The short answer
Costs come from three meters: machine time, network egress and your own time. Cut machine time first, because empty servers are the biggest avoidable waste. Then right-size, keep traffic small, and only then compare providers. NetCraftGames is not the cheapest per raw hour, and this guide says so.
Cut machine time
- Shut down when empty. A 30-day month has 720 hours; if players are present three hours a day you need about 90. See the idle shutdown guide.
- Schedule test servers. Playtests need servers for a weekend, not a month.
- Do not run one server per player. If your game design allows several rooms per process, pack them.
Right-size the machine
Start small, then measure peak CPU and memory under a real session. A headless Unity, Godot or Go server often runs in 2 vCPU and 4 GiB; heavier Unreal servers may need more. Measure instead of guessing, and keep the server single-purpose.
Keep bandwidth small
Cloud providers charge for data leaving the machine. Send snapshots at a sensible tick rate, send deltas, compress only if CPU allows, and avoid sending data that clients can derive. Edgegap's published pay-as-you-go page, for example, lists egress at $0.10 per GB per month alongside its compute rate, and PlayFab's billing documentation also bills network egress separately; check each provider's current page.
Use free tiers for what they are for
Free tiers are for testing, not launch. Edgegap's free trial lists one app, up to 1.5 vCPU and a 60-minute uptime cap per deployment. PlayFab's free evaluation lists 750 Dasv4 core hours a month in two regions with a 24-core cap, and says this is typically not enough to launch a live game. Both are dated October 3, 2026 in our comparison.
Decide who operates it
| Option | You pay with | Good when |
|---|---|---|
| Rent a VM yourself | Time: patching, firewall, supervision, TLS, backups | You know Linux and want the lowest hourly rate |
| Orchestration platform | Integration work and per-minute rates | You need many regions and match-scale scaling |
| Managed hosting such as NetCraftGames | A monthly plan | You have a working server build and want configuration, deployment and failure help handled |
NetCraftGames plans are $49, $79 and $99 a month for 40, 80 and 120 weighted server hours; see pricing. It is pre-launch and not accepting customers.
A cheap-hosting checklist
- Measure a real sessionRecord peak CPU, memory and outbound bandwidth with real players, not an empty test.
- Pick the smallest machine that survives the peakChoose a size with headroom, and re-measure after each content update.
- Turn the server off when emptyReport a player count and shut down after a grace period, saving state first. This is usually the largest saving.
- Reduce trafficLower the tick rate where gameplay allows, send deltas, and cap message sizes.
- Test on free tiers, launch on paid onesUse free evaluations for development and read the limits so launch day does not hit a cap.
- Compare total cost including your timeAdd the hours you would spend patching and debugging to the hourly rate before choosing self-hosting.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest way to host a multiplayer game server?
Renting a small virtual machine and shutting it down when nobody is playing is usually the cheapest per hour, provided you can operate Linux yourself. Managed services cost more per hour but remove setup and maintenance work. The biggest saving in every case is not paying for hours when the server is empty.
Sources
- Edgegap pricing, accessed October 3, 2026
- Microsoft Learn: Billing for PlayFab Multiplayer Servers 2.0, accessed October 3, 2026