Home server vs rented game server

Most dedicated server software is a free download, and a spare PC will run it for a few friends. The hard part is keeping that PC on and reachable from outside your house, and that decides whether hosting at home or renting suits your group.

Three ways to play together

Most survival and sandbox games give you three options:

• Host and play (co-op). One player's game is the server. It's free and quick, but the world closes when the host quits, and player limits are small. Palworld co-op, for example, tops out at 4 players.
• A dedicated server at home. A separate program runs the world on a PC that stays on. Players join whether or not the owner is playing.
• A rented dedicated server. The same program runs on a machine in a data centre that someone else keeps running.

The server software is the same in the second and third cases. What changes is whose PC, whose power bill and whose internet connection it runs on.

Can you host a game server for free?

The software usually is free. Palworld's and Rust's dedicated servers, for example, download free through Valve's SteamCMD tool, with no copy of the game needed on the server PC. The costs sit elsewhere.

Power. A server has to stay on all day, every day, to feel like a server. To estimate your cost, multiply the PC's power draw in watts by 24 hours and by 30 days, divide by 1,000, then multiply by your rate per kWh. A PC drawing 100 W around the clock uses 72 kWh a month. At an example rate of 30 cents per kWh, that comes to about $21.60 a month. A gaming PC under load draws a lot more than 100 W, and your own rate is on your electricity bill.

Memory and CPU. Game servers want real memory. Palworld's server requirements list 16 GB, and Rust's docs start at 12 GB free. On the PC you play on, the game and the server fight over the same memory and CPU.

Upload speed. Everything the server sends to players goes out through your connection's upload side, which on most NBN plans is a fraction of the download speed. A few friends is usually fine. Lag tends to start on a busy evening, when someone else in the house is on a video call.

Your home IP address. Players connect straight to your home connection, so everyone who joins can see your home's public IP address. Share the server only with people you trust.

Uptime. The world is offline whenever the PC is: overnight if it sleeps, during Windows updates, in a power cut, or when you need the PC for something else.

Set up port forwarding at home

For friends outside your house to reach a server on your PC, your router has to pass the game's port through to that PC. That's port forwarding:

1. Give the server PC a fixed local address. Many routers call this a DHCP reservation.
2. In the router, forward the game's port to that address with the right protocol, for example UDP 8211 for Palworld or UDP 28015 for Rust. Rust's query port needs forwarding too if you want the server in its in-game browser.
3. On Windows, allow the server program through the firewall.
4. Test from outside your network: ask a friend to join, or join from a laptop on your phone's mobile hotspot. If they reach the server, the forward works. A test from inside the house can fail even when every setting is right (see hairpin NAT below).

Why port forwarding fails behind CGNAT

On many Australian connections, port forwarding still won't work because of CGNAT (carrier-grade NAT). To save scarce IPv4 addresses, some internet providers share one public address between many customers. Your router has no public address of its own, so your friends' traffic never reaches the forwarding rule you set.

What you can do:

• Check first. Compare the WAN or internet address on your router's status page with the address a "what is my IP" site shows. If they differ, you're probably behind CGNAT. A WAN address from 100.64.0.0 to 100.127.255.255 is in the range set aside for CGNAT.
• Ask your provider. Some providers take you off CGNAT on request. Others do it only as part of a static IP add-on.
• Mind hairpin NAT. Some routers can't connect a player at home to a server at home through the public address. Players in the house can join with the PC's local address instead.

What a rented server changes

• Up while you sleep. The world is there at 3:00 AM for the friend on night shift, and nobody's PC has to stay on.
• No router changes. The server already has a public address and open ports, so there's no port forwarding, no CGNAT and no firewall rule to set up. Its port comes from a shared range, so send players the full address from the panel rather than the game's usual port.
• Your PC is yours again. The game gets all your memory and CPU, and your upload carries only your own play.
• Close to east-coast players. Every Play Your Way server runs on dedicated hardware in Sydney. Australian game server latency: what ping to expect from each city lists typical ping from each city, including Perth and Auckland.
• Backups and restarts on a timer. The Backups tab's Create backup button takes a restore point whenever you want one, and Schedules can run a weekly backup or a daily restart while you're away. See How to create and restore backups.
• Friends can help run it. The Team tab gives a friend access, through their own Play Your Way account, to the parts of the panel you choose.
• An email when it drops. If a running server goes offline and nobody stopped it, we email the owner.

What it costs is a monthly fee, and you don't own the machine. Each game's plans and monthly prices are on the games page, and Game server costs in Australia (inc. GST) explains what drives the price.

When home hosting is the right call

• You already have a spare PC with plenty of RAM that stays on anyway.
• Your group is two or three people who play at the same time.
• Your connection has a public IP address, or your provider will take you off CGNAT.
• You enjoy the setup and don't mind being the one who fixes it.

When renting is the better deal

• People play at different times, or you want the world up all week.
• You're behind CGNAT and your provider won't change it.
• The server would run on the same PC you play on.
• You'd rather not hand your home IP address to everyone who joins.
• Nobody in the group wants to look after a PC and a router.

What if renting doesn't suit you?

Our refund policy gives a full refund, with no reason needed, when you ask inside the window it sets after a new plan or renewal payment. A refund cancels the subscription and stops the server straight away. For the rest of the decision, How to choose an Australian game server host has a checklist.