We get asked this one all the time: which map should I run on my ARK server? It's a fair question, because ARK has more than a dozen official maps and they're all pretty different. The map you pick changes what creatures you can tame, what bosses you can fight, how your tribe builds, and honestly how the whole server feels. So rather than dump a spec sheet on you, we'll walk through every official map, tell you what we actually think of it, and help you land on the right one.
Before we dig in – switching maps on a LOW.MS server is painless. You head into the control panel, open the Commandline Manager, pick the map or DLC you want, and restart. Full steps are in our switching map or DLC guide. Just remember that swapping map starts a fresh save – if you want to keep your characters and tames across multiple maps, you want a cluster, and we'll get to that at the end.
The free maps
These are the maps included with the base game. No DLC required, and they're where most communities start.
The Island
The Island is the original, and it's still the one we recommend for anyone's first ARK server. You get a bit of everything – beaches, jungles, swamps, snow peaks, underwater caves – plus the classic three-boss progression and the Tek Cave that wraps up the story. It's the lightest map on resources and the easiest to learn on, which matters a lot when you're just getting your bearings.
If you're unsure where to start, start here. Veterans sometimes call it small compared to the newer maps, and that's fair, but small also means you actually run into your tribemates, and that's half the fun of ARK.
The Center
The Center started life as a community map and went official because it was that good. It's huge, with floating islands, an underground ocean, and a lava island that still looks great years later. No unique bosses of its own – it shares The Island's boss fights – but the sheer geography gives PvP tribes a thousand places to hide a base.
We'd point bigger tribes and exploration-focused communities here. It can feel a bit empty in spots, but that's the trade-off for all that space.
Ragnarok
Ragnarok is the one a lot of people think of as the best all-rounder, and we wouldn't argue with them. Another community map gone official, it packs almost every biome type into one enormous landmass and adds exclusive tames – Griffins and Ice Wyverns being the headline acts. Building spots are excellent, resources are plentiful, and it works equally well for PvP and PvE.
If you can only run one map for a mixed group of players, Ragnarok is the safest pick on the board. The only real caveat is that it's big enough to overwhelm a first-time survivor, so pair newer players up with someone who knows their way around.
Valguero
Valguero is quieter than Ragnarok but rewards a closer look. The standout feature is a massive underground lake biome with its own ecosystem, and it's the home of Deinonychus – the raptor-style creature you can only breed here. The chalk cliffs in the north make for some of the prettiest base locations in the game.
It's a great pick for PvE groups that want somewhere to settle in and build. If you're chasing the widest possible creature roster, other maps edge it, but it's a lovely map to spend time on.
Crystal Isles
Crystal Isles is the map you put on when you want your server to look good. Crystalline terrain, floating islands, a honey biome, and the passive-tame Crystal Wyverns, which are genuinely beginner-friendly compared to the regular wyvern route. It's big, open, and forgiving.
Best suited to building-focused PvE servers and aesthetic communities. It's less punishing than some of the other big maps, which is a feature, not a bug.
Lost Island
Lost Island often gets overlooked and shouldn't. It's a well laid out map with three exclusive creatures – Dinopithecus, Amargasaurus, and the little shoulder-mounted Sinomacrops – and it crams a surprising amount of biome variety into its footprint.
If your players are creature collectors or just want something slightly off the beaten path, Lost Island is a solid choice. We've seen it do well on medium-sized PvE servers.
Fjordur
Fjordur is the biggest and richest of the free maps. Norse-themed main map, plus portals to three separate realms – Asgard, Jotunheim, and Vanaheim – and a strong set of exclusives including Andrewsarchus, Desmodus, and Fjordhawks. Effectively you're getting four connected worlds in one.
It's our top pick for experienced groups who've already played the classics and want somewhere new to sink a few hundred hours into. Brand new players may find the realm portals a bit disorienting at first, so ease them in.
The DLC maps
These maps need the matching ARK DLC installed. They're all included when you rent from us, you just need to own the DLC on your Steam account to play.
Scorched Earth
The first ARK expansion and still one of the most distinctive. Scorched Earth throws you into a desert with heat stroke, sandstorms, electrical storms, and a water supply problem you'll actually have to think about. It's home to Wyverns, the Phoenix, and Rock Elementals – some of the most iconic tames in the game.
Perfect for experienced players looking for a challenge. Not the one we'd recommend for a brand new survivor, because it doesn't pull any punches.
Aberration
Aberration is the one that feels least like ARK and we mean that as a compliment. It's set underground after a catastrophic event, with bioluminescent caves, radiation zones, vertical cave networks, and – crucially – no flyers allowed. That single restriction changes how you play the entire map. Rock Drakes and Reapers are the marquee tames and both are brilliant.
We'd point experienced players here when they want something genuinely different. It's harder than most maps and the no-flyer rule frustrates some people, but for the right community it's unforgettable.
Extinction
Extinction is ARK's end-game map. It drops you into a ruined Earth with a wrecked city, wastelands, Titan boss encounters you can briefly tame, and the Orbital Supply Drop and Element Vein defence events that give you something repeatable to do. It's also where you farm element seriously, and where the Gacha, Managarmr, and Snow Owl live.
Best suited to communities that have already rolled through the earlier maps and want proper end-game content. The city biome can be rough on performance so newer players should be careful roaming around there.
Genesis Part 1
Genesis Part 1 introduces missions – actual structured challenges with rewards – across five very different biomes: Arctic, Bog, Lunar, Ocean, and Volcanic. HLNA follows you around, the Bloodstalker and Magmasaur are excellent tames, and the Ferox is the little murder-gremlin every server ends up loving.
It's a good pick for groups that want direction rather than pure sandbox. If your players complain about not knowing what to do, Genesis 1 gives them a list.
Genesis Part 2
Genesis Part 2 is the end of the ARK story and the most demanding map in the lineup. The whole thing takes place on a giant colony ship, split between an eden-like paradise half and a corrupted wasteland half. The corrupted biome and the ship ecosystems are the heaviest load on a server of any map we host – worth knowing up front. Shadowmanes, Voidwyrms, and Maewings are the creatures to chase here.
For completionist groups finishing the story, it's the right pick. For a first server, don't start here.
Picking by play style
If this is your first ARK server, run The Island or Ragnarok. The Island is structured and simple, Ragnarok has everything. Both are hard to regret.
For PvP we tend to point people at Ragnarok, The Center, or Fjordur – all three have the size and terrain variety to make raids and hidden bases interesting. For PvE communities with builders, Ragnarok, Crystal Isles, and Fjordur are the obvious picks because the scenery gives your players something to actually build around. If you've got veterans who want a challenge, Aberration and Scorched Earth will wake them up. And if your community is made up of creature collectors or lore hunters, Fjordur, Lost Island, and Genesis Part 2 between them cover almost every exclusive tame worth chasing.
Running more than one map – clusters
If you can't pick just one, don't. A cluster lets you run several maps on the same server setup and lets your players transfer characters, tames, and items between them. It's the closest thing to the full ARK experience you can get.
Clustering is a little fiddly to set up properly, which is why we do it for customers for free – just open a ticket with support once your servers are live and we'll wire them together. There's more background in our guide on everything you need to know about ARK clusters, including how the sync works and what we can do for multi-region setups.
And that's the map situation. If you're ready to grab a server, head over to the ARK: Survival Evolved hosting page – RAM tiers and pricing are listed there so you can size things to the map you've picked. Once it's live, the getting started guide, the server configuration guide, and the troubleshooting guide will cover almost everything else you'll run into. If you want primitive-era play on top, the Primitive DLC guide has you covered too.