Valheim server requirements: how much RAM you need
Tell it about your crew and your world. You get the memory a Valheim 1.0 server uses on a normal evening and at busy moments, what fills it, the disk it needs and the plan that holds it. It starts from what our own Valheim server measures; each line says whether it’s measured, public data or our estimate.
Your server needs
2.4 GBat busy moments
- A normal evening
- 2.3 GB
- 1.9–2.9
- Busy peak, high case
- 3.1 GB
- a big world, an autosave
- Disk
- 2.1 GB
- of 20 GB on our plans
Recommended plan
Squad4 GB$11.99/mo
Your 4 players need about 2.4 GB at busy moments; Squad’s 4 GB holds that with room to spare. Memory is the only difference between plans.
Compare all Valheim plans →What fills the memory
- Server with a new worldMeasured1.3 GB1,351 MB on our server, nobody online; flat for 8.3 hours
- 4 players onlineEstimate0.3 GBPlayers add little next to the world: the zones around each one and what they carry
- A few biomes exploredEstimate0.4 GBEvery zone anyone has visited stays in the world the server holds
- A main baseEstimate0.3 GBEach placed piece and terrain edit is kept in memory
Measured on our Valheim server ·Public data published measurements and hosts’ sizing ·Estimate our split, checked against public figures
Ways to use less
Already lean. Valheim’s memory is mostly the world itself, so the big savings are fewer mods and clearing old builds, and neither is needed here.
Players, memory and plan
A vanilla world for each group: a few weeks in for 1–2 players, months in for more; a main base up to 4 players, big bases above that.
| Players online | World | Normal evening | Busy peak | Plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A few weeks in, a main base | 2.0 GB | 2.1 GB (1.8–2.4) | Squad, 4 GB |
| 2 | A few weeks in, a main base | 2.1 GB | 2.2 GB (1.9–2.7) | Squad, 4 GB |
| 4 | Months in, a main base | 2.8 GB | 3.0 GB (2.3–4.1) | Squad, 4 GB |
| 6 | Months in, big bases | 3.3 GB | 3.6 GB (2.7–5.2) | Party, 6 GB |
| 8 | Months in, big bases | 3.5 GB | 3.8 GB (2.8–5.7) | Party, 6 GB |
| 10 | Months in, big bases | 3.7 GB | 4.1 GB (2.9–6.1) | Clan, 8 GB |
A plan is picked when its memory holds the busy peak with 5% to spare (a server that reaches its memory limit is stopped) and it plays well with the group. Player counts are a recommendation, never a cap.
How we got these numbers
What we measured
Our panel records each server’s memory once a minute. The base line comes from 1 Valheim 1.0 server we run: 8.3 hours and 497 samples on 10 Oct 2026, a new world with nobody online.
- 1,351 MB on average, a new world, nobody online
- 1,341–1,360 MB the whole time: flat, no climb over 8.3 hours
- 14% of one CPU thread with nobody online
We haven’t measured players, old worlds or mods on our servers yet. We’ll add them here, dated, as more Valheim servers run with us.
What we took from public numbers
Iron Gate’s dedicated server manual gives no memory figure. A published test of a fresh Valheim 1.0 world found 1.34 GB idle, close to ours, and noted that players add little next to the world itself. Hosts’ sizing guides put an old, explored vanilla world at 4–6 GB and big modpacks at 8 GB or more; those include headroom, so our estimates stay under them.
How explored land, builds, players and mods split the rest is our estimate, and the range under each number shows how far it could go.
Beyond memory
CPU: one fast thread matters most; the server does most of its work on a single thread.
Disk: about 2 GB of game files, a world of a few MB to tens of MB, and Valheim’s own 4 copies of it. This estimate: 2.1 GB.
Network: UDP port 2456 and the next one, 2457, by default.
On Game Hosting every Valheim plan runs on an AMD Ryzen 9 9900X with 4 CPU threads, DDR5 memory and NVMe storage, with 20 GB of disk. Plans differ only in memory.
Quick answers
How much RAM does a Valheim server need?
A new world with nobody online used 1.32 GB on our server. At busy moments: about 2.2 GB for 2 friends, 3.0 GB for 4 a few months in, 3.8 GB for 8 and 4.1 GB for a full crew of 10 with big bases. Iron Gate publishes no memory figure for the dedicated server; what fills memory is how much of the world has been explored and built, more than the number of players.
Does a Valheim server use more memory as the world gets older?
Yes. The server keeps the whole world in memory: every zone anyone has visited, every piece placed and every terrain edit. An old, well explored world with big bases needs more than a new one with more players. A restart doesn’t shrink that part, because it is the world itself.
How much memory do Valheim mods need?
It depends on the mods. A few quality-of-life mods add little; a big modpack of about 60 mods with new items, creatures and biomes can add 1–3 GB. Every player needs the same mods, so trim the list to what your group uses. The calculator shows both.
How many players can a Valheim server have?
Ten: a vanilla Valheim server refuses an 11th player. More takes a BepInEx mod that raises the limit; pick a mod level and the calculator goes up to 20.
What CPU does a Valheim server need?
Fast cores more than many cores: the server runs most of its work on one thread, so clock speed matters. With nobody online our server used about 14% of one thread. Game Hosting runs Valheim on an AMD Ryzen 9 9900X with 4 CPU threads, DDR5 memory and NVMe storage on every plan.
How much disk space does a Valheim server need?
The game files take about 2 GB, and a world is a few MB new and tens of MB old. Valheim keeps 4 copies of it by default, so even an old modded server stays under a few GB. Valheim plans on Game Hosting have 20 GB of disk.
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