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Project Zomboid server hosting — live

Project Zomboid hosting where both config files are panel fields.

Project Zomboid keeps its settings in two places — servertest.ini for the server and servertest_SandboxVars.lua for the world — and most hosts hand you a text editor and wish you luck. Here all 327 of them are labeled fields with the game’s own defaults and plain-English explanations, on a Ryzen 9 9950X, from $11/mo for 4 GB of guaranteed dedicated RAM. We measured an empty world at 1.30 GB before pricing it, and we start the game in a way that actually lets it save when you stop it.

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Project Zomboid dedicated server hosting price: from $11/mo · 4 GB dedicated RAM · AMD Ryzen 9 9950X · never oversold

From the team behind GamesOMG — the Project Zomboid guides and tools players already use. Play more. Configure less.

Two files, one panel,
and a stop that saves.

The settings surface, the memory floor and the shutdown behaviour were all measured on our own node.

01 — both files, one surface

The sandbox file is where the game actually lives.

Everyone shows you servertest.ini — the name, the password, the player cap. The part that decides what your game FEELS like is the other file: zombie speed and population, loot rarity per category, XP rates, day length, how fast the power and water shut off. All 327 fields across both files are here, each with the value the game itself ships and a sentence saying what it does. You never have to know which file a setting lives in, because we do.

02 — measured, not guessed

1.30 GB idle — so we sell 4.

We read the memory off our own booted server the way you are supposed to: the unreclaimable working set from the kernel, not a dashboard figure inflated with page cache. An empty Muldraugh world with nobody on: 1.30 GB. We could advertise a 2 GB plan off that number and it would boot. It would also fall over the moment the map starts streaming in around four players, so the floor is 4 GB — and that idle figure is published here rather than buried, so you can judge it yourself.

03 — the stop that saves

We do not use the game’s own launcher, on purpose.

Project Zomboid ships a start script that does not forward the shutdown signal to the game. Run a server that way and every stop kills it mid-save — and the script exits successfully, so the host never notices. We start the game directly instead, which means a stop actually reaches it: measured, the world writes out and the process exits cleanly in about eight seconds. Backups force a save first, so your restore point is a flushed world, not whatever the last autosave caught.

How much RAM does a Project Zomboid server need?

An empty Muldraugh world with nobody on holds a 1.30 GB unreclaimable working set on our own node. That is the floor with nothing happening — Project Zomboid grows as the map streams in around your players, which is why the plan starts at 4 GB at $11 rather than the 2 GB the idle number would technically allow. 4 GB suits a group of friends on one map. A busy community server, a heavily modded list, or Project Zomboid running beside a second game wants 6 or 8 GB — and because the plan is a pool, you can move that RAM between your servers whenever you like without losing a world.

Bored of Project Zomboid in three months? Your world still waits. Switch this server to any other game your plan has the RAM for — free, instantly, as often as you like — and your Project Zomboid world stays exactly as you left it. Come back next year and it is still there, not reinstalled. Most hosts “switch” by wiping and reinstalling; a few charge you a stored slot for every world you want to keep. We keep them all, because each game writes to its own save area on your volume.

And if you would rather not choose: your RAM is a pool. Size up once and run Project Zomboid and something else side by side on the same plan, with no second bill.

Straight answers, no pitch

How much does Project Zomboid server hosting cost?

From $11/mo for 4 GB of guaranteed dedicated RAM, $16.50 for 6 GB, $22 for 8 GB and up the ladder from there. No slot pricing, no setup fee — you set the player cap yourself and the price does not move.

How much RAM does a Project Zomboid server need?

We measured our own: an empty Muldraugh world with nobody on holds a 1.30 GB unreclaimable working set — read from the kernel, not from a dashboard number padded with cache. That is a floor with nothing happening, and Project Zomboid grows as the map streams in around your players, so we sell 4 GB rather than the 2 GB the idle number would let us advertise. A group of friends on one map is comfortable at 4 GB; a big community server or a second game beside it wants 6 or 8.

Can I edit the sandbox settings — zombie speed, loot, XP?

Yes, all of them. Project Zomboid splits its configuration across two files — servertest.ini for the server box and servertest_SandboxVars.lua for the world — and both are labeled fields in the panel, 327 of them, with the game’s own default and a plain-English explanation beside each. Zombie speed, population, loot rarity, XP rates, day length, the lot. No file editing, and no hunting for which of the two files a setting lives in.

Can I run Workshop mods?

The two fields Project Zomboid uses are panel fields: WorkshopItems takes the Workshop IDs your server subscribes to, and Mods takes the mod IDs it loads. Set them, restart, and the game pulls them on boot. Being straight with you: we have not run a Workshop mod on a Project Zomboid server here ourselves yet, so we are telling you the fields are wired rather than claiming a one-click experience we have not tested.

Do I get admin commands?

Yes. Project Zomboid speaks RCON, and the panel gives you a console on it — save the world now, broadcast a message, kick, ban, unban, read the live server options, check whether a Workshop mod needs updating, and start or stop the weather. Every one of those was run against a real server before it appeared as a button.

What happens to my world when the server stops?

It gets saved. We do not run Project Zomboid through its own start-server.sh, because that script does not pass the shutdown signal to the game — the server gets killed mid-save and the container still reports success. We start the game directly instead, so a stop reaches it: measured, the world writes out and the server exits cleanly in about eight seconds. Backups force a save first, so a restore point is a flushed world rather than whatever the last autosave happened to catch.

Can I switch my server to another game later?

Yes, and your Project Zomboid world stays where it is. Switching hands the RAM in your plan to a different game; switch back and the world is waiting. No second bill, no reinstall, no ticket.