How Much RAM Does an s&box Server Need?

"How much RAM does an s&box server need?" is the most common pre-order question we get on this game, and the honest answer is: it depends on which game you're hosting. s&box isn't one game with one set of requirements – it's a platform, and the gamemode you load can vary from a tiny 4-player party game to a 64-player asset-heavy sandbox build. The RAM requirements scale accordingly.

That said, here's the rough shape of things based on what we see customers running.

The bands

• 4 GB – fine for small private servers. Sandbox-style gamemodes with 8-12 players, simple maps, no heavy custom content. This is the entry-level plan and where most casual hosts start.
• 8 GB – the comfortable middle. Larger sandbox sessions, gamemodes with persistent world state, anything roleplay-flavoured, or smaller competitive modes with tighter networking. If you're not sure, this is the safe pick.
• 16 GB – asset-heavy or large-player-count. Anything that loads big custom maps, lots of player-spawned props, or bumps player counts into the 30-50 range. Also the right pick if you're running a long-lived dev server with hot-reloading where the editor caches a lot in memory.
• 24 GB and up – serious community servers. 50+ player counts, complex multi-system gamemodes, or the kind of build-everything-yourself setups where the server is doing physics on hundreds of constantly-spawning props.

These are guide bands, not hard rules. A small map running an asset-light gamemode can hold up fine on 4 GB even with 32 players; a 4-player gamemode that loads a giant procedurally-generated world might choke on 8 GB. The gamemode is the variable.

What actually drives RAM use

A few things make s&box memory consumption swing:

• Map size and asset complexity. Big maps with lots of textures and meshes load more into memory. Flatgrass-style minimal maps barely register; large urban maps with dense geometry add up fast.
• Player-spawned content. In sandbox-style gamemodes where players are constantly spawning props and ragdolls, RAM grows over the session. You'll see this as a slow climb on Current Activity & Stats in the panel rather than a fixed baseline.
• Custom code in the gamemode. s&box lets gamemode authors hold a lot of state in memory. A roleplay gamemode tracking inventories, persistent world state, and active player jobs will use noticeably more than a pure deathmatch round.
• Hot-reloading dev servers. If you're hosting a local .sbproj for development, the editor and runtime hold extra state in memory for hot-reload to work. Bump up a band if you're doing this.

How to size in practice

If you're not sure, start one band lower than you think you need. The panel makes it easy to upgrade RAM later if you outgrow the plan. Current Activity & Stats in the LOW.MS Control Panel shows live RAM usage – watch it for 10-20 minutes during a typical session, and if it sits above ~80% under load, you've found your ceiling.

For the gamemode-by-gamemode picture, the gamemode's own page on sbox.game sometimes lists recommended player counts and rough hardware notes. Otherwise the s&box Discord is the fastest way to ask "how much RAM does X need?" – the gamemode's author often hangs out there.

Plan tiers and pricing live on the s&box hosting page. For setup and running the server itself, Getting started with your s&box dedicated server is the walkthrough.