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Hytale

Self-host or rent a Hytale server

Four questions about your machine and your appetite for the work. Hytale is unusual in publishing a server-side minimum, so the first question is a real check against an official figure rather than a guess — and meeting it is still only meeting the minimum.

Early Access

Hytale is in Early Access, and its server platform is moving

Everything on this page was checked against Hypixel Studios' current release documentation on the date shown, and that date carries more weight for Hytale than for the other games here. The server APIs and configuration are actively changing: options get added, defaults get revised, and specifics that are accurate today can be stale within a patch or two. That applies to the published figures as much as the settings — a 4 GB minimum and a 12-chunk recommendation are current values rather than permanent ones. So treat all of it as the present shape of the server, and check the manual itself before you rely on a specific number. We would rather tell you the material is moving than present it as finished.

There is a second reason to be careful here. Hytale documentation exists in more than one channel, and pre-release material is often more detailed than what has actually shipped — which makes it tempting to quote. Everything on this page comes from the release channel only. Pre-release values are recorded separately and are never presented as current facts, because a value that has not shipped is not a requirement yet, however thoroughly it is documented.

The manual publishes three things: at least 4 GB of memory, Java 25, and a supported architecture — both x64 and arm64 qualify. All three are checkable now rather than guesses. Meeting them means the published minimum is met, and it is not proof the machine suits the server you have in mind.

A server has to be running and reachable for anyone to join it.

The documented job is narrow. The default port is 5520, the server uses QUIC over UDP, and behind a router you forward UDP 5520 or whichever custom port you configured. TCP forwarding is not required, which is one fewer rule than people expect.

The server documents configuration for auto-updates, backups and crash recovery, so some of this can be set to look after itself. Deciding what those settings should be, and keeping mods and configuration current through Early Access, stays yours.

Answer all four to see a reading.

The published server floor

Published in the official server manual as what the server needs to run. This is a genuine server-side figure, which is rarer than you might think, and the word that matters is minimum: it is the bottom of the range rather than a target. The manual documents several things that drive resource use above this floor, and attaches no figure to any of them, so this number tells you where to start and not where you will end up.

Scope: The floor for running the server itself — a minimum, not a sizing recommendation.

Published server minimumMemory, for running a server

At least 4 GB of memory

A real server-side figure, published by Hypixel Studios for the server rather than the game. Read the wording carefully: at least. It is the floor, not a recommendation for any particular server, and the manual goes on to document several things that push usage above it — player counts, entity counts, how much world is loaded — without publishing a figure for any of them. So this tells you the minimum to start with and nothing about where your own server lands. It is also not to be confused with the client figures: the 8 GB and 16 GB elsewhere on this site are for playing the game, and they are a different number for a different machine.

Published server minimumJava

Java 25

A software requirement rather than a hardware one, and worth checking before anything else — the server will not start without it. No amount of memory substitutes for the wrong Java version, and an older Java on a powerful machine is still an older Java.

Published server minimumArchitecture

Both x64 and arm64 are supported

Useful and slightly unusual: arm64 being supported means small ARM machines and ARM cloud instances are not ruled out by architecture. That is a statement about compatibility rather than capability — being able to run somewhere is not the same as having the resources to run well there.

Documented network facts

The whole of the networking job, as the manual describes it. Worth reading before you answer the third question, because it is smaller than most people assume.

Documented server capabilityDefault port

The default server port is 5520

The port people connect to unless you change it. A plain documented default, and a number that says nothing about hardware.

Documented server capabilityProtocol

The server uses QUIC over UDP

Worth knowing because it decides the next fact. QUIC runs over UDP, which is why the forwarding you need is UDP forwarding — a detail that catches people who assume every game server needs a TCP rule.

Documented server capabilityPort forwarding

Behind a router, forward UDP 5520 or the configured custom port; TCP forwarding is not required

The router work, stated precisely: one UDP rule for the port you are actually using, and no TCP rule at all. That last part is genuinely useful — it is one fewer thing to configure, and it means a TCP-only rule would leave you wondering why nobody can connect.

Documented server and configuration facts

What the server can be set up to look after for itself, and what stays a decision. This is the material behind the fourth question.

Documented server capabilityServer auto-update

A server auto-update configuration option exists

The server can keep itself current. Genuinely useful in Early Access, where updates arrive often — and relevant to how much attention self-hosting would need from you, rather than to what hardware it wants.

Documented server capabilityBackups

A backup configuration option exists

Backups are a configurable part of the server rather than something you bolt on. What the documentation gives us is that the option exists; the specific defaults are the kind of thing most likely to change while Hytale is in Early Access.

Documented server capabilityCrash recovery

A crash-recovery configuration option exists

The server can be configured to handle its own crashes. Worth knowing before you judge how much babysitting a server would need, and no indication either way about hardware — a recovery option is not a sign that crashes are expected.

Documented server capabilityMods and plugins

A mod and plugin configuration option exists

The server supports configuring mods and plugins. This is the gap people most want filled with a number, so to be explicit: the documentation establishes that mods are supported and configurable, and publishes nothing about what any mod costs a server. That cost depends on the mod, and no official table exists for it.

Documented server capabilityWorld saving and chunk unloading

Worlds support player and chunk saving, and chunk unloading

The server saves players and chunks, and unloads chunks it is not using. Unloading is the interesting half — it means the world held in memory at any moment is not the whole world — and the documentation stops well short of saying how much memory that amounts to.

Source, last checked:

What this page will not tell you

A published minimum invites more arithmetic than it supports, so here is where we stop:

  • Whether your machine is fast enough for the server you have in mind. The published floor is a minimum, and nothing converts a cleared minimum into a fit for a workload.
  • How much memory to provide above 4 GB. Player count, entity count, view distance and loaded world area are all documented as affecting resource use, and none of them comes with a figure.
  • A processor specification. No core count, clock speed or model is published for a Hytale server.
  • Which host to rent from, or what any of it should cost. No providers, no prices, no affiliate links, here or anywhere on this site.
  • That renting performs better than self-hosting, or the reverse. Nothing in the documentation supports a comparison like that, so we are not making one.

The rest of the Hytale material

Back to Hytale