Recently at GhostCap, we hit over 2500 unique players in one day. That's 2500 gamers who are hungry to play their favorite online games with others. Honestly, when I saw the numbers, I was shocked.
From humble beginnings with a home server to seeing our first 100-player day, I never expected growth like this. I mean, I would be happy with 20 dedicated players per day on our servers. Luckily for me, when we started, I was quick to recognize that we needed dedicated servers if we wanted to establish a large, solid player base.
This has helped us grow our player base to accommodate demand. But what this got me thinking: "what's the next step for us?". EXPANSION! So began my hunt for the best-dedicated game servers, and what I found was a bunch of blog posts from people who have OBVIOUSLY never hosted a game server in their life. (Heck, some don't even play games)
In this post, I have put together a list of what I feel are the best places to host your next dedicated gaming server. It's also presented in a way that I'm not going to overwhelm you with irrelevant technical specs, only the things you need to know. If you don't care about the nitty-gritty details, here are my top picks of the best hosts (and a short reason why)
If you want to see the negatives of each host, please read on.
Currently, I'm running over 40 game servers spanning over 3 different continents. Unlike the other articles you read from non-gamers, I have been running the GhostCap gaming community for the past few years now.
With over 7,811 members and thousands of gamers every day, we know what it takes when it comes to running reliable, popular servers and finding the perfect solution for our users. I have also helped countless other people set up their own game server hardware for their own gaming communities.
These are all self-managed options too. If you're looking for someone to take care of the hard work, check out our post on the best game server hosting.
If you need the best of the best when it comes to game servers, you can't go past Tempest hosting. You can even host popular games on their Path network directly from their website.
Byteania support is excellent for those who are just starting out with their first high-end game server. Their pre & post-sales support is unmatched by anyone in the industry. They are also our main hosts for our USA servers.
Streamline Servers are best if you're in the APAC region, as they offer a great network at a decent price. Their network will also stop most DDoS attacks, so your players can enjoy online gaming without the lag.
Game Server Kings seem to always have the best hardware in stock before anyone else. So if you like to stay up to date with the latest dedicated game server hardware, GSK is for you.
ReliableSite is best for USA customers. People with a smaller network who are new to dedicated game server hosting, but need great hardware and network performance that won't break the bank.
OVH is the best for people who need dedicated servers in multiple locations around the world. Power users who are not afraid to sort out their own problems if issues arise.
Hetzner is best for Europe users who need servers on a budget that don't mind the extra server setup for DDoS protection. If you're in Europe, this is one of the cheapest ways you can elevate the gaming experience for your players.
Vultr is the best for people in Asian countries who need performance hardware and decent resources. Their peering and ping has the best performance in this region compared to others.
If you're just starting a gaming server, here are some of the most common questions we are asked.
If you're planning to host numerous multiple games and need the best gaming experience then dedicated servers are worth it.
However, if you're just looking to play multiplayer games with friends, it's more cost-effective to use shared hosting.
Dedicated servers are the best for online gaming. Unlike shared hosts, you get access to the entire game server so you're not being slowed down by other users.
Depending on the game you decide on, we suggest between 16 and 128 gigabytes of RAM. Anything below this and you're better off going with a shared game host, anything more, and it's not going to be cost-effective.
The reason why a dedicated server is cheaper than cloud hosting is that cloud hosting is aimed at enterprise customers. Cloud hosting has features such as being able to scale as much as your business can handle without needing to worry about individual infrastructure.
Choosing a dedicated gaming server depends on your region and needs. If you simply want your own dedicated server to give your players the best gaming experience possible, then Tempest Hosting is the go-to.
With Tempest, you never need to worry about a kid knocking your server offline from a booter, so your community can play multiplayer games in peace.
For people looking for the lowest latency gaming experience anywhere in the world, then a Vultr dedicated gaming server is most likely the way to go, as they offer the best availability. Be aware that you will be paying for it though and DDoS Protection is not the best for games.
If you're after a budget option, then both Hetzner and ReliableSite are good, but their locations are really limited.
EVER WANTED TO START YOUR OWN GAME SERVER?
