How to Make a Rust Server for Friends: the 4 Ways

There are four ways to run a Rust server for friends: on your own PC (free, but it must be on whenever anyone plays), on a fixed-RAM host (a flat monthly price, no maintenance of the machine), on a pay-per-hour host (you pay only while it runs, but you press start and stop), or on a host that sleeps when empty and wakes when someone connects. Pick by how often you play and who is willing to be on call. Prices are in our cost comparison.

Which way suits whom

Way	Good for	Catch
Your own PC	A group that already owns a spare machine and likes tinkering	The PC must be on and online for every session; you handle updates and your router
Fixed-RAM host	A group playing most evenings that wants it always on	Same price in a month nobody plays
Pay-per-hour host	A group playing a few evenings a week	Someone starts and stops it from a dashboard; forgetting to stop keeps the meter running
Sleep-and-wake host	A group that plays in bursts and wants friends to join without asking the payer	Rare for Rust. Arcadyo, our private beta, does this; it is not open to everyone yet

Checklist for hosting it yourself

1. Install. Rust’s dedicated server is Steam app id 258550. With SteamCMD the Facepunch wiki gives the pattern +force_install_dir [path] +login anonymous +app_update 258550 validate +quit. Valve’s SteamCMD page describes the anonymous login and what validate does (it re-checks the files and puts any changed file back to its default, an edited config file included).
2. Check the machine. Facepunch lists 12 GB of free RAM (more for a 6,000 map) and 15 GB of free disk, SSD or NVMe preferred. Windows, Linux and macOS are listed.
3. Forward the ports. Facepunch says you only need the game port to connect and play; get that working first. Game port 28015 (UDP), the query port (UDP, it defaults to the game port plus one or the RCON port plus one, whichever is greater, and cannot equal the game port), RCON 28016 (TCP) and the Rust+ port, 28082 by default (TCP, must be 10000 or higher). The query port lists the server in the in-game browser, Rust+ needs its port reachable from the internet, and RCON only needs forwarding if you administer from outside your home (an RCON port open to the internet is a password away from your server). Facepunch says to give the server a fixed LAN address.
4. Set a password. Set rcon.password to something other than the wiki’s example, and keep it out of chats and screenshots.
5. Check CGNAT before blaming the router. If your provider uses carrier-grade NAT (the 100.64.0.0/10 block that RFC 6598 reserves for it), forwarding on your router cannot work, because the public address is not yours alone. If your router’s WAN address starts with 100.64 to 100.127, that is a sign; another is a WAN address that differs from the public address a what’s-my-IP site shows you (INFERRED from the RFC; we did not test a provider).
6. Plan the wipes. The server’s wipe timer (it counts down to the next wipe and starts the endgame events; it does not wipe anything itself) defaults to the first Thursday of the month at 19:00 London time, with weekly and biweekly options, and PrintWipe shows the next dates. Facepunch’s monthly game update has historically landed that same Thursday (not re-verified today). Our wipe calendar lists the dates.
7. Mods, honestly. Oxide (uMod) is a download you extract into the server folder, and Facepunch notes it must be reinstalled after each server update, and that running SteamCMD in a start-up script reverts it to vanilla. Carbon describes itself as a drop-in replacement for Oxide with the same plugin folder structure. Mods are optional: friends playing vanilla can skip them, and each plugin is one more thing that can break at update time.
8. Back up. The wiki shows the config folder under rust/server/<identity>/cfg/, so the server’s world and data sit under the same identity folder (INFERRED). Stop the server and copy that folder before every wipe and every update.

What this costs you in time

Own PC or fixed-RAM host: expect to check it after each monthly update, more if you run plugins. Pay-per-hour: the same, plus remembering to stop it; RespawnHost says its meter is per second and stops when the server is offline (read 2026-10-04). If nobody in the group wants that job, that is the case a sleep-and-wake host is built for.