How to Host a Palworld Dedicated Server (Step-by-Step)

Palworld's in-game co-op caps out at four players and only exists while the host is online. A dedicated server lifts the cap to 32, keeps the world running around the clock, and gives you full control over rates, difficulty, and who gets in. This guide walks through the whole setup — SteamCMD, configuration, networking, and the memory quirks that catch most people out.

There are two routes. Self-hosting on a spare machine or VPS is free beyond the hardware and teaches you how everything fits together; renting managed Palworld server hosting skips the SteamCMD and port-forwarding steps entirely and handles the restart scheduling for you. The instructions below cover the self-hosted route in full — if you rent, you can jump straight to the configuration section, because the settings file is the same either way.

What hardware does a Palworld server need?

Palworld's server is unusually memory-hungry for a survival game. Pocketpair's own documentation lists 16GB as the minimum and 32GB as recommended, and that is not marketing caution — the server's memory footprint grows over time as bases expand, Pals are deployed, and structures accumulate, and it does not reliably release that memory until restarted.

CPU matters too: like most Unreal Engine servers, Palworld leans heavily on a small number of threads, so a modern CPU with strong single-core performance beats an older chip with many slow cores. Use NVMe or SSD storage — world saves are frequent, and a slow disk turns each autosave into a visible stutter. Any recent 64-bit Windows or Linux distribution works; Linux is the usual choice for a rented VPS because it leaves more RAM for the server itself.

How do you install the server with SteamCMD?

The dedicated server is a free Steam tool, so you do not need to own Palworld on the account that runs it. If you have the Steam client on a Windows machine, you can simply install “Palworld Dedicated Server” from your library's Tools section. On a headless server, use SteamCMD:

1. Install SteamCMD — on Debian/Ubuntu it is in the steamcmd package (enable the multiverse/non-free repository first); on Windows, download it from Valve and unzip it.
2. Download the server files with an anonymous login: steamcmd +login anonymous +app_update 2394010 validate +quit
3. The files land in steamapps/common/PalServer — inside you will find PalServer.sh (Linux) or PalServer.exe (Windows).
4. Run the server once and shut it down. This first run generates the save directory and the default configuration structure you will edit next.

Updates use exactly the same app_update command. Palworld patches frequently, and an outdated server rejects updated clients, so it is worth wrapping that command in a small script you can run after each game update.

How do you configure PalWorldSettings.ini?

This is the step that trips most people up. The live configuration file is:

• Linux: Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/PalWorldSettings.ini
• Windows: Pal/Saved/Config/WindowsServer/PalWorldSettings.ini

After the first run it exists but is essentially empty. Copy the entire contents of DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini (in the server's root folder) into it, then edit values on the single long OptionSettings=(...) line. The ones that matter first:

• ServerName and ServerDescription — what players see in the browser.
• ServerPassword — set this unless you genuinely want strangers in; an unpassworded public server will be found.
• AdminPassword — required for in-game admin commands and kicking or banning players.
• ServerPlayerMaxNum — the player cap, up to 32.
• PublicIP and PublicPort — needed for a correct community-list entry if you are behind NAT.
• Rate multipliers such as ExpRate, PalCaptureRate, and DeathPenalty — the same knobs the single-player world settings expose.

Two formatting warnings: string values must keep their double quotes (ServerPassword="hunter2"), and the whole OptionSettings block must remain one line. A stray line break makes the server silently fall back to defaults, which is why “my settings are being ignored” is the most common Palworld admin complaint.

How do you open the right ports?

Palworld uses UDP port 8211 by default for game traffic, plus UDP 27015 for the Steam query that populates server browsers. Forward both on your router to the machine's local IP, and allow them through the OS firewall (Windows Firewall or ufw/firewalld on Linux). If you enable RCON for remote administration, its TCP port (25575 by default) should be firewalled to your own IP only — never left open to the world.

One hard blocker to check before you spend an evening debugging: if your ISP uses CGNAT (increasingly common on UK full-fibre providers), you do not have a real public IP and port forwarding cannot work. The fixes are asking your ISP for a static IP, tunnelling through a cheap VPS, or hosting the server somewhere with a public address in the first place.

How do you start the server and get it listed?

Launch the server with the arguments that match how you want it to appear:

• ./PalServer.sh EpicApp=PalServer — registers the server with the in-game community server list.
• Add -publiclobby on newer builds to the same effect, and -port=8211 if you changed the port.
• The flags -useperfthreads -NoAsyncLoadingThread -UseMultithreadForDS are widely used and generally improve server thread utilisation.

Without the community-list argument, the server still runs — players just connect directly by IP and port (203.0.113.10:8211) from the “No password, join anyway” direct-connect box. For a private friends server, direct connect plus a password is honestly the simplest and safest arrangement.

On Linux, run the server under a process supervisor (a systemd unit or a tmux/screen session at minimum) so it survives SSH disconnects and restarts cleanly on boot.

Why do Palworld servers need scheduled restarts?

Since launch, the Palworld server has had a well-documented tendency for memory usage to climb over long sessions — the community calls it a leak, and while patches have improved it substantially, usage still ratchets upward on busy servers as of August 2026. Left alone, a 16GB server can eventually exhaust its memory and crash, sometimes corrupting the most recent save in the process.

The standard defence is boring but effective:

• Schedule a restart every 12–24 hours (cron on Linux, Task Scheduler on Windows), announced in advance if you have RCON.
• Back up the save directory — Pal/Saved/SaveGames — before each restart. Copies are small; losing a 200-hour world is not.
• Watch memory after big base-building sessions; that is when usage jumps most.

What about crossplay and console players?

Dedicated servers began as Steam-only, but Pocketpair has since added crossplay support: the CrossplayPlatforms setting (for example CrossplayPlatforms=(Steam,Xbox,PS5,Mac)) controls which platforms may join. Console players connect through the community server list rather than direct IP entry, so a crossplay server needs the community listing configured correctly. Check the official Palworld tech guide after each major patch — this area of the game has changed more than any other since launch.

Frequently asked questions

The bottom line

A Palworld dedicated server is a fifteen-minute install once you know the sequence: SteamCMD, copy the default settings file, forward UDP 8211, launch with the community-list argument if you want to be found. The two things that actually determine whether your server stays pleasant are generous RAM — treat 16GB as the floor, not a target — and a restart-plus-backup schedule you set up on day one rather than after the first crash.