How Much Does a Valheim 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, at NapNodes, €8 a month with 4 GB, and €12 with 6 GB if you run mods.

With all 10 players, the Meadows plan comes to €0.80 each per month.

What really sets the price

The world and the mods, not the players. With no mods and a normal world, 4 GB is enough even with all 10. A world with months of bases, farms and animals weighs much more, and mods add on top. The details, in the RAM guide.

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. Always ask if it's reserved.

What no plan fixes: enemies that jump around are almost always the connection of whoever reached the area first, not the server (the lag guide). Before paying for more RAM because of that, read that guide.

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:

· A group of friends, without many mods: Meadows, 4 GB: €8 a month (the game's 10 players).

· Mods, well-explored worlds and huge bases: Mountain, 6 GB: €12 a month (10 players, with mods).

Disk goes with RAM (the Meadows plan comes with 20 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. Ticking “Start server” when you load your world: free and ready in a minute, but the world only exists while you're playing (how to play with friends). 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). If you start it with crossplay you don't need to open ports; if not, you have to open UDP 2456 and 2457 on your router. And if that PC turns off or Windows updates, the game ends.

Truly free: what you pay in other ways

NapNodes has a free Valheim server with 4 GB of RAM and the same processor as the Meadows plan, and 5 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 Meadows gives you a world that's always on, no queues and nobody having to start it, 20 GB of disk and backups of a world that's been going for weeks. It's still the same server, with the same world: how to move from free to a plan. Every option without paying, in free Valheim server.

What you'll see at other hosts

As an order of magnitude, published Valheim plans for a small group range from 5 to 15 dollars a month as of November 2026, and quite a bit more if they charge by slot and you ask for many. Some of those prices are for annual billing, so compare the renewal price and the GB each one comes with.

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 and how much you really play.

2. Start with the plan you need

   Going up is done from the panel: the new RAM arrives on restart, with the same world. Better than overpaying from day one.

3. Install mods a few at a time

   And remove the ones you don't use: it's the cheap thing to try before moving up a plan.

4. Pay quarterly

   Three months at once are 10% cheaper: the Meadows plan is €21.60 a quarter instead of €24.

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 Meadows plan, €4.

6. Split it

   Split five ways, the Meadows plan is €1.60 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 world.

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