There are about 140 RuneScape servers located throughout the world, which are numbered and referred to as worlds by players and by Jagex. The servers use Unix, Debian GNU/Linux, and Cisco IOS software, and they are located in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Sweden and Finland. Each of the RuneScape servers allows 2,000 players to connect simultaneously, allowing a maximum capacity of approximately 280,000 players online at any given time. The servers are divided into free servers, accessible to all players, and members servers, accessible by only those players who choose to pay a monthly fee for additional content. Unlike many other MMORPGs, RuneScape allows players to freely switch between servers. Characters are not bound to a particular server, but rather choose which server to access each time they access the site.
In addition to the RuneScape servers, there are two members-only servers for RuneScape Classic, both located in the United Kingdom. Each of these is limited to 1,250 players, allowing a total number of 2,500 simultaneous RuneScape Classic players. Only players who played RuneScape Classic in the six months prior to 12 January 2006 can currently log onto the Classic servers.