same weight, and deeper strategy games for when you've outgrown the 10-VP race.
Disclosure: this page lives on gotland.gg (a free online Catan). The "free online Catan-likes" section includes our own site, but the other 11 games are genuinely good even if you never come back here.
Same game design, just better online than the official app for most players. Both options below are free in the browser.
Yes, this is us. We mention it because if you searched "alternative to Catan" looking specifically for a better way to play Catan itself online — that's exactly what gotland.gg is. Free in the browser, no install, Cities & Knights included, multiplayer by sharing a link. See the full comparison with Catan Universe and Colonist.io.
Play now →The most popular fan-made Catan online. Big active player base, fast matchmaking around the clock, finished games can be rewatched as full replays. The community option to beat if you want random opponents 24/7.
Open Colonist.ioSame complexity as Catan, different mechanics. If you can teach Catan to a new player in 15 minutes, you can teach any of these.
The most common "what's next after Catan?" pick. Players take turns drawing and placing tiles to build a shared map of roads, cities and farms, then place meeples to score them. Less randomness than Catan (you're not waiting on dice rolls for resources), more spatial puzzle. Plays well at 2.
Pick a card, pass the rest. Each player builds a civilization across three ages by drafting cards from a rotating hand. Plays in about 30 minutes regardless of player count — its biggest advantage over Catan at the higher player counts where Catan slows down.
Collect gems, buy cards, the cards become permanent gems that buy bigger cards. Pure engine-building with almost no luck. Shorter than Catan and easier to teach, but reveals real strategic depth with practice. Good "next game" for people who like the resource side of Catan more than the dice side.
Collect colored cards, claim train routes between cities, complete secret destination tickets. Has the same "negotiate around the table" feel as Catan when someone takes the route you needed. The most-sold gateway game of the last twenty years.
The game that invented the deckbuilder genre. You start with a small deck of weak cards and buy stronger ones from a shared market, slowly shaping your deck into an engine. Highly replayable thanks to the rotating set of available cards each game.
Beautiful, simple and surprisingly mean. Draft colored tiles from shared pools and place them on your personal board for points. The only Catan-adjacent game on this list that looks great as a coffee-table object.
For when you've played hundreds of Catan games and the 10-VP race feels solved. These are heavier — expect 90 minutes to 3 hours per game and a longer rules teach.
Honestly, before you replace Catan, try its best expansion. C&K adds commodities, knights, city walls, progress cards and the barbarian threat. Most long-time Catan players consider it the real game and never go back to vanilla. Free here at gotland.gg. More on Cities & Knights →
About C&K →Each player runs a corporation terraforming Mars by playing project cards that raise oxygen, ocean and temperature. Massive variety from a deck of 200+ cards, scales from solo to five players, has a great digital version on Steam. The clearest "step up from Catan" pick for engine-building fans.
Currently top of BoardGameGeek's all-time rankings for a reason. Build industries across the canals and railways of industrial-revolution Birmingham, manage cash flow, time the market. Demands serious strategy but rewards it. Heavy teach.
Build a power network, bid on power plants, manage fuel costs. Has the same "build outward from your starting position" feel as Catan but with auctions instead of dice. Notoriously brutal end-game calculation; rewards careful play.
Play Catan itself on gotland.gg (free, fast setup, C&K included) or Colonist.io (biggest player base, has replays).
Try Cities & Knights first — it fixes most of what casual players complain about in vanilla Catan. Read more →
Carcassonne is the safest pick. Same weight, easier to teach, less randomness. Ticket to Ride works too if your group is bigger.
7 Wonders, Splendor or Azul. All play in about 30 minutes regardless of player count.
Terraforming Mars if you liked the building. Brass: Birmingham if you want the deepest game on this list. Both have great digital versions.
Then we'll stop selling you on alternatives. Open the lobby →
It depends on what you want different. For more strategic depth, the Cities & Knights expansion is the answer most experienced Catan players give. For a different game at the same weight, Carcassonne. For deeper games, Terraforming Mars or Brass: Birmingham. For a better free online Catan experience, gotland.gg or Colonist.io.
"Better" depends on taste. For more strategic depth and less luck: Terraforming Mars, Brass: Birmingham, Through the Ages. For shorter playtime: 7 Wonders, Splendor. For more direct interaction: Power Grid. For a similar tile-and-build feel with less randomness: Carcassonne.
Yes. gotland.gg and Colonist.io are both free browser-based implementations of Catan's rules. For tile-laying alternatives, Carcassonne has free online versions through Board Game Arena.
Carcassonne is the most common next step — same gateway-game weight, less randomness, easy teach. 7 Wonders if your usual group is 5+ players. Cities & Knights if you want the deeper version of Catan itself.
Because they aren't actually similar to Catan in design. Risk is a player-elimination war game, Monopoly is a roll- and-move with heavy randomness, and "Settlers of Cathy" isn't a real product. This list is for games that scratch a similar itch — resource management, engine building, tableau or map building — not "things with the word settlers".
That's fine. We have a lobby ready.
Play Catan online — free