Rent a Rust server, or run it yourself?

Short answer: a Physgun Rust server that's always on, DDoS-protected and live in minutes costs less than the electricity to run one at home. Here's the math.

12 GB
Free RAM, per Facepunch
15 GB
Free SSD or NVMe
1 fast core
Rust is single-thread bound
24/7
PC on, ports open

How much does a Rust server cost to run at home?

Move the sliders to match your PC and your power bill. The total updates live.

Your self-hosting numbers

Defaults are a typical gaming PC running a Rust server 24/7 at the US average electricity price.

Hosting at home, per month
$22.34
  • Electricity (131 kWh)$22.34
  • Hardware, amortized$0.00
  • Internet add-ons$0.00
Physgun Rust server, per month
$11.87Micro
Overclocked Ryzen 9 9950X plans from $19.87

Renting saves you $10.47 a month, before you count Bulletproof DDoS Protection, automatic backups, and a PC you can actually turn off.

See Rust plans

Host a Rust server at home, on a VPS, or with Physgun

The parts of hosting that aren't on the price tag.

Your PC
A VPS
Physgun
Upfront cost
Your PC, or a new one
$0
$0
Monthly cost
Electricity plus wear
Varies by RAM tier
From $11.87
Home IP hidden from players
DDoS protection
None
Basic, usually null-routes you
Bulletproof Layer 7
Online when your PC is off
Setup
SteamCMD, port forwarding, firewall
SteamCMD, Linux admin
Live in minutes
Oxide and Carbon plugins
Manual
Manual
One click from uMod.org or Codefling
Scheduled wipes
Write your own scripts
Write your own scripts
Rust Wiper, built in
Backups
Do it yourself
Do it yourself
Automatic
See and manage players live
Console commands
Console commands
Rust God Tools livemap
Oxide and Carbon permissions
Edit JSON by hand
Edit JSON by hand
Live Permission Editor
Finding what fills the disk
Explorer and guesswork
du -sh and guesswork
Realtime Disk Analyzer
Support
Forums and Discord
Hardware tickets only
In-house support that plays Rust

A check means you get it. On your own PC, every player who connects can see your home IP.

The part you can't build at home: Rust God Tools

Hosting at home gives you a console window. Physgun gives you the most advanced Rust livemap with a full player manager built in. It's why admins who could self-host still host here.

Rust God Tools
Loading live demo…
Live demo, real server

Live positions

Every player on the map as they move. Click one for health, team and inventory.

Teleport, kick, ban

Edit inventories, modify player values, ban, kick and teleport from the RGT Player Manager. No console, no Steam IDs.

Spawn events

Drop an airdrop or call in a heli exactly where you want it. Great for events, even better for testing.

Monuments and bases

Monument markers, sleeping bags and TCs, so you know where the fights will be before they start.

That's the live demo above. Yours comes with every Rust plan. Built in-house. Only at Physgun.

Three more things a home PC will never give you

Live Permission Editor

Oxide and Carbon groups, players and auth levels in one matrix. Changes sync straight to the running server, and you review every change before it applies. No more hand-editing JSON and hoping.

Matrix, Groups, Players, Auth Levels. Oxide and Carbon.

Realtime Disk Analyzer

Your whole server disk as a live treemap. Spot the 5 GB of bundles and the 40 old saves at a glance and clear space in seconds, before a wipe fails on a full disk.

Folder and file-type breakdown. Rescans in seconds.

Per-Function Tick Profiler

Hook and invoke time per plugin, ranked. See exactly what's eating your ticks and pull the one plugin costing 4.6 ms, instead of disabling everything and guessing.

Runs on top of Physgun's own Rust engine optimizations.

When hosting at home still makes sense

Honestly, not often. But we'd rather you pick the right option than the one that pays us.

  • You've got a spare PC that's already on 24/7 for something else, and it's only ever you and a few friends.
  • You want to learn how a Rust server works under the hood. Nothing teaches like SteamCMD at 1am.
  • You're testing a plugin locally before pushing it to your real server.

Outgrow it? One-click import from any host works from your own PC too. Your save, server.cfg and plugins come straight across over SFTP in minutes.

Cheaper than your power bill. Online when your PC isn't.

Overclocked Ryzen 9 9950X, DDR5, NVMe, Bulletproof DDoS Protection and automatic backups on every plan.

Starter
Wipe Day Ready

Starter

200%CPU
10GBRAM

Best for starting a community

  • Overclocked Ryzen 9 9950X
  • DDR5 Memory [10GB]
  • NVMe Storage [Up to 150GB]
USUK
Chicago, US · London, UK
15% off first month
$19.87$16.89/mo

then $19.87/mo. Use codeRUSTat checkout

Most Popular
Growing Community
Wipe Day Ready

Growing Community

300%CPU
14GBRAM

Best for a growing community

  • Overclocked Ryzen 9 9950X
  • DDR5 Memory [14GB]
  • NVMe Storage [Up to 150GB]
USUK
Chicago, US · London, UK
15% off first month
$39.87$33.89/mo

then $39.87/mo. Use codeRUSTat checkout

Maximum Performance
Turbo
Wipe Day Ready

Turbo

400%CPU
20GB+RAM

Best for busy, high-pop servers

  • Overclocked Ryzen 9 9950X
  • DDR5 Memory [Up to 24GB]
  • NVMe Storage [Up to 150GB]
USUK
Chicago, US · London, UK
15% off first month
$59.87$50.89/mo

then $59.87/mo. Use codeRUSTat checkout

3-day money-back guarantee Cancel anytime Instant setup

Not every server needs a full plan

Development boxes, smaller servers and custom hardware, for when one of these fits better than a main plan.

plugin & mod development

Development Server

$8.87/mo

The best development environment.

  • Xeon/Epyc CPU
  • DDR4/DDR5 Memory
  • SSD Storage [Up to 150GB]

servers on a budget

Micro

$11.87/mo

Perfect for small servers!

  • Xeon/Epyc CPU
  • DDR4/DDR5 Memory [10GB]
  • SSD Storage [Up to 150GB]

the largest communities

Dedicated Rust Server

Custom pricing

Custom bare metal: a whole machine to yourself, configured to your spec, set up with you.

  • White Glove Support
  • Full Hardware Control

All Physgun servers instantly deploy on the fastest hardware available with dedicated resources.

FAQ · Frequently. Asked. Questions.

What people ask before deciding whether to host Rust at home.

Rarely. A 180 W gaming PC left on all month burns about 130 kWh, roughly $22 at the US average electricity price, before hardware wear or an internet upgrade. Physgun's Micro Rust plan is $11.87 a month and the overclocked Ryzen 9 9950X Starter is $19.87. Both include Bulletproof DDoS Protection, automatic backups and the Rust Wiper.

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