Fix Palworld Server Lag and Memory Growth

A Palworld server that felt smooth on day one and stutters a week later is usually carrying more than it was: more bases, more Pals, more buildings and more hours since the last restart. Pocketpair has fixed memory leaks on dedicated servers more than once, so the first thing to do is run the current build. After that, most of the gain comes from a regular restart, a few World Settings and the right plan size.

Checked against Palworld 1.0.5 and Pocketpair's server guide for 1.0.4, October 2026.

See what the server is using

The left rail of your server panel shows CPU, RAM and Disk live. Watch RAM over a few days. A number that climbs steadily and drops after a restart means the server is carrying more as it runs. A number sitting near your plan's limit means the plan is too small for the world.

Pocketpair's requirements page recommends 4 or more cores, and lists memory as "16GB" with the note "Recommended for larger than 32GB." It says 8 GB "is also bootable, but increases the possibility of server crashes due to out of memory", and that low-performance storage may corrupt saved data. Our Palworld plans start at 8 GB, so a busy world on the smallest plan is the likeliest cause. How big a server do you need? has the plan sizes.

Run the current build

Pocketpair's patch notes list a server memory-leak fix in v0.3.10 and another for dedicated servers in v0.5.3, and the 1.0 notes add that crashes and memory leaks on dedicated servers were fixed and that dedicated server processing was optimised. Our servers check for a new Palworld build on every start, so a restart installs it. The Console prints [PYW] Server is on the current build when nothing was needed.

Restart every night

In the Schedules tab, the Nightly restart with warnings card restarts the server daily at a time you choose, with a 5 minute in-game warning. Pick Enable after choosing the time. Our panel's advice is that Palworld servers slow down after long uptimes and that a daily restart keeps them quick. Schedule automatic restarts and tasks covers the rest of the Schedules tab.

Lower what the world has to do

Pocketpair's configuration page marks several keys as costing performance. In the World Settings tab:

• Pal spawn amount (PalSpawnNumRate) is flagged by Pocketpair as impacting performance. Keep it at 1 unless the server has room to spare.
• Workers per base (BaseCampWorkerMaxNum) and Bases per guild (BaseCampMaxNumInGuild) both carry the warning "Increasing this value raises processing load". Raise them one step at a time.
• Build pieces per player (MaxBuildingLimitNum) caps structures. Pocketpair's PvP page says that more structures strain the server and that a cap helps, using 1000 as its example. 0 means unlimited.
• Ground item cap (DropItemMaxNum) has help text in the tab noting that high values cost server FPS.

Pocketpair's notes for the Sakurajima update also warn that too many bases, or too many Pals at one base, may lead to performance issues. Stop the server before pressing Save settings, then Start it. Palworld server settings and best presets explains every one of these.

Keep saving cheap

In Startup, Autosave Interval (seconds) is 120 by default. Our egg notes that Palworld's stock 30 seconds causes a small lag spike on every save. Leave In-game Backup Saves off: Pocketpair says enabling the option increases disk load. Use the Backups tab for restore points instead.

When it is not the server

If only one player lags, check their ping before changing anything on the server. Why is my server lagging? separates server lag from connection lag, and the launch options, including the worker thread count, are set for you and cannot be changed.

If RAM is near the limit after a restart and a day of play, the world has outgrown the plan. Use the Plan and game card in Settings, or see the Palworld plans page.