Why is my server lagging? Find the cause

When players rubber-band or broken blocks pop back into place, either the server is falling behind or a player's connection to it is poor. The fixes differ, so start by working out which one you have.

On Minecraft, the console prints this when the server falls behind:

Can't keep up! Is the server overloaded? Running 2013ms or 40 ticks behind

Is it the server or the connection?

• Everyone lags at the same moment - the server is struggling, so carry on with the graphs below. On Valheim, check first whether it follows one player.
• One player lags while the rest are fine - it's that player's connection. Have them plug in a cable instead of using Wi-Fi and pause downloads on their network.
• Players far from Sydney lag all the time - the distance adds ping. Every server runs in Sydney, and Australian game server latency: what ping to expect from each city shows what's normal for your city and how to measure your ping.

Read the graphs on the Console tab

Your server's Console tab shows live cards under the console and power buttons: CPU Usage, RAM Usage, Disk Usage and Network Usage, plus Ticks per second on Minecraft. The CPU, RAM and disk figures turn amber at 70% of your plan's allowance and red at 90%.

Pick 1h, 6h, 24h or 7d on a card (a dropdown on a phone) to look back and line a spike up with the time players reported lag. A card that reads "Not enough recorded history yet" fills in as readings arrive.

Is the server running out of RAM?

A server short of memory stutters and can crash, and on Minecraft the console shows OutOfMemoryError. Cut what it keeps loaded before you upgrade:

• Minecraft - lower the view distance (next section). How much RAM does my Minecraft server need? covers plugins and modpacks, and the Minecraft server RAM calculator gives a figure for your setup.
• Rust - a bigger World Size in the Startup tab needs much more RAM. A new size also generates a new map and players lose their bases, so change it only at a map wipe. Rust wipe schedule and forced wipe dates lists the size each plan suits.

Is the CPU maxed out?

If players lag while RAM has room, and CPU Usage is climbing or, on Minecraft, Ticks per second is below 18, the server can't finish each tick's work in time. Most game servers run their main loop on one core, so CPU Usage can stay under 70% while the server falls behind: one full core is 50% of a 2 vCPU plan. The usual causes:

• Minecraft - view distance, mob farms, dropped items, redstone clocks and new terrain generating as players explore. In the Config Editor tab, lower View distance (chunks) and Simulation distance (chunks) under Performance, select Save changes, then restart. Start with simulation distance, which players notice less.
• Palworld - wild Pals and items left on the ground. In World Settings, lower Pal spawn amount and Ground item cap, select Save settings, then restart; Palworld server settings and best presets explains each one. Short hitches at a steady beat are autosaves, which a low Autosave Interval (seconds) in Startup makes frequent.
• Rust - large bases, piles of deployables and heavy Oxide or Carbon plugins. A map wipe clears the deployables, and removing plugins you don't use frees CPU on every tick.
• Valheim - big bases with thousands of placed pieces. If the lag follows one player around, check that player's connection and PC first.
• ARK: Survival Evolved - large tame counts, big bases and mods. Remove mods you no longer use from Mod IDs in the Startup tab, then restart.
• Garry's Mod - heavy addons and prop spam. Raising Tickrate in Startup above its default of 33 costs CPU.

Did a new mod or plugin start it?

1. Create a backup in the Backups tab.
2. Remove the mod or plugin you added last.
3. Restart the server and watch CPU Usage and, on Minecraft, Ticks per second.
4. If the lag stays, restore the backup from step 1 and repeat step 2 with the next most recent one.

Restart on a schedule

Some lag builds up with uptime: Minecraft piles up memory and loaded entities, and Palworld slows down after long runs. If a restart clears the lag and it creeps back over the next few days, restart daily. On Minecraft and Palworld:

1. Open More in the left rail, then Schedules.
2. On the Nightly restart with warnings card, pick an hour and minute in Sydney time.
3. Select Enable. A Nightly restart enabled message confirms it, and players get an in-game warning 5 minutes before each restart.

On other games, create a daily Power action task set to Restart. Schedule automatic restarts and tasks walks through it, including why Only if the server is empty must stay unticked on Rust, Valheim, Garry's Mod and ARK.

Do you need a bigger plan?

Upgrade when the signs above stay in normal play after the fixes, and match the upgrade to what you saw:

• RAM Usage - move to a plan with more RAM when the card stays near the top and the server stutters, crashes or logs OutOfMemoryError. On Minecraft, a high reading alone is normal.
• CPU Usage or Ticks per second - more vCPU gives the server's background work room, but it doesn't make the main loop's core faster, so try the fixes above first. On Minecraft, Additional RAM keeps your plan's CPU, so pick a bigger plan size. The plan cards on each game's page, such as Minecraft, show the vCPU per plan, and all games lists the rest.

Upgrades apply straight away, and new RAM takes effect on your server's next restart. Upgrade or downgrade your plan walks through it from Billing.

If the lag doesn't go away

Note these down before you ask for help:

• Your city and the ping you measured.
• The game, and how many players were on when it lagged.
• What the CPU Usage, RAM Usage and Ticks per second cards showed at the time.
• When it started, and what changed just before.