If you're a gamer, you know that having a good gaming PC is only part of the battle
You also need a great gaming server to ensure smooth, uninterrupted gameplay
But when you went to look for a dedicated server, you saw the high price tag along with the long contracts
That's where virtual private servers (VPS) come in
VPS hosting is the perfect solution for gamers who want the performance and features of a dedicated server without the high price tag
In this article, we'll take a look at some of the best VPS hosting providers for gamers and discuss what makes them so great. So read on to find out which provider is right for you!
You have seen aof review articles of people trying to push theirgame server host on you when they have not actually used them
You can be assured that this is not one of those articles!
My name is Pedrotski and I have been hosting game servers for our gaming community and local LAN parties for the past 20+ years
I help people on a daily basis with their game server setups and to put it simply, it's my passion
Over this time of helping people, I have seen, worked on, and got to use aof different game server hosting platforms
In fact, we run one of the most popular CSGO servers in the world right now so we know what we are talking about
Here we have round up our top picks for your next game server
If you're serious about self-hosting a game or voice server, this is how you should do it
Out of all the VPS servers, I have run, the best and most consistent VPS for gaming I have had is from Vultr
I have been a Vultr customer since 2015 (maybe earlier?) and during that time I have run multiple game servers, voice (TeamSpeak servers), web server, bots, you name it
Want $100 Free Vultr Credit?
Use our link below to signup for your new game server and get $100 credit you can use
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Best of all, you can test them out free if you use this link (Free $100 Vultr coupon). That is enough to test most of their services and see if the performance is right for you
Here are some of the reasons I love Vultr:
Generally, when you're running a VPS server, you're only getting a slice of the dedicated host machine, sometimes this means you can end up with a "noisy neighbor". In all my experience with Vultr, I have never personally had this happen
Vultr also charges their hardware by the hour so if you start a server and you realize it's too much or you need to change something, you only pay for what you use. No need to pay for the entire month upfront
Their plans start at $2.50 per month for the smallest plan and go all the way up to $640 per month for their top tier 24 vCPU VPS (No, you shouldn't buy this lol)
It's super simple to get your virtual private server up and running as they have spent a ton of time on their dashboard and making it easy to use
Seriously you can get your game server started in just 5 clicks from their dashboard
Vultr also has "One Click Installers" on their marketplace so you can deploy WordPress, Cpanel, and even Minecraft servers with just one click
If you ever outgrow your VPS, you can easily snapshot your game server and then move to one of Vultr's affordable dedicated servers
If you want to test our Vultr, then click here to get $100 credit to test it for free!
We have a more in-depth Vultr review that you can read here
Digital Ocean (DO for short) is another server hosting provider I have used on and off for a long time now and they fall into the same tier as Vultr
Digital Ocean and Vultr both offer:
Most of DO's plans are very similar to Vultr's in terms of pricing and performance as these companies are pretty much direct competitors. That's not to say Digital Ocean has all the benefits of Vultr
Want $100 Free Digital Ocean Credit?
Use our link below to signup for your new game server and get $100 credit you can use
__No coupon is required
Simply click the link, signup, and it's automatically applied to your account!
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One of the main reasons why I choose Vultr over DO is that Vultr offers Dedicated servers. Digital Ocean only offers you a vCPU (It's still a VPS but with dedicated resources)
This means as youyour game server on shared hosting, you cannot upgrade to bigger dedicated hosting. And this is kind of a big problem when it comes to hosting a game server as you would end up having to switch away to another provider in the future
With that said, Digital Ocean is still a great choice at an affordable price for your gaming VPS especially if you're just playing multiplayer games with a few friends. They offer a ton of VPS plans and configurations as well as a really fast setup process
You can even add more resources to your VPS plan easily after you have set up your VPS services
So in the end, Digital Ocean is a great virtual private server provider as long as you don't mind not having to upgrade to a dedicated server in the future
If you want to try out DO, then click here to get $100 credit to test the platform for yourself
Running a game server costs money no matter how you look at it, but sometimes your budget doesn't allow for a decent VPS server
If this is the case then Contabo is for you
This is really the host you want to use if you need extra data and RAM for a cheap cost. One of their most popular plans actually offers 6 CPU cores, 16GB of ram, 400GB SSG all for $11.99 per month
Sounds good right?
Well if you saw the host before, then you would understand the issue of noisy neighbors
While there might be more resources, there is a chance someone else is on your shared server using the same resources. This can cause lots of game lag with many online players, ping loss, or even worse, you might not be able to connect at all
Despite this, the value is good for the resources you get
I would only suggest VPS hosting like this if you are going to be running games that don't really rely heavily on ping such as Minecraft or Factorio etc
Finally compared to other VPS game server hosts such as Vultr and Digital Ocean, Contabo doesn't really have many locations. They only offer Germany, the USA, and Singapore
If you have heard of Amazon AWS or Google Cloud, then this is exactly what Oracle Cloud is. It is a mega host with huge infrastructure
While this is free, it is extremely complicated to set up and there is no guarantee you will even get a host
What this is more designed for is to get people familiar with a Linux server and with the Oracle platform, so when they are older they take those skills into the workforce
You cannot host a Windows server here, only a Linux VPS but that is all most people will require. You will also need some networking skills if you want your game server installation to go smoothly as they block ports by default
To be honest, it might be worthwhile signing up just to play around and learn, but if you're serious about growing a successful dedicated game server, then you shouldn't run your community off these kinds of free hosts
OVH is mostly known for its cheap dedicated servers, however, if you're looking for something cheaper then OVH VPS hosting might be perfect for you. What sets OVH apart from other VPS game hosting is that they offer 40GB SSD NVME storage and unmetered bandwidth on their lowest plans (This "unlimited bandwidth" is under an acceptable use policy). This is the perfect Linux VPS hosting if you're looking to host games such as a Minecraft server and non-competitive FPS servers
You can also turn your own server into a Windows VPS if you're willing to log in via their free KVM and upload your own ISO. This makes it one of the cheapest ways to run a Windows game server if needed
They also have data centers in lots of countries and unlike some smaller VPS hosts, OVH actually owns its data centers
While OVH has some cheap plans on the surface, there is a lot of misinformation out there about OVH
The biggest one is they claim OVH has DDoS protection on their VPS cloud line and while that may be true for a website, the reality is this is not going to mitigate most attacks that are aimed at a gaming VPS
Make no mistake, it's not a matter of IF you get DDoSed, It's a matter of WHEN
With that said all the game, VPS hosting providers listed here don't offer any GAME firewall. I just thought I would clear that up. If you need GAME DDoS protection, you would need to move to their dedicated server hosting
The biggest reason why OVH is so far down on our list is simply their dashboard. Compared to the other VPS providers such as Vultr or Digital Ocean, the dashboard is slow and bad to use. This makes it difficult for people who are just getting into game server hosting and are not that familiar with Linux servers
When selecting a VPS provider, you may notice they offer dedicated servers too. The main difference between the two is that a VPS is a shared server, meaning you only get a slice of a single server
However, a dedicated server means you have access to the entire server resources
For the most part, shared hosting is perfectly fine for most people who want to host game servers, and for the most part, it won't affect your gaming experience for players. Most VPS providers offer instant setup on their shared hosting plans
The only time you would go with a dedicated is if you're planning to run a large public server, and need low latency and strong DDoS protection on the internet connection
If you're serious about game servers and really want a VPS for gaming, then start with Vultr. In my opinion, they offer the best gaming experience for the lowest price
Want $100 Free Vultr Credit?
Use our link below to signup for your new game server and get $100 credit you can use
__No coupon is required
Simply click the link, signup, and it's automatically applied to your account!
Get $100 Vultr Credit Free!
Selecting a VPS plan and os configuration is simple compared to other providers and that makes it easy for first-timers to get started
Then in the future, you can always upgrade to dedicated hosting. It's as easy as taking a snapshot of your server, then transferring it to a dedicated server
If you still have questions about VPS game hosting, then come join our Discord below and ask us some questions!