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What a Private Rust Server for Friends Really Costs

2026-09-14 · Lire en français

A private Rust server for a small friend group runs anywhere from about $11 to $48 a month on a fixed RAM plan, a few euro-cents per hour on a usage-billed host (plus remembering to press stop), effectively free except for electricity and someone’s free time if you self-host on a friend’s PC, or a small base fee plus metered hours with a fixed monthly ceiling on Arcadyo. Here’s what that actually looks like, with dates and VAT status, because every one of these prices can and will change.

RAM-plan hosts: you pay the same whether anyone’s playing or not

This is still how most Rust servers are sold: you pick a RAM size, pay a flat amount every month, and the price doesn’t move whether your group played every night or not at all. Checked 2026-09-08:

Host Plan Price VAT
Physgun 10 GB $19.87/mo (promo $16.89) ex-VAT (USD)
Pyro (Paris) 16 GB $48/mo not stated (USD)
Shockbyte 8 GB, 40 slots $11.24/mo ex-VAT (USD)
GameServerKings (Frankfurt/London) 12 GB $13.00/mo not stated (USD)
mTxServ 15 slots €19.99/mo presumed VAT-inclusive, not stated on the page
Minestrator (France + US) 8 GB €13.99/mo presumed VAT-inclusive, not stated on the page
Nitrado 50 slots / 30 days €19.99 incl. VAT
G-Portal 20 slots / 30 days €20.13 incl. VAT

A couple of things worth noticing for a small group of friends: mTxServ is one of the only pages in this whole market that markets its entry tier as “ideal for playing with friends” rather than “for your community” — worth knowing if that’s exactly what you are. And of the French-facing pages, only Minestrator names France itself as a server location; several others host Rust in the UK, US or Germany even on a French-language page.

Pay-per-hour hosts: closer, but you still press the buttons

A smaller group of hosts bills Rust by the hour instead of a flat monthly fee. Checked 2026-09-08:

  • PowerupStack — €0.0795 per hour the server is online, capped at €19.36 a month, including 21% VAT.
  • RespawnHost (Frankfurt) — about €0.0958 per hour on a prepaid balance, or €19.00/month fixed; VAT not stated.

This is a genuinely different model from a RAM plan — you’re not paying for hours nobody played. But as of the same date, neither of these (nor any other Rust host we checked) starts the server automatically when a player connects. Someone still opens a dashboard and presses start, and has to remember to press stop afterwards, or the clock keeps running on an empty server.

Self-hosting on a friend’s PC: free until you count everything

The oldest option costs nothing to a hosting company, and a lot of groups start here. Two costs still exist, they just don’t show up on an invoice. First, electricity: the PC and the game draw power the whole time the server runs, and how much that adds to a bill depends on the hardware and local rates — not something we’ll put a number on here. Second, and usually the one that actually ends the arrangement: that PC, and that person, have to be switched on and online every time anyone in the group wants to play, or nobody can join. The server is only as available as the one friend hosting it.

Arcadyo: a base fee, metered hours, and a hard cap

Arcadyo doesn’t sell a RAM size. You pay for the memory the server actually holds, by the hour, only while it is awake: about €0.01 per GB per hour. A private world holds roughly 6 to 8 GB, so an evening of four hours costs around 25 to 30 cents. A small base amount, about €2.90 a month, keeps your world, its backups and your address alive between sessions, and it is waived in any month where you play for more than that. A fixed monthly maximum, about €19.90, means that however much your group plays, that is the most you’ll ever be charged.

A simple way to estimate where you’ll land: count the evenings a week your group realistically plays and how long they run. Three evenings of four hours on a 6 GB world come to about €3 to €4 a month; play most nights and you approach the cap, which is a ceiling, never a target.

The honest summary

If your group plays a lot, a RAM plan and a metered, capped model can end up close in price — that’s what the cap is for. If your group plays a little, or in bursts after a wipe, a RAM plan is the one option here guaranteed to charge you for hours nobody was online. Self-hosting is genuinely free of a bill, at the cost of someone’s electricity and someone’s evenings being on call. None of these numbers are permanent; check the date on this page, and check the host’s page again before you pay.

FAQ

Do these prices include VAT?

It depends on the host, and the page doesn't always say. Nitrado, PowerupStack and G-Portal state their prices including VAT; several others show a plain dollar or euro figure with no VAT status given, or state ex-VAT explicitly. Check before you enter a card number, and re-check even after that — hosts change prices.

Why does a RAM-plan host cost the same every month even if nobody plays?

Because you're renting a fixed slice of RAM for the month, not paying for the hours it's actually used. An empty 8 GB plan and a full one cost the same, which is the RAM-plan model most Rust hosts sell.

Is hosting on a friend's PC actually free?

Not quite. Electricity use goes up while the PC and the game are running, by an amount that depends on the hardware and local rates — we won't guess a number. The cost that groups notice sooner is that the PC, and that person, have to be on and online whenever anyone wants to play, or nobody can join.

What are the pay-per-hour Rust hosts actually like to use?

Closer to paying for what you use, but as of 2026-09-08 none of the ones we checked start automatically when a player connects. Someone still opens a dashboard and presses start, and has to remember to stop it again, or the meter keeps running.

How does Arcadyo's monthly cap work?

A small base fee keeps your world, backups and address alive between sessions. On top of that you're billed for the hours the server is actually awake. A fixed monthly maximum means you never pay more than that number, however much your group plays that month.

Sources