How much RAM does a Palworld server need?RAM requirements by number of players

Published on August 4, 2026 · last updated on October 21, 2026

Which plan fits your number of players?

The RAM requirements of a Palworld server scale above all with the number of players active at the same time - and with what those players leave behind in the world: bases, Pals and items remain and have to be kept in memory. That is why the number of players is the right starting point for choosing a plan, not the size of the world.

As a rough rule of thumb: up to about 4 players, 6 GB of RAM are enough (plan S). From around 8-10 players, plan M with 10 GB is the right level; plan L reaches the official Pocketpair recommendation of 16 GB. For large communities with many active bases and Pals, plan XL offers 24 GB. If in doubt, choose one level higher: too little memory shows immediately as stutter and, in the extreme case, as a server crash.

Why the right amount of RAM alone is not enough

Because two further factors come into play that cannot be solved with the plan. The first is a known memory leak: Palworld servers take up more and more memory while running, regardless of how much of it was free at the start. A bigger plan only pushes this point further back, it does not eliminate it.

That is why scheduled restarts are just as much part of sizing as the amount of RAM itself: they free the memory regularly and keep performance stable over days. They are least disruptive at night or at times when hardly anyone plays anyway.

The second factor is the CPU. Palworld is strongly limited by single-thread performance - so what counts is less the number of cores than the performance of a single core. Enough RAM and fast per-core performance together result in stable tick rates; if one of the two is missing, more of the other only helps to a limited extent.

What drives the requirements over time

The number of players is the starting point, but it does not explain why the same server needs more memory after three months than on the first day. What actually fills the memory is everything that exists permanently in the world:

• Bases and building pieces. Every wall, every chest, every conveyor belt stays loaded. A guild with three fully built bases weighs more than five players roaming the world.
• Working Pals. Pals in bases carry out their tasks permanently. Full base slots across several guilds are the biggest single item.
• Breeding facilities. Eggs, incubators and breeding chains create objects all the time - popular and expensive at the same time.
• The age of the world. A server that has been running for half a year carries considerably more with it than a fresh world with the same players.

That leads to the more honest rule of thumb: do not plan for opening day, but for the state in three months. Moving later costs more effort than the extra charge - because you have to take the world along by hand, see Transfer a world.

How to tell that there is too little RAM

Memory that is too tight rarely announces itself as a clear error message, but as a gradual deterioration. This pattern is typical: after the restart, everything runs smoothly; after a few hours, base areas stutter, Pals get stuck in animations, and at some point the server shuts down without warning. If the problems increase with uptime and a restart reliably fixes them, RAM is the most likely cause.

If, on the other hand, it stutters right after the start and only in certain situations - many players in the same place, big fights - that points more to CPU load. And if individual players report disconnects while the rest keep playing normally, it is usually not the server at all: connection problems are a topic of their own.

How the requirements behave for other games is put into context by the cross-game guide How much RAM does a game server need?. What the plans cost is shown in How much does a Palworld server cost?.

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