Choosing a VPS for Your Satisfactory Server
Hardware requirements and VPS provider recommendations for running a Satisfactory dedicated server. Minimum specs, disk sizing, and provider comparison.
Overview
Choosing the right VPS is the most important hardware decision for running a Satisfactory dedicated server. This guide covers minimum and recommended specifications, disk sizing, and which providers work well for game server hosting.
Hardware Specifications
CPU
Satisfactory’s dedicated server is single-threaded for world simulation. Clock speed matters more than core count for server performance, but you need enough cores to avoid CPU starvation from the OS and other processes.
| Tier | Cores | Use case |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum | 4 vCPU | Small factory, 1–4 players, early game |
| Recommended | 8 vCPU | Medium/large factory, 4–8 players |
| High-end | 16 vCPU | Very large factory, many machines |
RAM
RAM usage scales with factory complexity. A world with thousands of machines and long supply chains uses significantly more RAM than an early-game factory.
| Tier | RAM | Use case |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum | 12 GB | Early game / small factory |
| Recommended | 16 GB | Mid-game factory |
| Large factory | 24–32 GB | Late-game / megabase |
If the server runs out of RAM, it will either crash or become unresponsive. Start with 16 GB to give yourself room to grow.
Disk
| Component | Size |
|---|---|
| Satisfactory server binary (SteamCMD download) | ~8–10 GB |
| Initial save file | < 100 MB |
| Large late-game save | 300–800 MB |
| Buffer for updates + backups | 10 GB |
Recommended disk: 75 GB (matches the production Kubernetes deployment in this project). 20 GB is the absolute minimum but leaves little room for growth.
Network
The server sends physics and game state updates to all connected clients. Upload bandwidth is the constraint.
- Minimum: 10 Mbps upload
- Recommended: 100 Mbps upload
- Players: ~2–5 Mbps upload per connected player during active gameplay
Recommended VPS Providers
These providers are commonly used for game server hosting and offer bare-metal-level performance at affordable prices.
Hetzner (Best value, Europe)
- Location: Germany, Finland, USA (Ashburn, Hillsboro)
- Recommended tier: CPX31 or CPX41 (4–8 vCPU, 8–16 GB RAM, NVMe SSD)
- Price: €10–€22/month
- Network: 20 TB/month included, 1 Gbit/s uplink
- Control panel: Hetzner Cloud (easy firewall rules)
- hetzner.com
Contabo (Budget option)
- Location: Germany, USA, UK, Singapore, Japan, Australia
- Recommended tier: VPS M (6 vCPU, 16 GB RAM, 400 GB NVMe)
- Price: ~€9/month
- Note: CPU is shared and can be throttled under sustained load
- contabo.com
OVHcloud
- Location: Worldwide (Europe, US, Canada, Asia)
- Recommended tier: Starter (4 vCPU, 8 GB) or Value (8 vCPU, 16 GB)
- Price: €9–€18/month
- ovhcloud.com
DigitalOcean
- Recommended tier: General Purpose 8 GB Droplet
- Price: ~$48/month (more expensive but excellent reliability)
- Note: Good for teams already using DigitalOcean
- digitalocean.com
Operating System
Recommended: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (supported until April 2029)
All commands in this documentation target Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 LTS. Other Linux distributions work but may require adjusted package manager commands.
When provisioning your VPS, select:
- OS: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (or 22.04 LTS)
- Architecture: x86_64 (amd64)
- Do NOT use ARM-based instances — Docker images for the Satisfactory server require amd64
Storage Type
Use NVMe SSD or SSD storage only. The Satisfactory dedicated server does frequent read/write operations for saves, checkpoints, and logging. Spinning HDD storage causes perceptible stuttering in the game world.
IPv4 vs IPv6
The Satisfactory dedicated server requires a public IPv4 address. The game client does not support connecting via IPv6. Ensure your VPS has a dedicated public IPv4 (most VPS plans include one).
What This Project Uses in Production
The server running FICSIT.monitor in production (46.224.182.211) uses a bare-metal Kubernetes cluster on a Hetzner dedicated server with:
- 8 CPU cores
- 32 GB RAM
- 500 GB NVMe SSD
The Satisfactory game server pod is allocated 2–4 CPU cores and 8–16 GB RAM (see the Kubernetes Deployment guide for full manifest details).