Games Like NYT Connections: 9 Free Browser Puzzles

PuzzGrid is the best free Connections alternative: thousands of user-submitted Only Connect-style walls with the same sort-sixteen-into-four-groups format, and it answered our check in 202 milliseconds. SwellGarfo's Connections creator lets you build and share custom boards, Puzzmo serves a whole page of original daily puzzles, and Contexto, Semantle, Redactle, Weaver, Squareword and Waffle cover the wider daily word-deduction family. All 9 confirmed loading by our automated check on July 8, 2026; hand-replays in progress. Each plays free in the browser with no download, and none of the nine forces an account to play.

Every entry checked. Last full check: Jul 8, 2026How we verify →0 removed since launch →

At a glance

Quick comparison of every game on this list
Game	Score	How it differs	Free?	Load time	Checked
PuzzGrid	Unscored	Thousands of community-made Connections-style walls instead of one a day.	Free	0.2 s	Auto-checkedJul 8, 2026
SwellGarfo Connections	Unscored	Make and share your own Connections boards with a link.	Free	0.1 s	Auto-checkedJul 8, 2026
Puzzmo	Unscored	A whole daily puzzle page — crossword, word and logic games — not one format.	Free	0.1 s	Auto-checkedJul 8, 2026
Contexto	Unscored	Unlimited guesses ranked by meaning, not spelling.	Free	0.1 s	Auto-checkedJul 4, 2026
Semantle	Unscored	Pure semantic distance — no letter feedback at all.	Free	0.2 s	Auto-checkedJul 4, 2026
Redactle	Unscored	Deduce a whole redacted Wikipedia article instead of grouping sixteen items.	Free	0.3 s	Auto-checkedJul 8, 2026
Weaver	Unscored	A one-letter-at-a-time word ladder rather than a grouping grid.	Free	0.2 s	Auto-checkedJul 8, 2026
Squareword	Unscored	Solve a 5x5 square where rows and columns are all words at once.	Free	0.2 s	Auto-checkedJul 8, 2026
Waffle	Unscored	You rearrange pre-placed letters with limited swaps instead of typing guesses.	Free	0.1 s	Auto-checkedJul 4, 2026

The picks, ranked

PuzzGrid
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Thousands of community-made Connections-style walls instead of one a day.
The closest thing to unlimited NYT Connections: PuzzGrid hosts thousands of user-submitted grids in the style of Only Connect's connecting wall — sort sixteen items into four connected groups against the clock. The site's own tagline is 'like NYT Connections, but with more red-herrings', and grids are rated by the community so you can stick to the good ones. Free, no signup.
Auto-checked Jul 8, 2026Loads in 0.2 s
SwellGarfo Connections
Play →
Make and share your own Connections boards with a link.
A free custom-puzzle creator for the Connections format: build your own sort-sixteen-into-four-groups puzzle and share it with a link, or play puzzles others have made. The site describes itself as a creator for 'the game popularized by the New York Times', which makes it the standard tool for birthday puzzles, classroom grids and inside-joke boards. No account needed.
Auto-checked Jul 8, 2026Loads in 0.1 s
Puzzmo
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A whole daily puzzle page — crossword, word and logic games — not one format.
The daily puzzle destination founded by game designer Zach Gage and Orta Therox in 2023 and now part of Hearst: a newspaper-style page of original daily puzzles including Cross|word, SpellTower, Flipart, Really Bad Chess and Pile-Up Poker. The core daily lineup is free to play in the browser; an account tracks streaks and leaderboards, and a paid tier adds extras.
Auto-checked Jul 8, 2026Loads in 0.1 s
Contexto
Play →
Unlimited guesses ranked by meaning, not spelling.
Guess the secret word by meaning: every guess is ranked by semantic closeness to the answer, and the guess count is unlimited. New puzzle daily, playable in several languages.
Auto-checked Jul 4, 2026Loads in 0.1 s
Semantle
Play →
Pure semantic distance — no letter feedback at all.
The original semantic guessing game: each guess is scored by word2vec similarity to the target, from icy negatives to a 'getting close' band. Famously capable of taking hundreds of guesses.
Auto-checked Jul 4, 2026Loads in 0.2 s
Redactle
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Deduce a whole redacted Wikipedia article instead of grouping sixteen items.
A deduction game played on a censored encyclopedia: every word of a Wikipedia article is blacked out, and you guess words one at a time to reveal them until you can name the article's subject. This site runs a shared daily puzzle plus an unlimited mode, with smart word matching and stat tracking, free in the browser with no signup required.
Auto-checked Jul 8, 2026Loads in 0.3 s
Weaver
Play →
A one-letter-at-a-time word ladder rather than a grouping grid.
A daily word-ladder puzzle: weave from the start word to the end word by changing exactly one letter per step, in as few steps as possible. The host site, Weaver Games, describes its collection as 'hand-woven daily word games' and also serves Weaver X and Subtext, so one page yields three fresh word puzzles a day, free in the browser with no account.
Auto-checked Jul 8, 2026Loads in 0.2 s
Squareword
Play →
Solve a 5x5 square where rows and columns are all words at once.
A daily word square: guess five-letter words to fill a 5x5 grid in which every row and every column must read as a valid word, with color feedback locking correct letters in place as you go. It scratches the same daily-deduction itch as the NYT word games and runs free in the browser with no signup and no download.
Auto-checked Jul 8, 2026Loads in 0.2 s
Waffle
Play →
You rearrange pre-placed letters with limited swaps instead of typing guesses.
A daily deduction puzzle where six words already sit on a waffle-shaped grid — you swap letters into place in 15 moves or fewer, earning stars for spare swaps.
Auto-checked Jul 4, 2026Loads in 0.1 s

Frequently asked questions

Which of these matches the exact Connections format?

PuzzGrid and SwellGarfo Connections both use the sixteen-items-into-four-groups wall. The rest are looser relatives — Contexto and Semantle test word association, Redactle and Weaver are deduction and ladder games — each entry's line notes how it differs.

Why aren't Immaculate Grid or Cine2Nerdle listed?

Both failed our July 8, 2026 automated check: Immaculate Grid's host returned an HTTP 403 bot challenge and cine2nerdle.app did not respond at all. We only list games we verified loading, so they stay off until a check or hand replay confirms them.

Do these games have one puzzle per day?

Contexto, Semantle, Redactle, Weaver, Squareword, Waffle and Puzzmo's lineup all publish daily puzzles. PuzzGrid and SwellGarfo Connections are the opposite: unlimited community-made grids whenever you want them.

Are these Connections alternatives free?

Yes, all nine play free in the browser. Puzzmo has an optional paid tier and account-based streaks, but its core daily puzzles are free; the others need no account at all as of our last check.