Free Terraria Server Hosting: What Actually Works
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Everything you need to run a Terraria server is free. The server program comes with the game and can be downloaded from terraria.org, and TShock and tModLoader cost nothing either. So the question is not whether you can have a free Terraria server — you can — but where it runs, and what happens to the world when you are not there.
This guide goes through every free route people actually use, including the "free mobile servers" that come up in every search, and says plainly what each one is good for and where it stops. It describes how free options behave rather than quoting anyone's limits, because those change.
The short answer
HytHost has no free plan, and we will not pretend otherwise. But there are real free ways to play Terraria together, and for many groups one of them is enough:
- Steam Host & Play — free, no setup, but the world exists only while the host is in the game.
- A dedicated server on your own PC — free and fully yours, as long as the PC stays on and you can forward a port.
- A free hosting service — free, with conditions that usually show up exactly when your group gets going.
If your group always plays at the same time, stay free: Host & Play or your own PC will do. If people want to drop in on their own schedule, read on — that is the point where free starts to cost something.
Skip the trade-offs: a HytHost Terraria server that stays online without your PC starts at €2.59/mo.
See Terraria plansEvery free route, and its catch
Steam Host & Play
Open Multiplayer, choose Host & Play, pick a world and invite your Steam friends. It is the easiest multiplayer there is. The catch is built in: the world runs inside the host's game, so when the host leaves, everyone leaves. Nobody can log in to farm or build while the host is offline, and only Steam friends can join this way.
A dedicated server on your own PC
Run TerrariaServer, which ships with the game, and the world runs on its own — friends join by IP whenever the server is up. It is free and it is a real server, with nothing idling it and no caps. What it asks of you:
- The PC stays on. Every shutdown, reboot or trip with the laptop takes the world offline.
- A port forward. TCP 7777 has to be opened on your router. Some connections — mobile broadband and many shared "CGNAT" lines — cannot accept incoming players at all; then every player has to join through a VPN tool such as ZeroTier or Radmin VPN instead.
- Your upload and your PC's resources. Terraria is light, but the server shares the machine with whatever else you run on it.
Our how to make a Terraria server guide has the full setup.
Free hosting services
Free game-server hosts exist, and some are run in good faith. They are not free to run, though, so they recover the cost somewhere, and it is worth knowing where:
- Sleep timers. The server stops when nobody is online, or after a set time, and stays down until someone wakes it from a website.
- Queues. Starting the server can mean waiting in line behind other free users.
- Tight memory and player limits. Fine for a small vanilla world; often not enough for tModLoader, where big content mods need gigabytes.
- Ads and renewals. Watching ads or clicking a renew button every few days is a common way to keep a free server alive.
- Missing pieces. Backups, file access to upload your own world, or a choice of server software are often limited or absent.
Free mobile Terraria servers
Searches for a "free mobile Terraria server" usually lead to the same thing: the phone hosting the game itself. In Terraria on mobile, Multiplayer > Local lets one phone host a world for others on the same network, up to eight players. It is free and works well on the sofa; it stops when the host's phone closes the game, and players elsewhere cannot reach it without extra tools. There is no dedicated server app for phones.
A phone can also join a real server. Mobile players can join a Vanilla Terraria server by IP and port when the phone and the server run the same game version: Multiplayer > Online, then add the address and port. If a phone is on a different version, pick the matching version for the server — on HytHost at checkout or in the Software tab, anywhere from 1.4.1 to 1.4.5.
Two limits: console players cannot join dedicated servers yet, though Re-Logic says console crossplay is coming; and tModLoader is PC only, so mobile players cannot join a modded server.
Free and paid options side by side
| Option | Cost | Online when you are offline | Mods | Players | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steam Host & Play | Free | No | With tModLoader | Steam friends you invite | None |
| Phone hosting (Local) | Free | No | No | Up to 8, same network | None |
| Your own PC | Free, plus electricity | While the PC is on | Yes | Up to the server limit | Setup and a port forward |
| A free hosting service | Free | Often not: sleep timers | Limited by memory | Usually capped | Renewals, waking the server |
| A paid plan | From €2.59/mo | Yes | Yes, with tModLoader | Up to the plan's slots | Pick the software and play |
When paying is worth it
The line is not the size of your world. It is whether people want to play when the host is not around. Until then, free costs you nothing. After it, every evening the world was offline is an evening someone did not play.
Signs you have crossed it:
- Friends ask you to "turn the server on".
- Your free server sleeps, and nobody can wake it when you are away.
- You want tModLoader with Calamity or Thorium, and the free memory is not enough.
- You are tired of leaving your PC on overnight.
The cheapest real option is small. HytHost Terraria hosting starts with Copper, 2 GB, at €2.59/mo, which runs Vanilla or TShock comfortably for a small group. From there, Iron (4 GB, €5.18/mo) suits a bigger group or a large world, and Gold (6 GB, €7.77/mo) is where tModLoader packs like Calamity start; a Custom server goes up to 16 GB. Upgrades keep the world in place.
Every plan includes Vanilla, TShock or tModLoader with any version from 1.4.1 to 1.4.5, automatic backups, DDoS filtering and a 99.9% Uptime SLA. Moving a world from your PC or a free host is free: send us the .wld file, plus the .twld for a modded world.
Copper, 2 GB, runs Vanilla or TShock for a small group at €2.59/mo, and upgrades keep your world.
See Terraria plansGetting the most from a small server
Whether it is free or the smallest paid plan, a 2 GB server goes a long way if you set it up for it:
- Run Vanilla or TShock. They are light: an idle server uses roughly 0.6 GB on a small world. Save tModLoader for when you have the memory for the mods you want.
- Pick the world size on purpose. A large world takes about twice the memory of a small one before anyone joins. For two to four players, small or medium is plenty.
- Keep the player limit realistic. Players spread across the map each keep their part of the world active.
- Restart now and then. A scheduled restart keeps a long-running world fresh.
When modding is the plan, our tModLoader server guide has the RAM each popular mod setup needs.
Frequently asked questions
Rarely. Free hosts recover their costs with sleep timers, queues, memory limits or ads, so a free server that stays online around the clock is the exception. The free option that genuinely stays up is your own PC, left switched on, with TCP port 7777 forwarded on your router.
A phone can host a world for players on the same network through Multiplayer, then Local, for up to eight players, but it stops when the host closes the game and there is no dedicated server app for phones. A phone can also join a Vanilla server by IP and port when both run the same game version.
Generally yes. The server comes from Re-Logic with the game, and opening one port for it is a normal setup. Set a server password so only your friends can join, keep the game updated, and forward only port 7777 rather than putting the whole PC in the router's DMZ.
Because a running server costs the host memory and CPU even when nobody plays. Stopping idle servers is how free hosts can afford to give servers away, so the server sleeps until someone starts it again.
On HytHost, the Copper plan with 2 GB at €2.59/mo. It runs Vanilla or TShock comfortably for a small group, and you can upgrade later without losing the world.
Yes. A Terraria world is a .wld file, plus a .twld file for a tModLoader world. Download it from the free host, upload it to the new server's worlds folder and point the server at it. On HytHost we also migrate worlds free of charge.
Free until people want to play without you
HytHost Terraria hosting keeps your world online with Vanilla, TShock or tModLoader, automatic backups and free migration — from €2.59/mo.
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