Where we stand. We make Initiative Tracker: DM Tools, a combat tracker for fifth-edition-compatible games played in person. It is free with nothing to buy on Google Play and the App Store, and shows a banner ad on the party screen and in Settings. It is a phone app for one table and has none of Roll20's online play. We are not connected to Roll20 and take no referral fee from anyone on this page.
Yes. Roll20's free tier hosts a game in the browser, with character sheets, dice, map pins and 100 MB of uploads, for any of 1,200+ game systems. Three paid tiers add dynamic lighting, storage and automation: Plus at $5.99 a month, Pro at $9.99 and Elite at $14.99. Only the person who creates the game has to pay for its features.
The tiers and their prices
| Tier | Monthly | Yearly | Struck-through price shown | Twelve months paid monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | Free | Free | — | — |
| Plus | $5.99 | $49.99 | $59.99 a year | $71.88 |
| Pro | $9.99 | $99.99 | $10.99 a month, $109.99 a year | $119.88 |
| Elite | $14.99 | $149.99 | $159.99 a year | $179.88 |
The last column is derived: twelve monthly payments, for comparing against the yearly price. The yearly toggle is labeled “2+ Months Free”, and on Pro and Elite it saves almost exactly two months; on Plus it saves $21.89, about three and a half.
What each tier adds
| Feature | Free | Plus | Pro | Elite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Online hosting, 1,200+ systems, character sheets, map pins | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sharing books you own | 1 game, 5 players | 3 games, 10 players | 5 games, 15 players | 20 games, 15 players |
| Upload storage (largest file) | 100 MB (20 MB) | 4 GB (50 MB) | 10 GB (100 MB) | 50 GB (100 MB) |
| Dynamic lighting, foreground layer | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| No loading-screen ads | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Demiplane Unlimited, unlimited character transfers | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mods (API), custom sheets, Transmogrifier, Reserve rewards, early access | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Dungeon Scrawl Pro map maker | No | No | No | Yes |
One subscription covers the whole game
Roll20's FAQ answers the question most groups ask first: players do not need their own subscription. Paid features follow the subscription of the person who created the game, so every player and guest GM in it gets them. Five people splitting a yearly Pro plan pay $20 each for the year (derived from the $99.99 price). A player who only joins other people's games has no reason to subscribe for that game's features.
If you stop paying
Canceling or downgrading pauses and hides the paid features rather than deleting them, and they come back on resubscribing; dynamic lighting walls already drawn on a map are kept. Storage gets a softer rule: assets already uploaded stay usable above the free 100 MB, but nothing new can be uploaded until the account is back under the limit.
Online tabletops compared
| Tabletop | Free | The paid map extra | Runs on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roll20 | Hosting, 1,200+ systems, 100 MB uploads | Dynamic lighting from Plus, $5.99 a month | Any browser |
| D&D Beyond Maps | Host and join games, run encounters | Uploading your own maps needs Master, $5.99 a month | Browser, iPhone, Android |
| Encounter+ | Library, initiative, encounters | Battle maps with lighting, $10.99 once | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
Details and dates are in is D&D Beyond free and is Encounter+ free. For trackers that run on one phone at a table, see the best initiative tracker apps.
What Roll20 does better
- It runs a whole game online. Voice and video, chat, 3D dice, tokens, handouts and character sheets are in one browser tab for every player. Initiative Tracker is for a group sitting at the same table.
- It covers more games. Roll20 lists 1,200+ systems; ours is built around the fifth-edition SRD only.
- It needs no install on any device; a phone browser is enough.