Hytale Server Hosting: How to Host a Hytale Dedicated Server (Self-Hosted, Free or Rented)

Hytale server hosting comes down to three routes: open your single-player world to friends, run the official dedicated server yourself, or rent one from a host. The first costs nothing and takes a minute. The second is free software on a machine you keep running. The third is a monthly fee for someone else to deal with the machine. This is how all three work as of October 2026.

The question that picks your route: should the world still be there when your own PC is off?

Which route: your own world, self-hosted, or rented

Hytale's own advice is that a dedicated server makes sense for a persistent world or more than a few friends. You get better performance, because the server isn't also rendering the game, plus uptime while you're offline, more configuration options and no home-router problems.

Route 1: open your single-player world

Hytale lets you open a single-player world to friends without a dedicated server. Open the Online Play options from inside your world, switch on Allow Other Players to Join, optionally set a password, and Hytale gives you a share code. Send it to your friend and they join with it from the Servers screen. Most home networks need no setup at all.

Hytale calls this an early system that "won't work flawlessly for everyone yet", and the fine print matters:

• The code contains your IP address. Don't post it publicly, and know that codes expire.
• Add each other as in-game friends first. The best connection methods only work between friends.
• If it fails, try letting your friend host instead, allow Hytale through Windows Firewall, or use Tailscale, a free app for personal use. Behind CGNAT, port forwarding can't work, so you'd need to ask your ISP for a public IP.
• Some school, office and public networks block Hytale. Outbound UDP 3478 needs to be allowed.

The big limit: you're the server. When you log off, there's nothing for your friends to connect to. Worlds live in %appdata%\Hytale\saves\, so you can also zip one up and hand it to a friend to host.

Route 2: how to host a Hytale dedicated server yourself

This is what the official Hytale Server Manual covers. I'd only go this way if you're comfortable with a command line.

Requirements

Any device with at least 4 GB of memory and Java 25. Both x64 and arm64 are supported. Hytale suggests Adoptium's Temurin build of Java 25, and you can check what you've got with java --version.

Hytale publishes no RAM-per-player table, so ignore anyone quoting one as official. What it does say: CPU load follows player and entity counts (NPCs, mobs), and memory follows how much world is loaded at once. View distance is the main RAM driver, and Hytale recommends capping it at 12 chunks (384 blocks). For scale, 384 blocks is about 24 Minecraft chunks, and Minecraft servers default to 10, so expect a Hytale server at default settings to want more RAM than a Minecraft one.

Getting the server files

• Copy from your launcher install. Fine for a quick test, annoying to keep updated. Copy the Server folder and Assets.zip from the launcher's install/release/package/game/latest folder.
• The Hytale Downloader CLI. The manual's pick for production servers because updating is easy. It's a Linux and Windows download from Hytale and logs in with OAuth2.
• Bootstrap from HytaleServer.jar. Run java -jar HytaleServer.jar --bootstrap, log in, then run /update setup. That builds the folder with Assets.zip, start.sh, start.bat and Server/.

Starting it

The manual's start command is java -XX:AOTCache=HytaleServer.aot -jar HytaleServer.jar --assets Assets.zip. The bundled start.sh and start.bat wrap that and turn on backups every 30 minutes. They also read an optional jvm.options file, one argument per line, for things like -Xmx4G. The manual's sample numbers there are examples, not recommendations.

Authentication

On first launch the server needs logging in. Run /auth login device, open the accounts.hytale.com/device page, and enter the code within 15 minutes. Hytale says servers need authentication to talk to its service APIs and to counter abuse. One game license can authenticate up to 500 servers, and authenticated is the default --auth-mode. Once logged in, a running server stays authenticated. You'd only need to log in again after being offline for more than 30 days.

Ports: forward UDP 5520

The default port is 5520, changeable with --bind. The important bit: Hytale uses QUIC over UDP, not TCP. Forward UDP 5520 (or your custom port) to the server machine and open it in your firewall, for example ufw allow 5520/udp on Linux. If players can't connect, check you forwarded UDP and not TCP first. Symmetric NAT can also cause trouble, and the manual's answer is a VPS or dedicated machine. Players behind CGNAT can still join as clients. Only the host needs to be reachable. My Minecraft server guide goes through port forwarding if you've never done it. The idea is the same with different numbers.

Mods, plugins and config files

Download a mod (.zip or .jar) from a source like CurseForge and drop it in the mods/ folder. Early plugins need an extra --accept-early-plugins flag, and Hytale says they're unsupported and can cause stability problems, so leave that off unless you know why you want it. Config lives in config.json, permissions.json, whitelist.json and bans.json. Don't hand-edit them while the server runs, because in-game actions write to them and your changes are likely to get overwritten.

Updating

The server has a built-in updater that checks hourly by default, with commands like /update check, /update download and /update apply --confirm. Auto-apply is off by default, and you can set it to apply when the server is empty or on a schedule. The key rule: client and server must be on exactly the same protocol version. Hytale's wording is that servers must update immediately or players on the new version can't connect. So if friends suddenly can't join after a patch, update first and debug second.

Route 3: renting a Hytale server

A host handles the networking, hardware and maintenance, keeps the server online 24/7, and needs no UPnP or port forwarding from you. Most give you a one-click Hytale install and automatic updates. Hytale's Joining Friends page lists hosts it has "Launch Verified": Nitrado, Apex Hosting, GPORTAL, Shockbyte and Dathost. That's a sensible shortlist to start with.

For a sense of money, Apex's own Hytale page in October 2026 listed a 4 GB plan, which it labels the minimum for Hytale, at $14.99 a month recurring, with a cheaper first month under a promo. Prices and promos bounce around, so check the storefront and read what's included before paying.

I won't crown a best Hytale server host. Compare on what matters to your group: RAM you can actually raise, how updates are handled (given the same-version rule above), whether you can upload your own world and mods, and where the servers are relative to your friends.

Does Hytale have free server hosting?

Two kinds of free exist. Self-hosting is free in the sense that the software costs nothing and you pay for your own hardware and electricity, and you're on the hook for uptime, security and backups.

The other kind is credit-based "free hosting". AxentHost is one example. Its page says you claim credits every hour (15 an hour on the site, with extra from its mobile apps and a daily spin), 5 credits buys 1 GB of RAM for an hour, and a 5 GB Hytale server costs 25 credits an hour. In other words, the server runs for as long as you have credits, so "free" means you keep coming back to claim more. No card is needed. Terms like these change, so check the host's current page before you rely on them. For a one-off session with friends it could be handy. For a world you want there every day, a rented plan or your own machine is more predictable.

How players join, and Server Discovery

Friends joining your single-player world use the share code. For a dedicated server, they connect to your server's address, with the port added if you changed it from 5520.

The Server Manual lists in-game Server Discovery as a coming addition. Operators opt in, follow Hytale's Server Operator Guidelines, and rate their own content accurately so filters and parental controls work. If you're still working out what Hytale itself costs, the is Hytale free page covers it. Coming from Minecraft? Hytale vs Minecraft covers how the two compare.

Honestly? Which route to pick

• A few friends, an evening or two a week: open your world. Try this first. It's free and takes a minute.
• A spare PC or Linux box and you like tinkering: run the official server. Plan for Java 25, UDP 5520, authentication and updating on patch day.
• A bigger group, no spare hardware, or a world that has to stay up: rent. Start from the Launch Verified list.