since 2015
74 companies
84 games
904 reviews
800k+ happy gamers
since 2015
74 companies
84 games
904 reviews
800k+ happy gamers
The demand for game server hosting has grown year on year since the dawn of online gaming. Millions of gamer’s worldwide rely on game servers provided by the games developers or by third party companies paid for by private individuals or communities.
By comparing prices and features of game server providers you can easily save money and time using CompareGameHosting.
This is our in-depth guide on how to shop for game server hosting, updated regularly and written by industry professionals.
This guide will hopefully answer all those questions you wanted to know the answers to concerning game hosting as well as a few you may not have known about.
The sections of this guide are linked on the right (or below if you are on mobile).
You may or may not have known that their is a range of different types of hosting associated with games. Here are the 4 main types that you will probably be looking at buying explained.
The most popular form of game server hosting is shared. This is when you rent your game server on a shared physical machine and pay by the slot or sometimes by the RAM allocation (for games such as Minecraft).
This method is popular mainly due to its low cost and ease of use for the server manager. You will typically have access to a control panel like TCAdmin or Multicraft that allows you to make changes to your server using a simple point and click interface.
The next step up from a shared game hosting environment is to rent a VPS from a company. You will get a slice of a dedicated machine with an operating system to install your game server onto.
You will find with this method that almost no company will offer you any game server support and that you are on your own essentially. If you know what you are doing then you will benefit from the larger degree of freedom but it will typically come at a cost.
Very similar to the VPS game server solution, a dedicated machine isn't just a slice, its a whole machine to yourself. The major benefit of this is the increased supply of resources (such as CPU, RAM & HDD) and security.
Unfortunately, the massive monthly price and lack of support is a huge downside to having a dedicated server.
Not actually game hosting, voice server hosting is usually a service that is bought alongside game hosting. A voice server gives you the ability to host private rooms for voice chat with your own branding and special features.
Most gaming communities find they benefit from having a voice server that only they have access too.
Of course we are going to be biased and say that you should use our site to find a game server provider. We have put a lot of time and effort into making this the ideal shopping portal for game server hosting. We can safely say that using our site will be the ideal solution!
This is our default sort-by method on CompareGameHosting, sorting the prices by the cost per slot per month. Using this price metric you can see who offers the real value for money. This method works best a lot of the time but isn't perfect, especially if you are on a budget and want to buy the smallest server possible.
Our visitors feedback on the hosting companies are probably more valuable than the prices themselves. Through the ratings and written reviews left for each company we can gauge how well a company is doing and if they are improving their offering. As a shopper, the feedback left from others should be the ultimate guide on who to choose to host with.
A new addition to the CompareGameHosting arsenal is the Ping Hosts From Your Location button found on the individual game pages and the game hosting companies hub page. Using this simple 1 click tool you can have all the visible game hosting companies on that page pinged from your location. The results that come back to you will show you who has the lowest ping and should therefore provide the best service.
With so many options available for game hosting providers it can get difficult to choose. Our site does make it easier to shop but what are the most important factors to take into consideration?
A good sign that a game hosting company is reliable and won't just disappear overnight is the length of time it has been in operation.
At CompareGameHosting we show the length of time that a company has been established for under its logo on the price list.
GameServers.com have been around since the turn of this millennium and have a team of experienced staff offering solid game hosting.
Looking at what other people have to say about experiences with a particular company is a great way to see ahead.
Thorough research can show you if they are good at hosting the particular game you are looking for and not just one in particular that is of no relevance to you.
GTX Gaming offer game server hosting to a wide range of clients worldwide that tell us that they generally have a good experience.
What is it that you are paying money for? Be sure to look into what your server package is going to give you when you make your purchase.
A recurring theme with game server renters is that they did not properly research the control panel before payment and found it lacked features they need.
Survival Servers take massive pride in the fact that they have created their own custom control panel. If you are looking for feature rich game server hosting then these guys know what they are doing.
We all love to watch what we spend and make our earnings go as far as possible but scrimping on quality just to save money can be a false economy.
With proper research methods you can study the features of the game hosting company that you are thinking of going with alongside the cost on our price comparison pages.
Host Havoc have spent the last few years adding a whole new level of value to their product offering while amazingly lowering prices or keeping them the same.
If you are reading this guide then you are probably considering renting a game server but lets explain this point just to be clear.
