How Much Does a Project Zomboid Server Cost? Free, at Home or Rented

The short answer

Free, if you're fine with starting the server when you're going to play. On your PC, no rent but you pay the electricity: a desktop PC on day and night is about €10.51 a month with electricity at €0.16 per kWh. And rented, you mostly pay for RAM: at NapNodes, €2 per GB a month, from €12 (6 GB).

For a group of friends with few mods, 6 GB: €12 a month, which split four ways is €3 each.

What really sets the price

RAM. With Build 42, 6 GB at the very least, even if there are only a few of you: we tested it on 4 GB and it runs with barely half a gig to spare. Be careful with cheap plans with less memory: they start, but you feel the first spike. How much you need, in the RAM guide or in a minute with the RAM calculator.

Whether that RAM is really yours. A cheap plan can be cheap because the machine has sold more RAM than it has (overselling): fine until everyone plays at once, usually on Friday night. Always ask if it's reserved.

Whether they sell you slots or memory. Some hosts charge by player: a plan with few slots can look cheap and fall short as soon as you add mods, because what weighs is the mod list, not the people. Always check how much RAM it comes with, not just the slots.

What to pay for your game

These are NapNodes plans, to have concrete numbers; the proportion (how much RAM each game needs) applies to any host:

· Friends or a community with few mods: Fort, 6 GB: €12 a month (up to 32 survivors).

· More than 30 mods: 7 GB with “Choose your RAM”, €14 a month.

· More than 60 mods or added maps: Bastion, 8 GB: €16 a month (32+ survivors).

· More than 100 mods: 10 GB with “Choose your RAM”, €20 a month.

“Choose your RAM” is in “Buy”, below the plans: the exact GB, up to 32, at €2 per GB. Disk goes with RAM (the Fort plan comes with 30 GB) and the price is the same at renewal.

On your PC: no rent, but electricity isn't free

There are two ways without paying anyone. “Host”, from the game's menu: free and ready in a moment, but the game ends when you close it and your PC carries the game and the server at once (the Host guide). And Steam's dedicated server, also free, on a PC that stays on (how to set it up).

With the dedicated one you pay the electricity, about €10.51 a month on a desktop PC on day and night (the electricity calculator works it out with your computer and your bill), and that PC needs RAM to spare for the server. You also have to open UDP ports 16261 and 16262 on your router, and with CG-NAT some ISPs won't let you (the ports guide).

Truly free: what you pay in other ways

NapNodes has a free Project Zomboid server with 6 GB, the same as the Fort plan, and 15 GB of disk, no card and no end date. You start it from the panel, it stops after an hour with nobody on and, if nobody plays for 7 days in a row, it's deleted (with an email warning 2 days before). If there's no free RAM at that moment, you wait your turn. It has no backups.

Paying for Fort doesn't give you more memory than the free server: it gives you a server that's always on, no queues, 2 vCPU instead of 1.5, 30 GB of disk and backups of a game that's been going for weeks. If what you're short of is RAM, you need 7 GB or more. It's still the same server, with the same save: how to move from free to a plan. Every option without paying, in free Project Zomboid server.

What you'll see at other hosts

As an order of magnitude, published Project Zomboid plans range from 5 to 25 dollars a month as of November 2026. Many of those prices are for annual billing or the first month, so compare the renewal price and the GB each one comes with, not the big number on the front page. What else to check, in how to choose a host: it's about Minecraft, but the questions are the same.

How to pay less (without it running worse)

1. Try the free server first

   It has the same RAM as the small plan: in a few days you'll see if it's enough for you and if your mod list fits.

2. Remove mods you don't use

   They're what uses the most RAM: we measured it, a world with 59 mods on 6 GB already uses 5.7 GB with nobody connected. Each mod you remove also shortens loading when you join.

3. Take just the GB you need

   If you fall between two plans, “Choose your RAM” lets you pay for 7 GB and not 8. Going up later is done from the panel: the new RAM arrives on restart, with the same save.

4. Pay quarterly

   Three months at once are 10% cheaper: the Fort plan is €32.40 a quarter instead of €36.

5. Use the code WELCOME

   Your first payment is half price (50% off), once per person, also when moving from the free server to a plan: the first month of the Fort plan, €6.

6. Split it

   Split four ways, the Fort plan is €3 a month each. And if you invite a friend with your “Invite a friend” link and they buy a plan, you get a month of your plan as credit (how it works).

Costs you don't see in the price

Before paying, check three things: whether the price goes up at renewal, whether there's a minimum term and whether they charge extra for what you should already have, like backups or downloading your save.

At NapNodes there's no minimum term, renewal is the plan's price, backups (2 you make and restore yourself, plus one automatic daily) are included and you can download your world whenever you want. The first time you buy, you have 72 hours to get a full refund.

Frequently asked questions