The census counted 36,974 characters active in the last day, 56,985 in the last week and 138,302 in the last 30 days, with data of October 17, 2026. Which faction leads depends on the window. Horde is ahead in the last day on both realm types. Over the last 30 days, Alliance is ahead on both. The biggest change is on PvP realms.
These counts are characters, not players. One player can have several characters, and a character only counts if the census saw it during a scan.
The three windows
The 30-day window is the widest view, at about 138,000 characters. The last week's 56,985 equals 41% of that figure, and the last day's 36,974 equals 27%. The last day is also 65% of the last week.
The table shows the four realm type and faction groups across all three windows:
| Realm type | Faction | Last day | Last week | Last 30 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PvE | Alliance | 9,097 | 15,666 | 47,722 |
| PvE | Horde | 10,310 | 16,025 | 46,015 |
| PvP | Alliance | 6,453 | 10,144 | 23,633 |
| PvP | Horde | 11,114 | 15,150 | 20,932 |
PvP realms: the lead changes hands
On PvP realms, Horde had 11,114 characters in the last day and Alliance had 6,453. That is a gap of 4,661, so Horde holds 63% of the day's PvP characters. In the last week Horde still led, 15,150 to 10,144, a gap of 5,006 and 60% of the week's PvP characters.
The 30-day window goes the other way. Alliance had 23,633 PvP characters and Horde had 20,932, a gap of 2,701, so Alliance holds 53%. PvP Horde is the largest of the four groups in the last day but the smallest over 30 days.
PvE realms: close in every window
PvE realms are much more even. In the last day Horde had 10,310 characters against 9,097 for Alliance, a gap of 1,213, which gives Horde 53% of the day's PvE characters. In the last week the two factions were almost level: Horde 16,025, Alliance 15,666, a gap of 359, or 51% for Horde.
Over the last 30 days Alliance led on PvE realms, 47,722 to 46,015. That gap is 1,707, and Alliance holds 51%. So the lead changes sides on PvE realms too, but by only a point or two of share, compared with PvP realms, where Horde had 63% of the last day and Alliance 53% of the last 30 days.
PvE Alliance is the largest of the four groups over 30 days, at 47,722 characters. In the last week both PvE groups had more characters than PvP Horde: PvE Horde had 16,025 and PvE Alliance 15,666, against 15,150.
What these numbers measure
Each window counts the unique characters the census saw in sampled in-game scans during that period: the last 24 hours, the last 7 days and the last 30 days, ending October 17, 2026. A character seen on several days counts once in each window, so the windows overlap and should not be added together. These are not headcounts of players. A player with three characters can be counted three times, and a character that was never online during a scan is not counted at all. Every share in this post compares the census's own counts with each other, such as one faction's count as a share of the two factions' counts on one realm type in one window.