Our HostAdvice experts conducted an independent study on the top 6 VPS hosting providers for game servers. This selection is based on thousands of user reviews, tests, and surveys. If you’re eager to know the best VPS for gaming without reading the entire article, here’s our recommended list.
Check Our Top VPS for Gaming List
What Is VPS for Gaming, and Who Is It For?
Virtual Private Server (VPS) for Gaming is a hosting solution that you can get to host your own game server. The best VPS for game servers sit between shared and dedicated hosting and are an excellent way to host a game server for multiplayer and single-player games. They offer enhanced performance, security, etc., compared to shared hosting, but less so compared to dedicated hosting.
A VPS for Gaming allows users to have full root access to their game servers so that they can customize their games. Also, it allows users to choose the operating system they prefer, which is excellent for gamers since they can select the operating system that fits best with their game.
VPS for Gaming is best for users who want:
- To host gaming sessions for the games of their choice with their own rules;
- To host the connection of other players, to decrease lag;
- To create games that won’t experience dropped connections;
- Root access to set up, manage, and customize their game servers however they want;
- To use the best enterprise-grade hardware for an affordable price;
- To have more privacy and control over their games;
- To set up matches for other players with no lag;
- To create mods and other similar things without the game publisher;
- And more.
The Best VPS for Gaming of 2023 (Bought and Tested):
Kamatera is a global cloud service provider that has been around since 1995. It has expertly used its two-decade experience to create one of the best cloud platforms out there, providing enterprise-grade cloud infrastructure products to businesses of all types and sizes. As such, Kamatera is a perfect solution for anyone looking for a reliable VPS provider that will keep their gaming servers up and running at all times and provide them with fast speeds and excellent features at affordable prices.
- Overall Score: 4.8
- Pricing: 4.7
- Features: 4.8
- Performance: 5.0
- Support: 4.9
- User Friendly: 4.9
Pricing: You can pay for Kamatera’s VPS services by the minute, hour, or month. Additionally, you only pay for the resources you use and can cancel your plan anytime. Its prices start at $0.005/hour or $4/month, which gets you one vCPU core, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB SSD storage, 5000 GB monthly traffic, one public IP, and a 30-day free trial.
Features: Kamatera provides many free and paid features, including a no-single-point-of-failure infrastructure, backups, monitoring, a cloud load balancer, a cloud firewall, cloud block storage, unlimited storage, a proprietary API, root access, instant resource scaling, and many more.
Performance: Kamatera is known among customers for its reliable, fast, and stable performance, offering a 99.95% uptime guarantee across all plans. Additionally, it maintains a no-single-point-of-failure cloud infrastructure. The provider also has 18 top-notch data centers in America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, all of which use the latest SSD and Intel Xeon Platinum/Cascade Lake processors.
Support: The provider offers expert 24/7 customer support through live chat, phone, and email. You can also get fully managed VPS hosting and have Kamatera’s experts take care of everything for you.
User Friendly: Kamatera provides an instant setup process that will get your gaming server up and running in minutes. Additionally, it has an intuitive dashboard and control panel that is easy to use.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- A 30-day free trial
- Pay-as-you-go pricing model
- A no-single-point-of-failure infrastructure
- 18 global data centers
- Highly-customizable and scalable plans
Cons:
- It can be challenging for beginners
Time4VPS is a Lithuanian VPS hosting provider that was founded in 2003. Since then, it has improved its services significantly and now provides one of the cheapest yet high-quality VPS hosting plans on the market. Additionally, its VPS servers are powered by a solid 100 Gbps network capacity, enterprise-grade HP ProLiant hardware, and SSD storage, guaranteeing each user a 99.98% server uptime.
- Overall Score: 4.1
- Pricing: 4.4
- Features: 4.1
- Performance: 3.8
- Support: 4.0
- User Friendly: 4.0
Pricing: The cheapest Time4VPS plan is its entry-level container VPS plan, which costs $2.60 monthly, which you can pay for on a monthly or annual basis. It includes one vCPU core, 2 GB RAM, 20 GB SATA or SSD storage, 2 TB bandwidth, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Features: Time4VPS offers many great features, including RAID SSD storage, multiple operating systems, multiple control panel licenses, Init Scripts for automatic setup, full root access, Spam Filter, an SSL certificate, VPN, BitNinja security, backups, and a free DNS manager.
Performance: Time4VPS provides a 99.98% uptime guarantee across all plans. Additionally, all of its servers use the latest Intel Xeon processors, RAID SSD storage, and have a solid 100 Gbps network capacity. However, the provider maintains a Tier-III data center in Lithuania only, making its reach quite limited.
Support: Time4VPS provides 24/7 customer support via live chat, email, phone, and a ticketing system. Additionally, the provider maintains a large knowledge base and blog with many helpful guides and articles.
User Friendly: Time4VPS provides an intuitive user interface, one-click installs for numerous popular apps, and multiple control panels for users to choose from, including the cPanel/WHM, Plesk, and DirectAdmin control panels.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Highly affordable prices
- A 99.98% uptime guarantee
- Multiple operating systems and control panels
- A 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons:
- Maintains servers only in Lithuania
With Hostinger, you will get the overall best VPS for game servers. It offers excellent VPS hosting plans and specialized Minecraft Server hosting plans.
- Overall Score: 4.6
- Performance: 4.6
- Security: 4.7
- Support: 4.7
- Features: 4.6
- Pricing: 4.6
Hostinger offers simple, fast, and reliable VPS hosting plans that you can use to host your game server. It also allows users to have full root access to their servers, customize them as much as they want, and track all their resources in real-time.
Research Findings:
Performance: a 99.9% uptime, 100 Mb/s Network, the latest Intel Xeon processors, NVMe SSD storage, CentOS, Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, and Suse operating systems, scalable resources, data centers in Lithuania, Singapore, the USA, the UK, and the Netherlands, and more!
Security: dedicated IP addresses, IPv4 & IPv6 support, manual live server snapshots, automated backups, the ability to restore your website within minutes, BitNinja full-stack server protection, built-in advanced DDoS protection, and more!
Support: 24/7/365 support via live chat, email support, an extensive knowledge base, tutorials, blogs, and Hostinger Academy.
Features: Hostinger offers Network File System (NFS) support, a user-friendly control panel, a 30-day money-back guarantee, WordPress acceleration, up to 16GB of RAM, up to 250GB SSD storage, up to 12TB of bandwidth, and more!
Pricing: Hostinger offers eight VPS hosting plans that you can use for your game servers, starting at $1.99/month for one vCPU Core, 1GB RAM, 20GB SSD storage, and 1TB bandwidth.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Excellent prices that offer great value for money;
- Multiple data centers in three continents;
Cons:
- It does not offer unlimited storage (but still provides enough for running a game server);
InterServer was founded in 1999 and is considered to be one of the most experienced and secure hosting providers. It offers a wide range of affordable services and provides amazing performance and reliability. InterServer provides its customers with many one-click installations, over 450 cloud apps, and amazing custom security features like InterShield and Inter-Insurance. Additionally, InterServer uses the KVM, OpenVZ, Virtuozzo, and Hyper-V virtualization platforms so that other servers cannot access your server on the same node.
- Overall score: 4.4
- Features: 4.4
- Support: 4.3
- User Friendly: 4.4
- Pricing: 4.5
- Reliability: 4.4
Features: InterServer offers amazing features, including InterShield protection, free SSL Certificates, root access, Inter-Insurance, integration with over 450 apps, free website migration, global content caching, malware protection, and Cloudflare CDN. However, we gave it a score of 4.4 because it does not offer a free domain and has very few data centers.
Support: InterServer’s 24/7 customer support can be accessed via phone, email, ticketing system, Facebook chat, and live chat. However, to get managed support, you will need to buy at least four slices of hardware, which is why we gave it a 4.3. Another reason for this rating is that some queries do not have accurate responses, and agents are not always available.
User Friendly: InterServer provides the cPanel to its customers, which is widely regarded as one of the best control panels out there. However, it does not have a good user interface, its web design is outdated, and its website is overloaded with elements, making it harder to navigate. That is why we gave it a 4.4.
Pricing: The price you pay will depend on the OS you choose and on the number of hardware resources, a.k.a slices you get. The cheapest option is a Linux VPS plan, with a base price of $6 per month per slice. One slice includes 1 CPU core, 2048 MB RAM, 30 GB SSD storage, and 2 TB bandwidth. We give it a 4.5 because you have to purchase at least 4 slices for managed support.
Reliability: InterServer’s VPS hosting comes with self-healing hardware, meaning that InterServer’s AI automatically redirects your server to a different node if your server is experiencing a glitch or another issue. However, we gave InterServer a 4.4 rating because it has slower loading speeds.
Additional parameter – Server uptime: 4.8: InterServer provides a 99.9% uptime guarantee, which is considered decent based on the industry standard. Its VPS infrastructure is powered by SSD storage and self-healing hardware, ensuring that your server will be online virtually non-stop with minimal downtime. We gave it a 4.8 rating because it only has data centers in the USA, which means that customers outside of the USA will experience latency issues and lag.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Self-healing hardware
- A 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Root access
- Custom security features like InterShield and Inter-Insurance
- Free manual data backup
- Free DDoS protection
- Cloudflare CDN
- Free SSL Certificates
- Some cryptocurrencies are accepted as payment options
- Data is stored on RAID-10 disks
Cons
- Difficult to navigate
- Outdated web design
- Slow loading speeds
IONOS is the largest web hosting company in Europe, serving over 22 million domains. To do this, it uses cutting-edge technology to provide maximum performance across all services, including its VPS hosting, and deliver a highly-optimized environment to each user. Additionally, IONOS deploys each hosting plan from its sustainable, ISO-certified data centers, promising a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Also, each user gets full control of their VPS server, enabling them to customize it as much as they want.
- Overall Score: 3.9
- Pricing: 3.9
- Features: 3.5
- Performance: 4.3
- Support: 4.0
- User Friendly: 3.8
Pricing: The cheapest IONOS VPS hosting plan costs $2 per month, which you can pay for on a monthly or yearly basis. It includes 1 vCore CPU, 1 GB RAM, 10GB SSD storage, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Features: IONOS provides many free and paid features, including unlimited traffic, full virtualization, dedicated resources, NVMe storage, free Plesk Web Host Edition, an SSL certificate, server snapshots, DDoS protection, full root access, and Windows and Linux operating systems.
Performance: IONOS provides a 99.9% uptime guarantee across all services. Additionally, it maintains 1-10 geo-redundant data centers across the US, the UK, and Europe, which are all ISO-certified and PCI-DSS compliant.
Support: The provider offers 24/7 customer support via live chat, phone, and cloud support. It also allows you to get your own personal consultant at an additional cost. Moreover, IONOS has a comprehensive help center with a plethora of helpful solutions.
User Friendly: IONOS has its own cloud control panel, which is extremely intuitive and easy to use. Additionally, it has a special “Deploy Now” feature that enables users to launch their sites in three simple steps.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Multiple ISO-certified and PCI-DSS-compliant data centers
- A 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Full root access
- Unlimited traffic
Cons:
- It has some hidden fees
Are you a gamer that’s looking for a reliable provider that is easy to use, simple to navigate, and can deliver fast speeds? Look no further than UltaHost! Not only is this provider renowned for its user-friendliness, but it also lets you choose from multiple operating systems, programming languages, control panels, and server locations, ensuring that you get blazing-fast speeds and a hosting environment tailored to your needs no matter where you are.
- Overall Score: 4.9
- Pricing: 4.9
- Features: 4.8
- Performance: 4.9
- Support: 4.9
- User Friendly: 4.9
Pricing: UltaHost’s VPS for gaming plan starts at $5.50 per month. You can choose between getting a monthly or yearly plan. The entry-level plan includes 1 CPU Core, 1GB RAM, 30GB NVMe SSD, 1 IPv4 dedicated IP, a managed server, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Features: UltaHost provides many free and paid features, including SSD NVMe storage, a free SSL certificate, BitNinja security, SSH & SFTP access, unlimited bandwidth, free daily backups, dedicated firewalls, 24/7 real-time monitoring, CDN add-on, unlimited app installations, DDR4 RAM, a wide range of operating systems and control panels, and more.
Performance: UltaHost provides a 99.99% uptime guarantee across all plans. Additionally, it maintains data centers in 12 global locations, including the US, Canada, Germany, Finland, Tukey, India, South Korea, and Singapore. Also, each UltaHost server uses the latest Intel Xeon processors and RAID10 SSD storage.
Support: UltaHost provides 24/7 customer support via live chat, phone, email, and a ticketing system. It also maintains a comprehensive knowledge base filled with many helpful video tutorials and guides across various categories.
User Friendly: UltaHost goes the extra mile in this category. Namely, the provider allows you to choose from multiple different control panels, including the free Hestia and CyberPanel control panels and the paid Plesk and cPanel. Additionally, you can select the operating system you prefer.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- A 99.99% uptime guarantee
- A wide range of operating systems and control panels to choose from
- 12 top-grade data centers worldwide
- Built-in security features
- No hidden fees
- An intuitive user interface and expert 24/7 customer support
Cons:
- No unlimited storage option
How Do We Rank and How You Should Choose Your VPS for Gaming?
- CPU Power and Memory13%
- Server Uptime15%
- Full Root Access8%
- Security11%
- Customer Support10%
- Type of Hosting Service7%
- Extra Features6%
- User Reviews30%
When we are ranking the best hosting providers, we test specifically for each category. Our experts develop a list of relevant factors for the category we are ranking, and they perform independent performance tests on every provider that qualifies in that specific category. Also, they consider thousands of real, independent user reviews when we rank.
Here are the factors that we tested and that you need to take into consideration when ranking and choosing the best VPS for Gaming:
- CPU Power and Memory (13%): CPU (Central Processing Unit) with a minimum 2.5Ghz clock speed, 8GB RAM (but 16GB and up is better), 1TB SSD with high read and write speeds, 64-bit Linux or Windows OS.
- Server Uptime (15%): Uptime of 99.95% or above, enterprise-grade hardware, SSD Storage, Cloudflare CDN, etc.
- Full Root Access (8%): Does the provider allow you to customize your game? Does the provider allow you to have complete control over your server and its resources?
- Security (11%): Does the Gaming VPS provider offer additional security features like DDoS protection, encrypting root tools, a VPN, daily backups, disaster recovery options, dedicated IP addresses, malware scans, etc.?
- Customer Support (10%): the technical knowledge and availability behind the support behind the VPS plan – preferably 24/7 support via live chat, phone, & email, guides, and tutorials.
- Type of Hosting Service (7%): Does the provider offer both fully-managed and unmanaged VPS services? Will the provider’s team help you configure the network ports of your VPS game server?
- Extra Features (6%): multiple data center & server locations, enterprise-grade hardware, scalable resources, free automatic security patches, free CDN, etc.
- User Reviews (30%): Real-life reviews and experiences from independent users. First-hand feedback and opinions on a provider’s quality and reliability.
Ranking comparison between the Top Providers
VPS for Gaming Pros and Cons
Now, I will cover some advantages and disadvantages you can experience by hosting your game server with a VPS.
Pros
- Excellent Value for Money – you will get to use some of the best enterprise-level hardware for a fraction of the price.
- Full Root Access – you can get full root access to your VPS gaming server and customize your server as much as you want.
- Dedicated (Private) Resources – you will get more power and dedicated (private) resources that only you will have access to and be able to use.
- Enhanced Security – since each user gets private resources from their VPS provider, they will also get better privacy and security with it.
Cons
- Cheat Prevention – if you intend to use your VPS gaming server to host a game that everyone can play and is available to a wider public, stopping players from cheating can be difficult and almost impossible to do.
- More Limited Resources Compared to Dedicated Servers – by hosting your game on a VPS server, you will get much more resources and enhanced features than with shared hosting, but much more limited resources and features compared to dedicated hosting.
Should You Get Managed or Unmanaged VPS for Gaming
When deciding whether managed or unmanaged VPS hosting is best for you and your game server, you should take into account the following factors:
- Do You Need Help From Tech Experts? – if you don’t possess advanced tech knowledge and don’t know how to set up, manage, and maintain a gaming server, you should consider going for managed instead of unmanaged VPS for Gaming. With a managed VPS plan, your provider will take care of all the technical tasks for you and monitor your server daily. to check out our Best Managed VPS page.
- Budget – if you are on a tighter budget but need a powerful hosting solution for your game server, you should go for an unmanaged VPS plan. Those plans are much cheaper than managed plans. However, if you need someone to help you set up your server and other similar tasks, getting a managed VPS plan is much more cost-effective than hiring additional IT staff.
- Scalability – if you go for an unmanaged VPS for your game server, you will have to monitor your server constantly and decide when to scale them. Some users prefer doing that by themselves. But for those who don’t, a managed VPS plan is a better choice since they won’t have to monitor their servers by themselves every day. Also, your managed VPS hosting provider will advise you on scaling your resources up or down.
- Customization – you will get full control and root access over your game server with an unmanaged VPS plan. Thus, you will be able to customize your server as much as you want without your provider interfering.
VPS for Gaming Requirements
A Gaming server needs:
- Strong and Uninterrupted Internet Connection – to play a game online, you need to have access to the Internet and a strong connection at all times. That way, you won’t lose any critical gaming data and won’t experience frequent disconnections.
- Enough Storage and Memory – if you host a game and plan to have 50-100 players, you will need at least 240GB of storage and 32GB of RAM. However, most gamers believe that 1TB of storage is the safest bet.
- High Computing Power – a game server must have high computing power to be able to handle multiple players playing the game at the same time. A CPU with a 2.5Ghz clock speed is considered the minimal gaming server requirement.
- A Fast Processor – a quick processor, will allow you to host games with minimal lag, stalls, and disconnects. A processor with four cores, eight threads, and a 3.80GHZ clock speed is considered a great choice for a gaming server.
Best VPS for Gaming Services: Summary
A Virtual Private Server (VPS) is an excellent fit for any gaming server. It offers scalable resources, excellent performance, and full root access, which allows users to customize their games as much as they want.
You can host all kinds of games with a VPS and experience little to no lag while doing so. Also, you can use VPS for Gaming to create mods, host matches, and many other gaming-related things!