Cheapest way to host a server for friends

The cheapest way to host a server for friends is usually not a server at all: if you always play together and one of you has a decent PC, host from inside the game for free. Once the world needs to exist when the host is offline, the honest options are a free hosting service (free, with queues, shutdowns and limits), a spare computer at home (free to set up, then electricity, port forwarding and your home IP address), an official subscription such as Minecraft Realms (simple, locked down), or the smallest rented plan for the game, which costs from a few dollars a month and is usually the cheapest option that is always on, has backups, and nobody has to babysit. Split between four or five friends, a small rented plan typically costs each person less than a coffee a month.

The longer comparison of home hosting against renting, with the networking detail, is in hosting a game server at home vs renting. This post is the money view, for a small group.

The options at a glance#

Each row is a real choice that suits some groups. The rest of this post goes through when each one is the right answer and what it actually costs.

Free: hosting from inside the game#

Most co-op games let one player host and the others join, with no server involved. It costs nothing, and for a group that always plays together it is often all you need.

• Valheim - start a world with "Start server" ticked and friends join through Steam or a join code.
• Terraria - Host and Play, then friends join through Steam or by IP.
• Palworld - co-op sessions with an invite code, for a small group.
• Project Zomboid, Factorio, Satisfactory, Sons of the Forest, Don't Starve Together - all have an in-game host option.
• Minecraft Bedrock - friends join a world through their Xbox friend list.
• Minecraft Java - "Open to LAN" only works on the same network; joining over the internet needs a mod or tool that tunnels the connection, or port forwarding.

The limits are the same everywhere. The world exists only while the host is playing. The host's computer simulates the world for everyone, so their frame rate and their upload speed become everybody's problem. And the save lives on one person's disk, which is fine until that disk fails.

When those limits start to bite - friends want to play while the host is away, or the host's PC struggles - a separate server is worth paying for. Moving the world across is usually straightforward; uploading a Valheim save to a dedicated server shows the pattern.

Free hosting services#

Some services offer free servers, mostly for Minecraft, funded by adverts. They are a reasonable way to try a server for a weekend, and their limits are built into the business model:

• The server starts on demand and stops when empty. Someone has to visit a website and press start, sometimes wait in a queue, and the world is offline the rest of the time.
• Resources are shared and limited. Fine for a few players in vanilla; tight for mods or a large world.
• Limited choice. Usually one game, sometimes a curated list of plugins or modpacks.
• Your world is on their terms. Read what happens to inactive servers and whether you can download your world. Back it up yourself.

If you only play on a couple of evenings a week and a short wait to start is acceptable, a free host can be enough for a long time.

Free cloud tiers

Some cloud providers have free tiers, and one well-known example offers a surprisingly large always-free ARM virtual machine. It works for some people and costs others a weekend. The catches: ARM processors cannot run many game servers, which are built for x86 (Java-based Minecraft is the main exception), sign-up can require a card and may be refused, free capacity is not always available in your region, idle free machines can be reclaimed, and you administer a bare Linux machine yourself - firewall, updates, backups, everything. Your first hour on a new VDS shows what that involves. Read the provider's current terms rather than a two-year-old forum post.

A spare computer at home#

An old desktop or laptop makes a perfectly good server for a few friends, and many people start this way. The costs are not zero, they are just less visible.

Electricity. A desktop that idles at 60-80 W running all month uses roughly 45-60 kWh. At a household price of 0.30 per kWh that is around 13-18 a month in your currency - more than the smallest rented plans for light games. A low-power mini PC or laptop drawing 15 W costs a fraction of that, and switching the machine off when nobody plays costs less still.

watts x 24 hours x 30 days / 1000 = kWh per month80 W  -> 57.6 kWh -> at 0.30 per kWh = 17.28 a month15 W  -> 10.8 kWh -> at 0.30 per kWh =  3.24 a month

Networking. Friends outside your house need to reach it, which means port forwarding on your router. If your provider uses carrier-grade NAT, which many mobile and some fibre and cable providers do, port forwarding cannot work at all because you do not have a public address of your own. NAT and CGNAT for game hosts explains how to tell. Tunnelling services get around it at the cost of extra latency and another service in the path; tunnels and proxies for game servers covers when that is acceptable.

Upload speed. Home connections often have far less upload than download. A few players in Valheim or Terraria is fine on most connections; a busy modded Minecraft server or a dozen players in a heavier game can saturate a slow uplink and make your own video calls stutter.

Your home IP address. Everyone who joins knows it. For close friends that does not matter. For a server that grows beyond them, it means any falling-out can become an attack on your home connection. IP leaks and doxxing for server owners covers the risk.

Your time. Updates, restarts, backups, the machine that did not come back after a power cut. For some people that is the fun part. Be honest about whether it is for you.

Official subscriptions: Minecraft Realms#

Minecraft Realms is Mojang's own hosted server for small groups: no setup, always on, paid monthly through your Minecraft account, and accessible from the game's menu. Java Realms supports about ten players online at a time; Bedrock has plans for different group sizes. Prices vary by edition and country, roughly $4-8 a month in the US.

It is a good answer for a group that wants vanilla Minecraft with zero administration. It is the wrong answer if you want plugins, mods beyond what Realms allows, control over server settings, or direct backups of the world files. Java Realms does not run plugins or Forge and Fabric mods, and Bedrock Realms supports a limited set of add-ons and Marketplace content.

Renting the smallest plan that works#

For a group that wants an always-on world with backups and no one babysitting a machine, a small rented game server is usually the cheapest reliable option. On RE:NODE the starting monthly prices at the time of writing include:

Check the plan page for current prices before you plan around them. Terms of 3, 6 and 12 months are cheaper per month than monthly billing, so once the group has played for a month and is still keen, a longer term lowers the cost further.

Three ways to keep the bill small:

1. Pick the smallest plan that runs the game well and move up when the graphs say so. Most small groups overestimate how much memory they need. Moving up a tier on RE:NODE changes the limits of the server you already have, without rebuilding it, so starting small costs nothing later. When to upgrade your plan has the signals.
2. Split it. A $9 server shared by five friends is under $2 each. Agree who pays and how before the first invoice, not after.
3. Choose a lighter game, or fewer mods. Memory drives price. Vanilla Valheim fits comfortably where a heavily modded Minecraft pack would not. How much does a game server cost explains why some games cost four times others.

What you get for the money matters as much as the number: the world is on even when the host is not, backups are taken somewhere other than the server and restored with a button, you are not opening ports on your home router, and nobody's home address is the server address.

A VDS for several games#

If the group plays several games and wants all of them available, a virtual dedicated server can run several game servers at once. It costs more than any single game plan - on RE:NODE the VDS line starts at $17 a month for 8 GB - and it turns you into the administrator of a Linux machine. For a technically confident group playing three or four light games, it can be cheaper than separate plans. For everyone else, it is more work than it saves. Multiple game servers on one VDS and choosing between a VDS and a game panel go through the trade.

The costs nobody counts#

Comparing monthly prices misses the costs that decide whether a server survives:

• Your evenings. Hours spent fixing a home server or fighting a free host's queue are hours not playing.
• Lost worlds. The cheapest options are usually the ones with the weakest backups. A world lost after three months of play costs the group far more than a year of hosting. Whatever you choose, keep a copy of the world somewhere else - backups that actually restore explains why the restore half matters.
• Downtime at the wrong time. A server that is off when the group finally has a free evening is not cheap, it is unused.
• Growth. A setup that works for three friends may not work for eight. Leave yourself a way to move up without starting over.

How to decide#

1. Do you always play together, and does one person have a capable PC? Host from inside the game. Spend nothing.
2. Do you play a couple of evenings a week, can tolerate a short wait to start, and play vanilla Minecraft? Try a free host or Realms.
3. Do you enjoy tinkering, have a spare low-power machine, a public IP and good upload? Host at home, and keep backups off the machine.
4. Do you want it always on, with backups, for a group that plays at different times? Rent the smallest plan for the game and split the cost.
5. Do you run several games and like administering Linux? Consider a VDS.

FAQ#

Is there a completely free way to host a game server for friends?

Yes: host from inside the game while you play, use a free hosting service that starts the server on demand, or run it on a computer you already own. Each is free in money and costs something else - availability, limits, electricity or your time.

How much does it cost to run a game server on my own PC?

Mainly electricity. A desktop idling at 80 W around the clock uses about 58 kWh a month, which at 0.30 per kWh is around 17 a month in your currency. A low-power machine, or switching it off when nobody plays, costs much less.

Is Minecraft Realms cheaper than renting a server?

It can be similar in price for a small group and is far simpler, but it is limited: vanilla only on Java, no plugins, and less control over settings and backups. A rented server costs about the same and lets you run Paper, plugins and your own configuration.

What is the cheapest game to host a server for?

Light games such as Terraria and Counter-Strike 1.6 run in half a gigabyte of memory and start at $3 a month on RE:NODE. Minecraft, Factorio and Don't Starve Together start around $5, and Valheim at $6.

Can friends join my home server if I have CGNAT?

Not through port forwarding, because you do not have a public address of your own. Options are asking your provider for a public IP, using a tunnelling service at some cost in latency, or hosting the server somewhere that has a public address.

How should friends split the cost of a server?

Agree before the first payment: one person pays and the others send their share monthly, or each takes a turn paying for a term. Longer terms are cheaper per month, so once the group is committed, a 3 or 6 month term split between everyone is usually the cheapest arrangement.