Best Game Server Hosting Providers of 2025

Our top pick for the best game server host is Hostinger. It’s easy to use, has one-click installs, and the prices are reasonable for game servers. That said, IONOS offers great value for the money in terms of server resources, and those looking for a dedicated server will find InterServer to be a strong option.

If you’re looking for a way to play some of your favorite online games in a private world with only the people that you’ve invited, these are all great options for hosting. In this guide, we’ll provide all the information you need to choose the right one for your needs.

The best game server hosting providers of 2025

Compare the best game server hosting providers

Best for	Best for getting started with game servers	Best for flexibility	Best for dedicated servers
Star rating	4.9 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.	4.7 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.	4.6 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.
Starting price	Starts at $5.49/mo for VPS	Starts at $2/mo for VPS	Starts at $99/mo for a dedicated gaming server
Money-back guarantee	Yes — 30 days	Yes — 30 days	Yes — 30 days
Uptime guarantee	99.9%	99.99%	99.9%
DDoS protection?
Storage	50 GB - 400 GB	10 GB - 720 GB	2 TB - 15.36 TB (customizable)
Hardware	1 - 8 cores	1 - 12 cores	12 - 24 cores (customizable)
RAM	4 GB - 32 GB	1 GB - 24 GB	64 GB - 128 GB (customizable)
Bandwidth	4 TB - 32 TB	Unlimited	150 TB (customizable)
Support	24/7 — live chat, email, knowledge base	24/7 — live chat, phone, knowledge base	24/7 — live chat, phone, ticket/email, knowledge base
Learn more	Get Hostinger Read Hostinger Web Hosting Review	Get IONOS Read IONOS Web Hosting Review	Get InterServer Read InterServer Review

Hostinger: Best for getting started with game servers

What we liked

Ease of use: Hostinger is designed to be beginner-friendly. Its admin UI is simple and intuitive, and it lets you install several different game servers in one click. If you’ve never hosted a game server before, it’s a great place to start.

Good support: If you run into any trouble or anything you don’t understand, we’ve found Hostinger’s support team to be fast and helpful. It’s always nice to be able to take your technical issues to someone who can address them for you.

Game server tuning: Hostinger doesn’t just offer easy ways to install game servers, it actually has instant-setup VPS plans that are specifically tuned for hosting them. Game servers can be resource heavy at times, so specialized game server hosting is always nice to see.

What we didn’t like

Not the cheapest option on the list: Hostinger’s Game Panel plans are reasonably affordable, especially with the introductory pricing, but the renewal prices go up higher than we would like. There’s certainly a lot of value for the money, but if you’re particularly budget conscious, you might be better off learning how to manage your own server manually, given Hostinger’s pricing.

Test results

Hostinger’s shared hosting plans handled our performance tests with aplomb. It offered fast loading times, very stable servers with low average response times, and a stress test performance that’s extremely hard to beat.

Star rating summary

The most important factors we look at in our rating system are features, security, and performance. Hostinger has one of the highest overall scores among the hosts we’ve tested, earning 5/5 in features, security, and performance. Hostinger is very easy to recommend, which is why we recommend it so often. The gaming hosting service is equally good, with solid support and servers optimized for gamers.

IONOS: Best for flexibility

What we liked

Game server variety and scalability: IONOS offers a lot of different web hosting types, including VPS, cloud hosting, and dedicated servers. Whatever your use case, and however big your community, IONOS has an option for you.

Complete freedom: You get full root (admin) access to your server with IONOS, so you can do pretty much whatever you want with it. If you want to, you can install as many different game servers as the hardware you’ve paid for can handle.

Game servers aren't an afterthought: IONOS has designed all of its infrastructure with multiple use cases in mind, including game servers. Just pick the kind of hosting you need, and it’ll be supported. IONOS also has a bunch of handy guides to show you how to install a number of different game servers.

What we didn’t like

No one-click installs: While IONOS’s website hosting service is pretty beginner-friendly, the VPS, cloud, and dedicated server options are a bit less intuitive. Even with the guides, it’s helpful to know a bit about server management if you go with IONOS.

Test results

IONOS did admirably in our performance tests of its shared hosting plans, where it recorded 100% uptime, decent server response times, and a very solid result in the stress test. You can be sure of a smooth and stable server experience with IONOS, and that counts for a lot when gaming.

Star rating summary

IONOS scored 5/5 for security and performance, which is an absolute must for any game server. However, due to the more do-it-yourself nature of its VPS and dedicated server plans, IONOS did lose half a point in the features category. When comparing IONOS vs. Hostinger, IONOS is slightly more affordable and offers a higher uptime guarantee.

With a range of servers suitable for gaming, solid support, and full root access, IONOS is a very strong service for game server hosting. Given its pricing, it’s also a good option for cheap Minecraft server hosting.

InterServer: Best for dedicated servers

What we liked

Managed services and strong support: InterServer’s support team will actually handle a fair number of server management tasks for you as part of its general package. Tasks such as installing game server software may cost extra, but our experience with the support team has shown them to be helpful and capable, which is something you want in a game server host.

Excellent dedicated servers: InterServer doesn’t advertise its VPS plans as being suitable for game server hosting, but the provider is best known for its dedicated servers, in any case. We can personally vouch for the quality of the service as we’ve used InterServer for serving our own games in the past.

Surprisingly decent deals: There’s no way around the fact that dedicated hosting is a lot more expensive than the alternatives. Be sure to look for the server “Market Place” page on InterServer’s website when shopping for a dedicated server. You’ll often be able to find one that’s quite a bit cheaper than the standard servers, potentially running in the range of $60/mo to $80/mo, rather than $99/mo to $150/mo.

What we didn’t like

Dedicated server service isn’t beginner friendly: As with IONOS, InterServer’s dedicated hosting offerings require you to take care of a lot of tasks yourself, and handy installation guides are in very short supply. If you don’t have experience managing your own server, you’re going to need the managed hosting services that InterServer offers.

Test results

Compared to the other hosts on this list, InterServer’s performance scores don’t look great, but that’s likely because the testing was run on its shared web hosting service, where performance can be affected by many factors, including traffic on other sites.

We’ve run Ark: Survival Evolved (before the upgrade) on an InterServer dedicated server without experiencing any issues, and InterServer is on our list of the best Ark server hosting providers.

Star rating summary

InterServer scored well in our review for features and security, and we gave it full marks for overall experience. We’d say that the performance score for shared hosting doesn’t really apply here, given the different resources and features available with dedicated hosting. For this use case, InterServer is a solid choice with excellent dedicated servers, strong support, and plenty of deals.

How to choose the best game server providers

While these three hosts are our favorites, there are plenty of game server providers out there. No matter which one you choose, there are several factors you’ll want to consider, based on your personal needs and the games you intend to play.

Here’s what to look for:

• Hardware: You’ll want to look up the minimum requirements for your game server, and we recommend picking a hosting plan that offers a bit more than the minimum to give you some wiggle room. For many games, you’ll want a higher CPU core count to allow more players to log in at once and process what all the NPCs are doing. In some specific games, like Rust, this can also affect the maximum map size. RAM can affect everything from your max player count to how big the maps can be, to how much you can build in survival-crafting games before the server starts to lag. In terms of storage, you’ll usually want SSDs rather than HDDs for their faster speeds, and you’ll want enough space to store whichever game server you’re playing on, as well as any mods you’d like to include.
• Ease of use: If you aren’t familiar with running your own server, you’ll want a provider that offers easy installation and configuration for game server software.
• Managed servers: If a host doesn’t offer any way to install a game server with one click, then you may want to look for hosts that offer server management.
• Security: Getting a game server host with security measures already in place is very valuable. The better hosts will offer malware scanning tools to keep your server clean, and the best ones will run them for you automatically. You should make sure the firewall on your server is configured, but it’s better if your host has external firewalls to help filter traffic before it reaches your server. You’ll also want DDoS protection to keep your server from getting overwhelmed with traffic from botnets.
• Dedicated hosting vs. VPS: The advantage VPS hosting is that they’re cheaper. The disadvantage is that your game server will run on shared hardware, which, despite the host’s best efforts, may limit your game's performance. Dedicated servers are more expensive, but you’re guaranteed to have a much faster and often more stable experience.

Bottom line: The best gaming server provider 2025

Hostinger stands out from the pack by providing the best overall gaming hosting experience, just as it leads the way in various categories. In this case, its plans are reasonably affordable, and the UI makes it easy to start up a game server, no matter your experience level.

That said, IONOS is a good pick for people with server admin experience, thanks to its lower-priced plans. Meanwhile, InterServer is there for everyone who wants a dedicated server for the best possible performance. Of course, you should choose your host based on your needs. Once you’re set, you can look forward to having fun in whatever game world you’ve chosen to host.

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