Multiplayer hosting alternatives, compared fairly

How to read this page

Providers are listed by what they actually are, because "game server hosting" covers four different jobs: running your dedicated server for you, providing a networking library, orchestrating fleets, and renting raw machines. Prices are quoted only where the provider published them, in the provider's own units, with the access date. Units are not equivalent, so do not divide one by another. Where a fact could not be verified, it is left out.

At a glance

What each one is good at

Unity Multiplay Game Server Hosting

Unity announced it was winding down direct support for Multiplay Game Server Hosting and operated the service through March 31, 2026. Unity said it licensed the Multiplay Game Server Hosting software to Rocket Science Group, and that Matchmaker, Relay, Lobby and Distributed Authority are unaffected. If you were a Multiplay customer, you need a new host; NetCraftGames can be one only after it launches and only for builds in the supported lanes.

Edgegap

Edgegap's published pay-as-you-go rates were $0.00115 per vCPU per minute and $0.10 per GB of egress per month, with no idle charge, on its pricing page dated October 2, 2026. Its free trial lists one app with two versions, up to 1.5 vCPU and 3 GB, one concurrent deployment and a 60-minute uptime cap per deployment. It is the better choice when you need many global locations and orchestration at match scale.

Amazon GameLift Servers

GameLift offers managed EC2 fleets, container deployments and an "Anywhere" option for machines you manage. AWS documents that you integrate the GameLift server SDK into your game server. Instances are billed by duration, per second, with a one-minute minimum. It is the better choice for large-scale, autoscaling, multi-region fleets and teams already on AWS.

PlayFab Multiplayer Servers

PlayFab's billing documentation says Multiplayer Servers are billed on consumption: VM instance hours and network egress, with a limited free evaluation (750 Dasv4 core hours in East US and North Europe and a 24-core cap). Microsoft notes that standby capacity typically adds about 20 percent to required compute hours. It is a strong fit for Azure and Xbox-adjacent teams that want scaling pools.

Photon

Photon is a different category: a networking library and cloud relay. The PUN pricing page lists a free tier of 20 concurrent connected users and paid tiers priced by concurrent users rather than server hours. If you build on Photon, you do not need dedicated server hosting for that networking. If your game uses Mirror, NGO, Unreal or Godot networking, Photon does not replace it.

Self-hosting on a VM

Renting a cloud or VPS machine is usually the cheapest per hour and the most flexible. You also own patching, firewalls, the process supervisor, TLS for WebSockets, idle shutdown, backups and being awake when it breaks. The cheap hosting guide covers this path honestly.

When NetCraftGames is the wrong choice

• You need Windows or macOS server builds, or arm64. NetCraftGames hosts Linux x64 only.
• You need many regions or match-scale autoscaling. NetCraftGames runs in us-east-1 only.
• You need a TURN relay for restrictive networks. We offer signaling only.
• You need universal anti-cheat or automatic bans. We provide neither.
• You need a published uptime commitment today. We have no measurements to publish.
• You need to start now. NetCraftGames is not accepting customers yet.

When it may be the right choice

• You have a working Linux server build and no appetite for operating servers.
• You want a connection config and an explanation of any failure, not a dashboard of knobs.
• Your game is small enough that weighted hours per month, not match-scale fleets, is the right unit.

Frequently asked questions

Written by Charging Bull Software. Facts on this page are checked against the product source and dated sources listed above; where something is not proven, the page says so.