We are going to help you to select the best WoW emulator according to your needs! Here are some questions that you should ask yourself before reading this post:

• What game version is your target? Do you look for a specific WoW version (e.g. latest, classic, wotlk, etc…) or it doesn’t really matter for you?
• Is it more important for you to have a more recent WoW expansion or the game quality?
• Are you planning to introduce custom content and features?
• What is your experience with WoW emulation? Are you a beginner or an experienced server administrator?
• What operating system are you planning to use?

We will give an overview of what the WoW emulators’ ecosystem has to offer in 2020, hoping it will help you to choose one!

 AzerothCore

AzerothCore (AC) is a TrinityCore-based project (originally created as a continuation of SunwellCore) supporting version 3.3.5 (Wrath of The Lich King). One of the most important features of AzerothCore is the modular system that allows private-server owners to make customizations without directly patching the core source code. This makes it easy for servers to keep their source version updated and reuse custom code. There is even a public collection of modules created by the community.

The project has a big community compared to other emulators and you can always find someone to ask for help on their Discord chat. This probably makes it the best wow emulator for beginners. Furthermore, AC has a good amount of active developers and a decent quality assurance mechanism (they test all changes before moving them to the master branch).

Installing AC is quite easy and user-friendly. You can install it in every operating system thanks to the Docker Setup.

AzerothCore grew a lot in 2019 according to its GitHub stars count (source):

Choose AzerothCore if:

• game quality is important to you
• you prefer a project with an active community
• you might add some game customizations
• you need a production-ready server

Do not choose AzerothCore if:

• you want a WoW expansion that is newer than WOTLK

Official website: https://www.azerothcore.org

Official source repository: https://github.com/azerothcore/azerothcore-wotlk

 TrinityCore

TrinityCore (TC) is probably the most popular WoW emulator of all time. A lot of servers and other emulators out there are based on it. Originally created as a fork of MaNGOS, with time it outclassed its father.

However, TC has no longer the same amount of active developers and community members than it used to have. It targets the latest WoW version (currently Battle for Azeroth). The community of TrinityCore has split into several projects that target different WoW versions:

The above picture shows the number of contributions since its creation (source). Since 2017, the development activity of the master branch significantly dropped.

From a gaming perspective, it is not completely playable because the post-WOTLK expansions have not been properly implemented yet.

Also, within TrinityCore some developers split (some are working on the latest WoW version, some others to 3.3.5, other to 4.3.4).

Choose TrinityCore if:

• you would like the latest version of World of Warcraft
• you are a developer and you would enjoy implementing the missing contents
• – OR –
• you would like to use the 3.3.5 version (as an alternative to other projects such as AzerothCore, CMaNGOS-wotlk, etc…)
• you would like to use the 4.3.4 version (as an alternative to other projects such as ArkCore, etc…)

Do not choose TrinityCore if:

• you aim to have the best game quality
• you want a production-ready server that is playable from day 1

Official website: https://www.trinitycore.org

Official source repository: https://github.com/TrinityCore/TrinityCore

 CMaNGOS

C-MaNGOS means Continued-MaNGOS and it’s the direct continuation of the original MaNGOS project. According to the GitHub stars count of the official repositories, it is the most loved for its WoW Classic repository.

Choose CMaNGOS if:

• you want to have a Classic WoW server with 1.12 WoW client version
• you prefer MaNGOS-style over TC-style

Do not choose CMaNGOS if:

• you prefer SmartAI over EventAI to handle your scripts

Official website: https://cmangos.net/

Official source repository: https://github.com/cmangos

AscEmu

AscEmu is a project based on ArcEmu that offers a different flavor of WoW Emulation, compared to the majority of other projects that are typically MaNGOS/TrinityCore based. We talked about AscEmu in a previous blog post.

It supports a different variety of WoW versions:

Choose AscEmu if:

• you are interested in targetting different WoW versions with the same emulator
• you prefer an ArcEmu/Antrix-based project

Do not choose AscEmu if:

• you want a MaNGOS/TrinityCore-based emulator

Official website: http://www.ascemu.org/

Official source repository: https://github.com/AscEmu/AscEmu

 ArkCore

Supported WoW versions: Cataclysm (4.3.4)

ArkCore is another TrinityCore-based project which supports Cataclysm. It has been around for a long time, but it doesn’t have a big community behind.

Choose ArkCore if:

• you want to have a Cataclysm server

Do not choose ArkCore if:

• you want to have a project with an active community behind it

Official website: http://gpn39f.spdns.de/forum1/

Official source repository: https://github.com/Arkania/ArkCORE-NG

 OregonCore

Supported WoW versions: The Burning Crusade (2.4.3)

OregonCore is a TrinityCpre-based project with a valuable history that supports TBC, however not much active in recent times.

Choose OregonCore if:

• you want to have a TBC server
• you prefer SmartAI over the EventAI offered by CMaNGOS TBC

Official website: https://oregon-core.net

Official source repository: https://github.com/OregonCore/OregonCore

 SkyFire

SkyFire is a TrinityCore-based project that has been around for a while. It doesn’t have a big community though.

Choose SkyFire if:

• you’d like to have a Pandaria server

Choose SkyFire:

• you want to have a project with an active community behind it

Official website: https://www.projectskyfire.org

Official source repository: https://github.com/ProjectSkyfire

 vMaNGOS

Based on MaNGOS, this interesting project aims to provide a progression system between one WoW version and another (unlike most of the other projects that just support the last patch of every expansion). They have a chat on Discord.

Choose vMaNGOS if:

• you’d like to have a Classic WoW server
• you’d like to have a patch-progression WoW server

Do not choose vMaNGOS if:

• you want a WoW expansion that is newer than Classic

Official source repository: https://github.com/vmangos