Game servers: basics & buying adviceThe guides that apply to every game at a glance

A game server is rented computing power on which the game world runs permanently - even when none of you is online. Everything on this page applies across games: the questions about memory, slots, billing and server address come up with Minecraft just as with Rust or Terraria. Only the concrete numbers differ, and they are in the respective game's guide.

The first guides help with the decision before ordering; the others explain how a game server works technically. If you are renting a server for the first time, it makes sense to work through them in this order:

1. Clarify which game is to be hosted - the requirements of the thirteen games are far apart.
2. Roughly estimate the memory; with almost all games, it is the limiting factor, not the CPU.
3. Decide whether prepaid balance or a contract with a minimum term suits your own playing phase better.
4. Check whether a ready-made web interface is enough or whether it needs to be a VPS with root access.

Three misunderstandings come up again and again. First, a game server does not get an IP address of its own: all servers share one IP, your fixed server address consists of IP and port and is entered as IP:Port. Second, slots are not a hard limit with us, but a recommendation of how many players a plan carries comfortably. Third, backups do not happen by themselves - they are self-service everywhere via WebFTP or SFTP.

If you are looking for instructions for a specific game, start with the Minecraft guides or the game's product page - the guides for the other games are currently only available in German.

Before ordering

What determines the right plan comes down to three factors: the game, the number of people playing at the same time and how many mods or plugins run alongside. The third factor is regularly underestimated - a modded server can raise the memory requirement considerably compared with the unmodified version, while the pure number of players stays the same.

So start with RAM and read the price question afterwards: once you know the size you need, you only compare plans that actually come into question. If you misjudge it when setting up, that is no disaster - you can upgrade to a bigger package yourself at any time in the customer interface, and world, plugins and configuration are kept.

Billing

This is where the game server market splits. Most providers sell a contract with a minimum term and notice period. At MainHoster.de, everything runs via prepaid balance: the server runs as long as there is balance and pauses afterwards - without dunning letters and without payment reminders. If you only play for one season, you pay exactly that time; if you play permanently, you can activate automatic renewal or a PayPal subscription. Billing is per month.

The second decision in this group is more fundamental: game server or VPS. A game server is preconfigured and operated via a web interface - you take care of the game world, mods and fellow players, not the operating system. A VPS gives you root access and with it the duty to handle updates, security and backups yourself. The comparison guide shows when the extra effort is worth it.

Understanding the technology

Two topics that work the same for every game - and play a role in almost every connection problem. Both explain something you only really need when something does not work.

If fellow players cannot find the server, it is rarely the server itself, but the address. Anyone who only enters the IP lands on the game's default port - and with a shared IP, that is usually not yours. The guide on ports and firewalls shows how to keep address and port cleanly apart and where a firewall in a home, school or company network can get in the way.

The second guide puts DDoS into context: what an attack is technically, what a protection of 250 Gbit/⁠s filters out of it and why lag does not automatically point to an attack - a saturated home connection or Wi-Fi on the player's side often looks exactly the same in the game.

Managing as a team

As soon as more than one person looks after a server, the question of access arises. Passing on the password is convenient but risky: whoever knows it can do everything - up to a reinstallation - and after a quarrel in the team, the only option is to change it for everyone. For all thirteen games, you therefore invite co-admins as subusers with their own login to the game server panel and define per area what they may do: console and restart for moderators, files and SFTP for the person who maintains the mods, almost everything for the co-owner. Balance, term and plan always stay with the owner.

The guide also separates two things that often get mixed up: access to the panel and admin rights in the game. Anyone who is only meant to keep order in the chat usually does not need panel access at all - and working in the panel does not yet make someone an admin on the running server.

Frequently asked questions