How to Host a 7 Days To Die Dedicated Server in 2026

Why run your own 7 Days To Die server?

7 Days To Die has been kicking around since 2013, but the V1.0 launch in July 2024 finally pushed it out of Early Access, and the game is in a genuinely good state in 2026. Crossplay between PC and console is in, the character system has been reworked, and the moment-to-moment survival loop is still one of the best in the genre.

The game really comes alive on a dedicated server. Your world stays online when you log off, your friends can hop in whenever they like, and you get to decide how harsh or relaxed things should be — difficulty, loot, Blood Moon rules, PvP, the lot. This guide walks through the two ways to get a 7DTD server running in 2026, the settings worth thinking about before you invite anyone, and how to keep the thing healthy once it is live.

Option 1: Running a server on your own PC

You can absolutely host 7 Days To Die from a machine at home using SteamCMD. If you just want to test something with a mate on the same network, this is fine. We would not recommend it for anything you want people to rely on, and we will get to why in a moment.

The rough process looks like this:

Install SteamCMD from the Valve Developer Community.
Pull down the dedicated server files with a single SteamCMD command: steamcmd +force_install_dir ./7dtd-server +login anonymous +app_update 294420 validate +quit
Open serverconfig.xml and set your server name, world, and game rules.
Forward the ports on your router. 7DTD uses 26900 on both TCP and UDP for the main game port, 26901-26903 on UDP, and 8080-8082 for the web panel and telnet.
Launch with startdedicated.bat on Windows, or startserver.sh on Linux.

We have a longer walkthrough over at How to setup a 7 Days To Die server on your PC if you want the full version.

The honest downsides: your PC has to stay on around the clock, you are opening ports on your home network, residential upload speeds are rarely generous enough for more than a couple of players, and if you try to play on the same box that hosts the server you will feel it. There are no backups, no DDoS protection, and any problem that crops up at 2am is yours to fix.

Option 2: Renting a managed server

This is what most people end up doing, and it is what we do at LOW.MS. You get the hardware, the network, the DDoS mitigation, and the panel handled for you, and you still get full control over the game side — configs, mods, admins, all of it.

A few things to look for in a host regardless of who you go with:

CPU clock speed. The main simulation in 7DTD is largely single-threaded, so fast cores matter more than lots of slow ones. A modern Ryzen or recent Intel chip will chew through chunks much faster than an older server CPU.
Enough RAM for what you are actually doing. Vanilla is comfortable on modest amounts, but big overhaul mods and larger worlds will push memory use up quickly. Make sure your plan can be upgraded if you need it.
DDoS protection. Not optional for anything public.
Automatic backups. Worth their weight in gold the first time a save decides to misbehave.
Mod and file access. You want a real file manager, SFTP, the works — not a locked-down setup that forces you through a ticket every time you want to drop in a modlet.
Server location. Pick a region close to most of your players. A 30ms difference is the kind of thing people notice when a screamer horde shows up.

LOW.MS 7 Days To Die hosting

Every LOW.MS 7 Days To Die server comes with DDoS protection, automated Cloud Backups with one-click Cloud Restore, 24/7 support from people who actually play the game, full file access over SFTP (port 8822) and FTP (port 8821), and multiple regions selectable at checkout. Both Linux and Windows plans are available, and provisioning is automatic — once payment clears, the server builds itself and is ready to start.

RAM and slot counts vary by plan, so rather than quoting a number that will be out of date in a month, you can see the current options on our 7 Days To Die game server page.

Setting up your rented server

Once the server has provisioned, setup is quick:

Log in to the LOW.MS control panel at control.low.ms.
Hit start. The first boot generates the world, which can take a few minutes on larger maps.
Pop into Configuration Files to edit serverconfig.xml, or use Service Settings for the common options.
Grab the IP and port from Current Activity & Stats and share it with your friends.
If you want a private server, set a password. Leave it blank for open access.

If this is your first LOW.MS server, our Getting Started Guide covers the panel in more detail.

Settings worth thinking about

Before you invite anyone, there are a handful of decisions worth making up front.

World type. Navezgane is the hand-crafted map — consistent, well balanced, and a good shout for newer players. Random World Generation (RWG) builds a fresh world from a seed, and every seed gives you a different layout of cities, biomes, and POIs. We tend to prefer RWG for groups that plan on sticking around for a long run.

World size. Bigger worlds look great and give you more to explore, but they also take longer to generate and use more memory. If you are not sure, start smaller — you can always move to a larger world later.

Difficulty and Blood Moon. The defaults are a reasonable starting point for most groups. If you want things punchier, bump GameDifficulty and drop BloodMoonFrequency. For a more chilled run, nudge LootAbundance and XPMultiplier up a bit.

For the full rundown of every setting, see our Server Settings Guide.

Mods

One of the best things about 7DTD is its modding scene. The big overhauls worth knowing about:

Darkness Falls — classes, new zombies, extra crafting layers.
Undead Legacy — deep crafting rework, custom POIs, vehicles.
War3zuk — new items, weapons, and zombie types.
Modlets — small XML-based tweaks that add quality-of-life features without touching core files.

Most overhauls need EAC turned off and noticeably more RAM than vanilla, and every player has to install matching client files. Server-side modlets are much more forgiving and often work without any client changes at all.

On LOW.MS, the Mod Manager in the panel ships with a curated catalogue of popular 7DTD mods you can install with a couple of clicks, and you can drop anything else in by hand through the File Manager or SFTP. For a walkthrough of a bigger install, see Installing Darkness Falls on your server.

Keeping the server healthy

A few habits that go a long way:

Schedule Cloud Backup runs in the panel, ideally right before Blood Moon nights. Cloud Restore is one click away if anything goes sideways.
Keep an eye on memory from the Web Console with the mem command. If you are sitting at 85% or above for long stretches, it is time to upgrade.
Use Steam Update after big game patches so the server files stay in sync.
Check Log Viewer after installing or updating mods — it will save you a lot of guessing.
Set admins in serveradmin.xml so trusted players can keep things tidy while you are offline.

If players cannot see the server

The most common gotcha is the server not appearing in the in-game list. Nine times out of ten it is a config or visibility setting rather than anything actually broken. We have a dedicated article for this: Server not showing in server list. Worth bookmarking.

If you are still stuck, our support team is around 24/7 — open a ticket and we will take a look.