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FreeCol

Open-source turn-based colonization strategy game

Game Servers ★ 713 stars Easy setup GPL-2.0

FreeCol is a free, open-source turn-based strategy game inspired by classic colonization titles. It supports hot-seat and network multiplayer through a self-hosted game server.

Official siteSource code

Key features

  • Turn-based strategy
  • Network multiplayer
  • Map editor
  • Cross-platform Java client

Strengths

  • Released under the GPL-2.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Written in Java
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM

Is FreeCol secure?

No known vulnerabilities affect FreeCol's latest release (v1.2.0). OSV.dev lists 1 past advisory for the project; none of them applies to this release. No known vulnerabilities is not proof of security: it means none have been publicly catalogued.

  • Most recent fixed advisory CVE-2018-1000825, published 2018-12-20 (2855 days ago)

Source: OSV.dev, checked 2026-10-14. How this is measured.

FreeCol replaces

Self-hosted Sid Meier's Colonization alternatives

Health badge

Maintain FreeCol? Add its health score to your README. The badge links back to this page.

SelfHostIndex: 70 · good

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   :alt: SelfHostIndex health score for FreeCol
   :target: https://selfhostindex.com/app/freecol/

The score is recomputed on every nightly rebuild from public repository data — see how it is calculated.

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