Free · open source · runs on your own PC
Host your own game server. Keep your world through every patch.
Run a server for you and your friends on a computer you already own. It downloads the game, keeps it up to date, backs up your world, and saves properly when it shuts down, so a game update never costs you your progress.
What you'll need
- A computer that stays on while people play: Windows, Mac or Linux.
- Docker Desktop, which is free. Your game's guide walks you through installing it.
- Enough memory for the game. A few GB for Valheim, up to 16 GB for Palworld. Each guide has the numbers.
- For friends outside your home: one setting on your router. The guide shows you how.
- No coding. You copy one file and run a couple of commands.
How it works
From nothing to playing in an evening
Every game follows the same steps, so once you have hosted one, the next is easy.
Pick your game
Check it is ready to host in the list below.
Follow its guide
Written for people who have never done this before. Most of the time goes on the game's download.
Invite your friends
Share your address and password. They join from the game's own server list.
Leave it running
Updates, backups and safe shutdowns happen on their own.
What it does for you
The boring parts of running a server, handled
Every server does the same things for you, and we test each one against the real game every time we change it.
Always on the current patch
When the game updates, your server updates too, so your friends are never locked out by a version mismatch. It downloads straight from the official source every time.
Updates wait for an empty server
On Valheim and Rust, a waiting update holds until nobody is online, so no one gets kicked mid-session. The other games are catching up; until then, schedule updates for a quiet hour.
Your world is backed up
Saves are copied on a schedule, and old copies are tidied away for you. Point the backup folder at OneDrive, Google Drive or any cloud sync, and you have a copy off your PC too.
Stopping doesn't lose progress
Stop the server or restart your PC, and it saves the world before it shuts down.
It notices when something is wrong
If the game crashes, it is started again. If it is running but not answering, it says so instead of looking fine while nobody can join.
Kept away from the rest of your PC
The game runs as an ordinary user, not with administrator rights, inside its own container, and the files it writes stay yours.
Modded Valheim
A game patch won't wipe your mods
When Valheim updates, mods often stop working until their authors catch up. An ordinary server would quietly start without them and save over your modded world. The modded Valheim server takes a snapshot first, and if your mods don't load after an update, it stops and tells you instead.
A new patch arrives
Nothing happens until there really is a new version.
Your world is snapshotted
The world, the server and your mods are saved together first.
The server updates
On start, or at the time you chose.
Your mods are checked
It confirms the mod loader started and counts the mods that loaded.
All good, or it holds
If mods are missing, it stops taking updates and lets you know.
- Holddefault
- Keep running as it is, stop taking updates, and warn you.
- Roll back
- Put everything back to the snapshot from before the update.
- Run without mods
- So people can still join. Risky if your world has modded items in it.
For the technical: the recovery commands
# MOD_FAILURE_POLICY=hold
docker exec valheim-server valheim-dr status
docker exec valheim-server valheim-dr snapshot before-mods
docker exec valheim-server valheim-dr restore latest
docker exec valheim-server valheim-dr release
The games
Can I host my game?
Ready to host: set it up today by following its guide. Early access: works today, with one extra setup step while we finish packaging it. Coming soon: on the list, with what we already know about it.
| Game | Can I host it? | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Valheim | Ready to host Setup guide | The easiest place to start: a ready-made server you download and run. The modded version keeps your mods safe through game patches. |
| Rust | Early access Setup guide | Oxide/uMod plugins are optional. For now, setup builds the server from its code, and the guide walks you through it. |
| Palworld | Early access Setup guide | Every gameplay rate, like XP, drops and day length, is a setting you can change. Plan for 16 GB of memory. |
| Satisfactory | Early access Setup guide | The first person to join claims the server and sets its admin password, so make sure that's you. Mods from ficsit.app often break when the game patches. |
| Project Zomboid | Coming soon | Build 42. The server pulls Steam Workshop mods itself; plan for 8 GB of RAM or more. |
| Squad | Coming soon | Large install, around 30 GB. Workshop mods need a recook after engine updates. |
| HumanitZ | Coming soon | The Linux server has shipped on a separate Steam branch; we confirm the branch before building. |
| 7 Days to Die | Coming soon | Mods are folders you drop in by hand, and big game updates usually break them. |
| ARK: Survival Evolved | Coming soon | Steam Workshop mods load through the ActiveMods setting. |
| Conan Exiles | Coming soon | Native Linux server since the May 2026 Enhanced update. Older Workshop mods must be rebuilt by their authors. |
| Counter-Strike 2 | Coming soon | About 60 GB on disk. A public server needs a free Steam game server token that you create yourself. |
| Garry's Mod | Coming soon | Addons come from a Steam Workshop collection. A free Steam game server token avoids a ranking penalty in the server list. |
| Core Keeper | Coming soon | Small server. Its default Steam relay mode uses a Game ID and needs no port forwarding at all. |
| Soulmask | Coming soon | Has its own native Linux server app. Workshop mods load through a launch setting. |
| Barotrauma | Coming soon | Tiny server. It does not fetch Workshop mods itself, so the image downloads them for it. |
| Unturned | Coming soon | A free Steam game server token is needed to appear in the internet server list. |
| Necesse | Coming soon | Tiny Java server, under 200 MB. Players must subscribe to the same Workshop mods as the server. |
| Arma Reforger | Coming soon | The server downloads its mods from the Bohemia Workshop at startup. Mods often need updating after game patches. |
| Insurgency: Sandstorm | Coming soon | Mods come from mod.io and need a free mod.io token. Player XP needs a Steam game server token and a stats token. |
| Team Fortress 2 | Coming soon | A free Steam game server token is needed to appear in the server browser. SourceMod plugins sometimes break after updates. |
| Left 4 Dead 2 | Coming soon | Steam has rejected the plain Linux download since late 2024. The image uses the known two-pass workaround, which Valve could break. |
| Killing Floor 2 | Coming soon | Custom maps and mutators come from Steam Workshop IDs in the server config. No token needed. Keep the 8080 web admin port private. |
| Mordhau | Coming soon | Many custom maps from mod.io are built for Windows only and misbehave on the Linux server. |
| Squad 44 | Coming soon | Formerly Post Scriptum. About 20 GB on disk, and a full 80 player server needs a lot of CPU and RAM. |
| Euro Truck Simulator 2 | Coming soon | You must export two server package files from your own game, and again after every map or mod change. |
| American Truck Simulator | Coming soon | Same server as Euro Truck Simulator 2, with the same exported package files from a game that owns your map expansions. |
| The Isle (Evrima) | Coming soon | Installed from the evrima Steam branch, because the default branch is the obsolete Legacy build. Keep the 8888 RCON port private. |
| V Rising | Coming soon | Windows-only server. BepInEx mods from Thunderstore, so it reuses the Valheim mod check. |
| Sons of the Forest | Coming soon | Windows-only server. |
| The Forest | Coming soon | Windows-only server that also needs a virtual display. |
| Windrose | Coming soon | Windows-only and in Early Access. Official guidance is 8 to 16 GB of RAM depending on player count. |
| StarRupture | Coming soon | Windows-only and in Early Access, so expect frequent server builds. |
| ARK: Survival Ascended | Coming soon | Windows-only server. Budget about 13 GB of RAM and 11 GB of disk per map. Mods come from CurseForge by ID. |
| Enshrouded | Coming soon | Windows-only server. Plan for 16 GB of RAM and about 30 GB of disk. No official mod support. |
| Abiotic Factor | Coming soon | Windows-only server, about 3 GB. Mods come from Nexus Mods and must match on every player's game. |
| Icarus | Coming soon | Windows-only server, about 10 GB. The game patches weekly, so mods break often. |
| Space Engineers | Coming soon | Windows-only .NET server, the most fragile of the Wine titles. Needs 6 GB of RAM or more, and the publisher expects you to own the game. |
| Arma 3 | Coming soon | Steam refuses anonymous downloads, so you supply your own account at run time. Workshop mods need an account that owns the game. |
| Minecraft | Coming soon | We will not rebuild what itzg/docker-minecraft-server already does well. Planned as a tested compose recipe around it, with our backup and update gating. |
| DayZ | Coming soon | Steam refuses anonymous downloads, so you supply your own account. Workshop mods need an account that owns DayZ. |
| tModLoader | Coming soon | Installed from the official GitHub release because Steam refuses anonymous downloads. Workshop mods are listed in a file exported from your game. |
| Terraria | Coming soon | Not on Steam. The official server is a free download from terraria.org and needs very little memory. For mods, use tModLoader. |
| Don't Starve Together | Coming soon | Needs a free Klei server token from an account that owns the game. Runs two linked processes, one for the surface and one for caves. |
| Eco | Coming soon | The developer publishes an official Docker image, so this is planned as a tested recipe around it. Needs a token from an account that owns Eco. |
| Factorio | Coming soon | Not on Steam. Planned as a tested recipe around the standard factoriotools image. Automatic mod updates need your factorio.com username and token. |
| Vintage Story | Coming soon | Not on Steam. A small download from the developer that needs the .NET runtime. Players download the server's mods automatically. |
| Assetto Corsa Competizione | Coming soon | Windows-only server with no mod support. Anonymous download reportedly fails, so you supply a Steam account. |
| Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord | Coming soon | Multiplayer custom servers only. You generate a server token inside your own game, and it expires every three months. |
| Path of Titans | Coming soon | Not on Steam. Server files come from Alderon's own downloader, and both download and launch need a token from an Alderon account that owns the game. |
| FiveM (GTA V) | Coming soon | Not on Steam. Needs a free Cfx.re licence key per server, and Rockstar's terms allow monetisation only through Tebex. Keep the 40120 admin port private. |
| RedM (Red Dead Redemption 2) | Coming soon | Same server software as FiveM, with its own free Cfx.re licence key and the same Rockstar terms. |
| Farming Simulator 25 | Coming soon | The server ships inside the paid game, so the host needs its own purchased licence, separate from the copy you play on. Windows-only. |
| Dune: Awakening | Coming soon | Self-hosting became official in May 2026. It is a multi-service stack that needs a Funcom token, about 20 GB of RAM and a recent CPU, so it is planned as a compose recipe. |
No game matches that. If it has a dedicated server, ask us to add it.
Don't see your game? Ask for it. The most-requested games are added first. None of this is made by, or affiliated with, the games' publishers.
What's coming
Patch-day protection for every game
Today your server takes a game update as soon as it arrives. Next, we test every new update on our own servers first, and your server can wait for our green light before it installs it.
- Next
Tested updates
Every new game update is tried on our servers before yours takes it.
- Next
Live status
See which servers are working right now, checked on real hardware, right here.
- Soon
Easier setup
The extra step for early-access games goes away as each one is packaged.
- Ongoing
More games
Dozens are on the list. Ask for yours; the most-requested go first.
Questions
Things people ask
Is it really free?
Yes. The software is free and open source. You provide the computer and the electricity. A few games ask for something extra to host, such as owning a copy or a free server token; the game's notes say so.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. Each guide is written for someone who has never used Docker, a terminal or their router's settings. You copy one file and run a couple of commands.
Can my friends join from outside my house?
Yes, once you change one setting on your router so their connection can reach your server. The guide shows you how, and which ports your game needs.
Will a game update break my server?
Your server updates itself so your friends can keep joining, and we test every game against the real thing whenever we change it. Modded Valheim holds instead of breaking. Testing each new game patch before your server takes it is coming next.
What kind of computer do I need?
Any PC or home server that can stay on while people play. The big difference between games is memory: a few GB for Valheim, up to 16 GB for Palworld. Your game's guide has the numbers.
Is this made by the game developers?
No. We're independent, and not affiliated with any publisher. The game itself is always downloaded from its official source, never from us.
I know Docker. Where are the details?
Every setting, image and design decision is in each game's code on GitHub.