A Rust dedicated server is a normal program you can run yourself, and Facepunch's own requirement for it is 12 GB of free RAM, 15 GB of SSD space and a machine that stays on. This guide covers what the server needs, what running one involves month to month, and where a rented server changes the picture. It is written for people deciding between self-hosting and renting, so it tries to be straight about both.
What the server needs
Facepunch publishes the requirements for a dedicated server on their wiki, and they are worth quoting exactly rather than rounding:
- Memory: 12 GB of free RAM, with a note that a 6,000 map will use more.
- Disk: 15 GB of free space, SSD or NVMe "highly preferred".
- Operating system: Windows, Linux or macOS.
- CPU: no fixed figure; Facepunch says the player count affects CPU requirements proportionally.
The two things that move the memory figure are the size of the map and the number of players. A small map for a handful of friends runs on less than 12 GB; a 4,000 map with a full population, or a long plugin list, wants the full 12 GB and often more; large maps with 100 or more players are where much bigger allocations become normal. Our own Rust servers, at 0 to 3 players connected, sit at roughly 8.6 GB in use, which gives you a feel for the baseline before anyone builds anything.
What the server is, technically
The Rust dedicated server is a Steam application (app ID 258550) that you install with SteamCMD and launch from a command line. The important startup parameters are:
+server.port: the game port, 28015 by default, UDP.+server.maxplayers: the player cap.+server.worldsize: the map size. Facepunch recommends 1,000 to 6,000.+server.seed: the map seed, any number from 0 to 2,147,483,647. Same seed and size means the same island.+server.identity: the name of the folder underserver/where the save, player data and config live.+rcon.port,+rcon.password,+rcon.web 1: remote console, which Facepunch recommends running in web mode.+app.port: the port the Rust+ companion app talks to.
Anything you would rather not put on the command line can go in server.cfg inside the
identity folder's cfg directory. Facepunch's wiki notes that the server reads this file at
startup and that it takes priority over the command line, which is useful to know when a setting
"will not stick".
Admins are added with ownerid and moderatorid from the console, followed
by server.writecfg so the grant survives a restart. Where every setting lives on a GG Host server.
The part that surprises first-time hosts: wipe day
Rust is unusual among survival games in that the whole game resets on a schedule. On the first Thursday of every month Facepunch ships an update that changes the network protocol, and every server has to update and wipe its map before players can join again. A self-hosted server means someone has to be at the machine on Thursday evening, run the update, delete the save, and bring it back up, every month, for as long as the server exists. Most groups also wipe more often than that by choice.
On a rented GG Host server the same job is a button, or a scheduled task that only fires on force wipe day. Our wipe-day guide goes through the options, including what a map wipe and a blueprint wipe each delete.
Self-hosting: what you are signing up for
- A machine with 12 GB of RAM to spare and an SSD, on 24 hours a day. A gaming PC that also plays Rust is not that machine.
- A public IP address and port forwarding on your router for the game port, and a second port if you want Rust+ to work.
- Your home upload bandwidth shared between the server and everything else on the connection.
- Monthly force-wipe duty, plus Oxide updates on top if you run plugins.
- No DDoS protection unless you arrange it. Rust servers get attacked.
None of that is a reason not to do it. For a small private group on a spare machine, self-hosting is free and perfectly workable. It stops being workable when the group grows, when people want the server up while you are asleep, or when the first attack arrives.
Renting: what you get instead
On a GG Host Rust server the dedicated server is installed and validated for you within minutes of ordering, on a machine in a datacentre with DDoS protection in front of it. From the control panel you can:
- Change the map size and seed in a config editor and restart, without touching a command line.
- Install uMod (Oxide) with one click from the Mod Manager, then install plugins from a built-in library of over 1,500 with one click each, or upload them yourself (our Oxide guide).
- Run or schedule the Steam update, and switch between the public and staging branches.
- Wipe the map, or map and blueprints, from a button or on a schedule that knows when force wipe day is.
- Open a web console, read the logs, and log into RCON through Facepunch's web RCON client.
- Reach the files directly through the file manager or SFTP when you want to.
Memory is the one thing you choose, because it is the one thing a Rust server actually consumes more of as it grows. You pick an amount when you order and raise it later if the population or the plugin list outgrows it.
Which one should you pick?
Self-host if you have a spare machine that can stay on, a small group, and someone who does not mind Thursday evenings. Rent if you want the server up when your PC is off, if the group is bigger than a handful, if you want plugins without the maintenance, or if you would rather force wipe day was a scheduled task than a chore. Either way, the game files, the ports and the wipe rhythm are the same; the difference is who does the work.
