RUST Server Hosting (2021)
Last updated: July 25, 2021
Jason Lawrence
To date I have tested 22 different providers to see who can really deliver the best RUST Server Hosting.
For the last 2 decades, an enormous number of game hosting companies have popped up and disappeared with a few of them sticking around.
The survival of the fittest is evident in this industry as some companies have clearly pushed above the rest to succeed.
I review the top 10 of 22 companies I tested with live servers below so you can quickly get summarised on what makes each provider stick out.
If you are looking for the best of cheapest RUST server hosting you will find that in the list among some other defining attributes that you may be searching for in a host.
If you don’t find what you are looking for check back as I keep this page updated regularly…
What do I look for in a RUST hosting company?
In order to rank these companies, I set up a strict and thorough testing regime that I track in a Google Sheets spreadsheet that I share with the world.
In that spreadsheet, I purchase a small server package from each company and then score them based on different areas after I see how they perform for real.
I and my friends (across the EU and USA) put the servers to the test, including placing lots of objects down to max out the memory to see what happens.
Using these scores and data I collected I then worked out who are the top 10 in my opinion and summarised them on this page to make shopping around easier.
What should you look for?
RUST is an amazing game due to its balance of crafting, survival and raiding.
I have been playing this game for 3 or 4 years now and I have come from other similar titles such as Minecraft, ARK: Survival and Reign of Kings.
The pricing of the private dedicated servers for RUST is slightly more expensive than other similar titles but not enough to break the bank.
Comparing the providers before you buy is wise and could save you a good few dollars per month, which adds up over time.
The biggest factor that will affect the amount you pay per month is the slot count (maximum number of players allowed on your server at one time) and the price climbs with that number.
Buying bulk is possible and you will experience savings as you pay more per month, great for when your server’s community grows larger.
For more information on what you should look out for when shopping about RUST server hosting, check out my full guide I have written here.
What are the most important factors I should look for?
- The total cost per month
- The ease of setting it up
- Performance of your server under load
- Adding mods to your server
- The support-ticket waiting time
- Extra features in control panel
Best 10 RUST Server Hosts
From the 22 different companies I have tested I narrowed the list down to 10 to make browsing through the results easier. If you are in a rush you can just skim the titles to find the best overall, the cheapest, or the best provider for modding.
Let’s begin with the best overall RUST server hosting company I picked…
LOW.MS - The Best Budget RUST Host
Ranks #1 of 10 RUST hosts
The Positives
Team made up of experienced members who had left a different provider
A large catalogue of niche games
Competitively priced
The Negatives
A fairly new company
Control Panel
Video Tour Image SlideshowA newcomer formed from several founders and staff from other game hosting companies, LOW.MS provided me a great server for a competitive price.
They have a huge catalog of games that they cater to and RUST is one of them.
Everything was in order with my test server and test support tickets, I believe these guys are great value-for-money and will continue to grow and be around for years.
LOW.MS offers several locations in English-speaking regions (America, Europe and Australia) and covers part of Asia using a Singapore data-center.
GameServers.com - The Best Established RUST Host
Ranks #2 of 10 RUST hosts
The Positives
Back by a huge data-center company
Host lots of different games
Provide hosting directly to game companies
Possibly the oldest game hosting company
Servers in every region
They don't pay for their Truspilot account
The Negatives
High price compared to others
Outdated website
Control Panel
Video Tour Image SlideshowA company born at the start of this millennium, GameServers.com has a huge catalog of titles they offer private dedicated servers for.
The support is knowledgeable and the platform built to be secure and stable (although aesthetically looks very out of date!) but you do pay for this luxury, they are on the more expensive end of the providers.
If you are looking to spend money on a great platform to host your RUST server on then GameServers.com knows what they are doing.
Host Havoc - The Best RUST Server Host
Ranks #3 of 10 RUST hosts
The Positives
Dynamic and friendly team
Focus on providing an amazing service for a few games
Value for money feature-ful game hosting
The Negatives
Relatively new provider compared to others on list
Less locations worldwide
Control Panel
Video Tour Image SlideshowThe friendly team at Host Havoc was a pleasure to deal with when I chucked a bunch of support requests at them. They were quick to help and thoroughly explained everything to me so I could understand where I went wrong.
When you pair up the cheap price with great support and a great platform to host my test 10 slot RUST world they come out top in my opinion.
You are able to pay using the usual methods and they have servers in Europe and America but Host Havoc does fall flat if you want to host anywhere else around the world.
Survival Servers - The Best Modded RUST Host
Ranks #4 of 10 RUST hosts
The Positives
Experts in mods for all games
Custom built control panel
Stay very up to date with server tech
The Negatives
Premium pricing
Only EU and USA locations
The guys behind Survival Servers are obviously big modder’s (judging from what I have read about them in their about/history section) and it shows in their custom-built control panel.
For all of the games I have tested on their game hosting control panel they have made it easy to add mods and then maintain them in the long run. They also knew how to help me quickly when I raised a support ticket with them concerning mods.
The pricing was pretty competitive too, Survival Servers are in the mid to cheap region of pricing with great features and my test server was stable and fast.
The server locations available were in the USA and around Europe, so that’s great if you are in those regions I suppose but not so good if you aren’t.
Nitrous Networks - The Best US RUST Host
Ranks #5 of 10 RUST hosts
The Positives
Backed by a large gaming brand
Easy to use modern website
The Negatives
Less locations to choose from
The guys at NitrousNetworks have created an awesome brand with a control panel that’s as beautiful as the front end.
Support was timely with my questions being answered thoroughly when tested. Unfortunately, they don’t offer many potential server locations, if you are in an English-speaking country you are OK.
These guys also come with free hosting and MYSQL in case your mods need to be able to store any data in order to work.
My test server with NitrousNetworks worked fine and speed-wise only had a few occasional hiccups but nothing that stood out as an issue.
The major downside about Nitrous though was the high cost, they are a lot more expensive than the other contenders on this list.
GTX Gaming - The Cheapest RUST Server Host
Ranks #6 of 10 RUST hosts
The Positives
Experienced UK based team
Cover almost every game
Loads of server locations
The Negatives
Some regions require additional fee
Control Panel
Image SlideshowThe UK-based game hosting company GTX Gaming are behemoths of the industry. They seem to host every single game judging by their vast catalog of games that provide private dedicated server capabilities.
They have managed to corner the market using the strategy of offering very cheap servers while still providing a great experience.
I found the control panel and support system easy enough to deal with and when I raised some test issues with them on my server they helped me out in a timely manner.
GTX Gaming accepts all of the usual payment methods as well as the crypto-currency Bitcoin for those of you with some of those lying around gathering dust.
Streamline Servers - The Best Global RUST Host
Ranks #7 of 10 RUST hosts
The Positives
Passionate about server performance
The Negatives
Usually pretty expensive
A huge company that prides itself on quality hardware, Streamline Servers are on the cheaper end of the RUST server hosting pricing scale.
I found the control panel they offer easy enough to navigate around but support wasn’t as fast and concise as the other offerings on this list.
Ping Perfect - The Best UK RUST Host
Ranks #8 of 10 RUST hosts
The Positives
Support a community of Twitchers
Wide range of games
Lots of global locations
The Negatives
Support was a little slow
With a little bit of an outdated website, PingPerfect was another value-for-money game hosting company based in the UK.
An added bonus is the free website hosting you get with your RUST game server. You could keep a small community site for your players on it or use it to advertise your server further to increase the stable players count.
The support was fine and helped me with my issues, the control panel was as expected but nothing to write home about.
The team at Bisect Hosting are Minecraft server hosting experts and offer a lot of the popular private dedicated server games on the side. For RUST though they are quite expensive and seem to be only offering this game with fewer features than the rest.
For a lot of the side-games they offer on the side of Minecraft they are very competitive, with a bottom-basement pricing approach but for RUST they fall flat a bit.
Fragnet - The Best Bitcoin RUST Host
Ranks #10 of 10 RUST hosts
The Positives
Lots of server locations
Server hosting experts
Backed by a large server company
The Negatives
Outdated website
Expensive starter package
When I tested the Fragnet offering I found it a bit clunky. These guys aren’t expensive but everything felt rough and although my server was up it didn’t seem to be running fast enough.
Value for money in mind, this host wasn’t bad but you can find companies on this list for the same price that provide a much better RUST server hosting experience.
Fragnet accepts all of the usual payment methods that you would expect and have an alright TrustPilot score, especially for a company that doesn’t pay for a premium account.
What about the other 12 providers?
I haven’t included the complete list of 22 providers that I have bought test RUST servers from, that would be information overload!
I have however made my spreadsheet full of results public for everyone to see, so you can see how the smaller providers rank in comparison to the more established ones above.
For clarity, I believe you only really need to look at the top 5 in this list to make a safe judgment of who to trust with your RUST server.
Important RUST Hosting Features
Before handing over money to a company be sure they have these built-in features for your RUST server.
These aren’t all the features you will want but they are important for this game, check out my useful guide for a list of the others.
Oxide/Mod Support
If you are modding your RUST server then you will almost definitely want Oxide.
This handy tool is installed very easily onto your server and then creates a way for you to upload and manage multiple mods within its own ecosystem.
Even if your provider doesn’t have this as a one-click install you can still easily upload through FTP (so make sure they have at least FTP access).
RUST.io Support
If you haven’t yet checked out Rust:IO then you are missing out.
It adds some amazing features to your server with a live map being available online that anyone can see.
You also get put into a special list so other players can find your Rust:IO enabled server easily.
Summing Up
Hopefully, this list will come in handy if you are looking for RUST server hosting, I have detailed my top 10 providers from 22 tested over the last few months above.
My Hosting Review Process:
1. Find 22 popular RUST Server Hosting providers
2. Buy a basic package and set it up
3. Run speed tests on server
4. Compare the features vs. cost
My Choices For RUST Hosting
