How servers get listed
Server owners can submit their server for free. Every submission is checked by our team before it appears on the site, and we reject listings that are misleading, duplicated or not a World of Warcraft private server.
Some listings were added by our team from the server's own public information, so players can find established servers even if the owner never signed up. These show a "Claim this listing" link. Owners can update their listing at any time and changes go live straight away; if you spot something wrong, tell us.
Verified owners
The Verified owner badge means the person managing the listing proved they run the server by adding a personal code to the server's website, as a file or a tag in the page's code, which only someone with access to that website can do. Owners of listings our team added can use the same check to take the listing over.
The badge confirms who manages the listing. It is not a rating, an endorsement or a paid feature. If the website on a listing changes, the badge is removed until the owner verifies the new one. If a server changes hands or a claim turns out to be wrong, we can move the listing back and remove the badge.
How rankings work
Server lists are sorted by our Recommended score by default. It is recalculated every two hours from these signals:
| Signal | Weight | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Reported population | 30% | As stated by the server. We can't verify player counts, so we label them "reported". |
| Average player rating | 20% | From player reviews on DivineTop. |
| Number of reviews | 10% | More reviews count for more, with diminishing returns. |
| Votes in the last 30 days | 10% | Capped, so a handful of servers with huge vote counts can't dominate. |
| Votes in the last 7 days | 5% | Recent community activity. |
| Vote growth | 5% | This week compared with last week. |
| Listing completeness | 10% | Description, website, Discord, video and logo. |
| Listing freshness | 10% | Newer listings get a small, fading boost. |
You can also sort lists yourself:
- Top Rated: servers with reviews first, by average rating.
- Popular: by votes in the last 7 days.
- New: most recently added listings first.
The "Ranked #" on a server page compares it with other servers of the same expansion, based on player reviews (their rating, age and how helpful other players found them) and reported population. Votes don't affect it.
On the Best Private Servers page, the community ranking is three quarters quality (the same reviews and population signals) and one quarter votes from the last 30 days. Servers with little else going for them get even less weight from votes, so a vote campaign alone can't carry a server to the top.
Votes
- Anyone can vote for a server once per day. Up to 20 votes per day are allowed from one network.
- Votes from signed-in players count in full; votes from guests count a bit over half (0.6).
- If a server suddenly gets far more votes than usual and most of them come from guests, those guest votes count half in its totals.
- We don't store voters' IP addresses, only a one-way scrambled (hashed) version used to enforce the limits.
- Closed servers can't be voted for.
The Trending, Rising and Community Favorite badges on the Best Private Servers page come from vote activity. Paid listings never get them.
Player reviews
- Only signed-in players can write reviews: one review per server, with a rating from 1 to 5.
- Owners can't review their own server. They can post one public reply to each review, labelled as a response from the owner.
- We never write reviews, pay for them or edit what players write.
- Anyone signed in can report a review as fake, spam or inappropriate. Our team checks every report and removes the review if it breaks these rules. We don't remove honest negative reviews.
- Reviews are ordered by rating, how helpful other players found them and how recent they are. Owner replies don't count towards ratings.
"DivineTop's take" and top picks
Some server pages have a DivineTop's take box: a short summary with pros, cons and who the server suits. It is written by the DivineTop team, kept separate from player reviews, and shows when it was last updated.
- We base it on the server's own website and announcements, its listing and what players report publicly.
- We don't claim to have tested anything we haven't, and we don't quote exact player counts we can't check.
- Servers can't pay for a take, see it before it's published or have it changed except to fix a factual error.
The same rules apply to our top picks, which are chosen by our team. Servers can't pay to be picked, and a pick is removed automatically if the server closes.
Website status checks
We check each listed server's website around the clock, every few hours per server. A server shows as "Website online" when its website responds, and as "Website unreachable" when it doesn't, even after a retry. Every status shows when it was last checked.
This checks the website only, not the game realm, so a realm can be down for maintenance while its website is up. For live realm status, the server's own Discord or website is the best source.
Advertising and paid placement
Advertising keeps DivineTop free for players and server owners. We sell two things: a Featured spot for a server listing and banner ads. See our advertising page for prices.
What paying does
- Shows the server above the other results on directory pages and on page 1 of the community ranking
- Adds a "Featured" or "Sponsored" label, so it is always clear the spot is paid
- Banner ads, labelled "Sponsored"
What paying doesn't do
- Change a server's score, its "Ranked #" position or its sort order among the other results
- Add, remove or change any player review
- Earn vote badges or trend labels
- Buy a "DivineTop's take" box, a better one, or a place in our top picks
- Get the "Verified owner" badge; only proving ownership does that
Links in ads and in featured listings are marked as sponsored for search engines, as Google asks.
Closed servers
When a server shuts down, we mark it as closed and remove it from every list, ranking and pick. Its page stays up with a notice, its past reviews and a list of active alternatives, so players who search for it can find out what happened and where to go next.
Corrections and contact
If something on DivineTop is wrong or out of date, whether it's a listing, a take or anything on this page, contact us or message us on our Discord. We fix factual errors as soon as we have confirmed them. If this policy changes, we update the date at the top of this page.
DivineTop is an independent site and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Blizzard Entertainment. Read more about us.