Rent a Valheim crossplay serverWhich plan fits a group of PC and console players

Published on October 12, 2026

The short answer

For a crossplay group of up to ten players with a new world, plan S at €5.99 / month is enough. If you bring a world that has been built on for months, or you plan exactly that, take plan M at €7.99 / month. A group of PC and console players doesn't need more.

Crossplay itself costs nothing extra. It is included in all four plans and is activated after provisioning with a switch in the server settings.

Why only two plans make sense for crossplay

Two properties of Valheim narrow down the choice before you even think about memory:

• The game allows ten players at the same time. That is a limit of Valheim, not of our plan - we don't sell slots. Going beyond ten requires a server mod that raises the limit.
• Mods are a PC-only affair. Console players can't install them. A mod that every player needs therefore locks out Xbox, PlayStation and Switch.

It follows that plans L and XL are meant for modded groups with a raised player limit - and exactly those groups can't play with consoles. For a crossplay group, they add no extra places, only more memory. You only need that once a very long-played world pushes plan M to its limit - and then moving up is still possible.

What really decides between S and M is the world. Every piece of wall you build, every area you explore and every tree you cut down ends up permanently in the world file. A freshly generated map is small; one that has grown over months with several large bases is noticeably bigger.

The plans at a glance

All four plans with the current prices from our system. Every button takes you to the order with game and plan already selected:

If in doubt, start with S. If you notice after a few weeks that the world is getting sluggish, you upgrade to M yourself in the customer interface - world, world name, password and the crossplay setting are kept.

How the plans read for groups with mods and more than ten players is explained in How much does a Valheim server cost?.

What is included for crossplay

For a mixed group, the feature list matters less than the question of whether everyone can join without tinkering. This is part of every plan with us:

• Crossplay across all platforms - PC via Steam and Microsoft Store, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2.
• Startup parameters in the web interface. You set the crossplay switch in the settings without touching a start script.
• Join code in the web interface. With crossplay active, the group connects via this code instead of address and port.
• Automatic updates. Valheim only connects when versions match exactly. The server catches up by itself after a patch; each platform updates its own clients.
• DDoS protection up to 250 Gbit/⁠s and a location in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
• Provisioning in around 120 seconds after ordering.

Backups remain in your hands: automatic backups are not part of the plan. You download the two world files yourself via the web file manager or SFTP.

From order to your first session together

The path is short, but the order matters - forget the crossplay switch and you have a server that only Steam players can see:

1. Order plan S or M and wait until the server is ready.
2. Optionally bring your own world: upload the .db and .fwl files and enter the world name.
3. Set a server password - at least five characters, and it must not appear in the server name.
4. Activate crossplay in the settings and restart the server. Saving alone isn't enough.
5. Give the join code from the web interface to your group.
6. On the consoles, check that crossplay is switched on in the game settings there too.

The last point is the one most often overlooked: crossplay has to be active on both sides. If a single console player is left out while the rest of the group is playing, it is almost never the server. Next on the list are the platform's own crossplay or privacy settings and a client that hasn't installed the latest patch yet.

Prepaid suits groups that play in waves

Valheim groups rarely play evenly all year. A few intense weeks are often followed by a break until a big update brings everyone back. A fixed-term contract pays for those breaks too; prepaid doesn't: you top up credit, the server runs as long as it lasts and ends without a cancellation.

Before a break, you download the two world files; to come back, you order again and upload them. The characters are stored locally with each player anyway. Two things change in the process: join code and address belong to the new server, so you pass them on to your group again - and without your own backup, this route doesn't work.

The comparison of both billing models is in Prepaid or subscription?, all thirteen games without a minimum term are on Game servers without a contract.

When a crossplay server isn't the right choice

Two plans don't go together with a mixed group, and it is better to know that before ordering:

• You want to play with mods. A collection via BepInEx or Valheim Plus turns the server into a PC-only group. Depending on the scope, plans M to XL are then the right choice.
• You are more than ten. The limit can only be raised with a mod - with the same consequence for consoles.

You still don't have to commit forever. You switch the server type between Vanilla, BepInEx and Valheim Plus with a click in the game server panel, and world and settings are kept. A group can start as a crossplay group and later, once the console players have left, switch to mods - or the other way round.

If you all play via Steam, nothing changes about the plan: you leave the crossplay switch off and connect via the fixed server address made of IP and port.

Frequently asked questions