How to host an Enshrouded server without paying anyone: install the dedicated server with SteamCMD (App ID 2278520 — you don't need to own the game to host), configure enshrouded_server.json, forward one UDP port (yes, one — see the two-port myth), and get your friends in. Plus the Tailscale trick that skips port forwarding entirely, how to move your save in either direction, and what "free" actually costs in electricity.
queryPort, default 15637) — we verified it on a live server. Forward that one; the ports section has the receipts.
The Enshrouded dedicated server requirements are refreshingly modest by survival-game standards — Keen publishes actual numbers, and they're small. The spec that trips people up isn't RAM; it's upload bandwidth.
enshrouded_server.exe), so a Windows box is the natural path; Linux runs the same exe under Wine (step 1 covers it).slotCount — and no, renting doesn't raise it either.slotCount to your upload, not your optimism.2278520) installs with anonymous SteamCMD login — no purchase.For tuning the world itself — all 37 gameplay settings, the difficulty factors, roles and permissions — that's a separate discipline with its own pages: the config generator builds the file, and every setting is explained here. This page gets the server online.
Six steps from nothing to friends in your world. Steps 1–3 install and configure; 4–5 open the door and connect; 6 keeps it alive. Total time is well under an hour, most of it download.
The Enshrouded dedicated server is a free, standalone app. Install SteamCMD (Valve's command-line installer), then run:
steamcmd +login anonymous +force_install_dir C:\enshrouded-server +app_update 2278520 validate +quitThat anonymous is the whole free angle: you don't need to own Enshrouded to host it. No purchase, no second copy, no account with the game on it. Keep the validate flag — it verifies the files, and re-running this exact command later is also how you update or repair the install.
On Linux? There's no Linux build — the server is a Windows binary, and every Linux host (including the big hosting companies) runs it under Wine. Tell SteamCMD to fetch the Windows files with +@sSteamCmdForcePlatformType windows before the login, then launch enshrouded_server.exe through Wine. It works fine; it's just more plumbing than this Windows-path guide covers.
Launch enshrouded_server.exe from the install folder once, give it a moment, then stop it. This generates the one and only config file, right next to the exe:
C:\enshrouded-server\enshrouded_server.jsonenshrouded_server.jsonThe minimum before going live:
name — what shows in the server browser. Change it or be one of a hundred "Enshrouded Server"s.slotCount — up to the hard cap of 16. Match it to your upload bandwidth.userGroups — the role passwords. The password a player types at join decides their role (Admin / Friend / Guest in the default file) — set a strong Admin password at minimum, because a blank one means anyone can join as admin.And the classic trap: if you touch any of the 37 gameSettings (rates, difficulty, day length…), set gameSettingsPreset to "Custom" first — on any named preset the server silently ignores the entire block. The Enshrouded config generator builds a valid file from labeled fields and gates the factors behind Custom for you; every setting is explained here.
For friends to join over the internet, your router has to know where to send them:
queryPort (default 15637) to the server PC's LAN IP. That's the only port current builds use — the old gamePort (15636) is dead. Every router buries port forwarding somewhere different — search "your router model port forwarding".enshrouded_server.exe manually.The full single-port story, the UPnP warning, and the CGNAT dealbreaker are in the ports section. If port forwarding turns out to be impossible on your connection, Tailscale is the escape hatch.
Start enshrouded_server.exe. Then, in Enshrouded, friends have two ways to find you:
yourPublicIP:15637 (your queryPort). The server appears there immediately — the reliable route while the in-game browser catches up.At join, each player types the password for the role you gave them — that password is the access system. And once every role has a password set, a passwordless join is refused outright (we tested exactly that). No "oops, a stranger wandered in."
Stay alive: if the server should survive reboots and crashes, wrap enshrouded_server.exe in a Task Scheduler task (run at startup, restart on failure) or register it as a service with NSSM. Otherwise "the server is down" becomes a recurring group-chat genre.
If you searched "enshrouded dedicated server ports 15636 15637," here's the part nobody updated: that pair is from an older build. Current servers use one UDP port, and we can tell you exactly how we know.
| Port | Protocol | Purpose | Forward? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15637 | UDP | Everything — game traffic and Steam server-list queries. This is the queryPort in enshrouded_server.json; default 15637, changeable. | Yes |
| 15636 | UDP | Dead. The legacy gamePort from older builds. Current servers delete the key from the config at boot and never bind the port. | No |
How we verified it (current build v0.9.1.2, June 2026): we ran a live server, added a gamePort key to enshrouded_server.json by hand, and booted. The server deleted the key from its own config file and bound exactly one UDP socket — the queryPort. Guides telling you to forward two ports are recycling pre-2025 data. Forwarding the dead port is harmless — it's just cargo cult. Forward your queryPort; done.
If your ISP uses carrier-grade NAT (CGNAT), you don't have your own public IPv4 address — you share one with other customers, and inbound connections die at the ISP before they ever reach your router. No port-forward setting can fix that. Quick check: compare your router's WAN IP with what a "what is my IP" site reports — if they differ, you're behind CGNAT.
Two big names to know: Starlink is CGNAT — officially; their router doesn't even offer a port-forwarding option, and residential plans can't buy a public IPv4. T-Mobile Home Internet is effectively the same (IPv6 with translation, no port forwarding). If that's your connection, classic self-hosting by public IP is off the table — but don't close the tab: Tailscale works fine behind CGNAT, because it only makes outbound connections. That's the fix.
This guide gets the server online. Tuning what the world feels like — rates, difficulty, day length, who can build and who can kick — is its own discipline, and we've already written it.
Everything lives in enshrouded_server.json next to the exe. Three facts shape how you work with it. One: settings load on boot only, and the in-game settings menu on dedicated servers is read-only — the game's own message says to "use the server interface of the provider or update the enshrouded_server.json file." Two: the server rewrites the file at every boot and deletes keys it doesn't recognize, so hand-edit with the server stopped and double-check what survived. Three, the big one: the 37 gameSettings apply only when gameSettingsPreset is "Custom" — on Default, Relaxed, Hard or Survival the server silently ignores the whole block. That trap alone accounts for most "my settings don't work" threads.
userGroups — each role has its own join password and permissions (kick/ban, chest access, base editing, world editing, reserved slots), and the password a player types at join decides their role. The default file ships Admin, Friend, and a rights-free Guest. Set the Admin password before anything else.You can skip the entire router chapter of this guide. Tailscale puts your server and your friends on a private network — no open ports, no public exposure — and it works behind CGNAT. And since Enshrouded is PC-only in early access, it covers literally your whole playerbase today.
What it is: Tailscale is a free mesh VPN. Everyone installs a small client, signs in, and every machine gets a private 100.x.y.z address that works from anywhere — as if you were all on the same LAN. All connections are outbound, so there's no port forwarding, your server is never exposed to the public internet, and CGNAT doesn't matter. This isn't an off-label hack, either — Tailscale officially documents game-server hosting as a use case.
The numbers, current: as of April 8, 2026, Tailscale's free Personal plan covers 6 users and unlimited devices. Most guides still quote the old 3-user/100-device cap — that's out of date.
The flow:
100.x.y.z address from the Tailscale app or admin console.100.x.y.z:15637 (the Tailscale address + your queryPort) to Steam → View → Game Servers → Favorites and join from there. That's it. No router was harmed.The good news: updating is the same command as installing. The bad news: nothing reminds you to run it.
Stop the server, then re-run the exact SteamCMD line from step 1:
steamcmd +login anonymous +force_install_dir C:\enshrouded-server +app_update 2278520 validate +quitWhy it's urgent: after an Enshrouded patch, server and client versions must match. Steam updates your friends' games automatically; your server just sits there on the old build, politely rejecting everyone. If "nobody can join since the update" is the symptom, this is the cause — every time. Update the server the same day a patch lands.
savegame folder — that's the world (more in save transfer). The update itself doesn't touch it, but a backup costs ten seconds and corruption stories are never about people who had one.Your world is a folder. That one fact is your insurance policy against every hosting decision you'll ever make.
The save lives in whatever saveDirectory in enshrouded_server.json points at — by default ./savegame, right next to the exe. Moving a world between servers is exactly what it looks like:
savegame folder (or wherever saveDirectory points) to the destination machine.saveDirectory to wherever you put it. Start the server. Same world, new home.This works in both directions, and that's the point: start self-hosted and move to a rented server when babysitting gets old, or pull your world off a host and bring it home the day they annoy you. Any host that can't hand you your savegame folder — or accept one — is telling you something. Your world should never be a hostage.
The software is $0 and nobody's lying about that. But "free server" pages that stop there are skipping the part where your PC becomes an appliance. Here's the actual arithmetic.
| Line item | Self-hosting cost |
|---|---|
| Server software | $0 — free via SteamCMD, no game copy needed. |
| Hardware | Modest — ~6 GB RAM at a full 16 slots, plus an SSD. Free if you have a spare box; not free if "free hosting" talks you into buying one. |
| Electricity | A typical PC draws roughly 50–100 W at server-style light load. At 60 W around the clock that's ≈ 43 kWh/month — about $6–8 at average US residential rates. Scale to your wattage and local rate. |
| Upload bandwidth | ~2 Mbit/s per player. Already paid for — if your plan has it. A 16-slot server on a 20 Mbit/s upstream doesn't. |
| Your time | Updates on patch day, restarts, backups, the occasional "why is it down" investigation. Small, recurring, real. |
So "free" honestly means roughly the price of a coffee per month in power, on hardware you already own, plus light upkeep. For a lot of groups that's a great deal — it's why this guide exists. Renting flips the trade: a monthly fee instead of the electricity, the 24/7 PC, the port forwarding, and the CGNAT problem. Neither answer is wrong; they just pay in different currencies. Run the math for your situation and pick on purpose.
Nearly every "my Enshrouded dedicated server isn't working" thread is one of these. Find your symptom, apply the fix.
| Symptom | Cause & fix |
|---|---|
| Server not showing up in the in-game browser | First suspect: it's just new — fresh servers can take several minutes to appear in the list. Search by name, or add IP:queryPort to Steam → View → Game Servers → Favorites, which works immediately. If it never appears: UDP queryPort not forwarded or the firewall is blocking the exe. |
| Friends can't connect by IP | The classic triple-check: UDP queryPort (default 15637) forwarded to the server's LAN IP, Windows Firewall allowing enshrouded_server.exe, and you gave them your current public IP (it can change after a router reboot). All three pass? Rule out CGNAT — router WAN IP ≠ public IP means you're behind it, and only Tailscale (or renting) will help. |
| You forwarded 15636 and 15637 like the guides said | Harmless, but half of it does nothing — current builds bind only the queryPort and delete the gamePort key at boot. If joins still fail, the problem is elsewhere in this table, not in adding more ports. |
| Player gets refused at join with no password | Working as designed: once every role has a password, passwordless joins are refused outright (we tested it). Give the player the password for the role you want them in — the password decides the role. |
| Settings changes do nothing | Two suspects. One: gameSettingsPreset isn't "Custom" — on any named preset, the server silently ignores all 37 gameSettings. Two: the server rewrote your edit away — it normalizes the config at boot and deletes unknown (or typo'd) keys. Re-open the file after a boot and see what survived. Full detail in settings explained. |
| Can't change settings from inside the game | Not a bug. The in-game settings menu on dedicated servers is read-only — the game itself tells you to use your provider's interface or edit enshrouded_server.json. Stop the server, edit, restart. |
| Everyone rejected after patch day | Version mismatch — clients auto-updated, your server didn't. Re-run +app_update 2278520 validate and restart. See updating. |
2278520 with anonymous login, no game purchase required to host. The real cost of "free" is hardware and power: a PC drawing ~60 W around the clock is roughly 43 kWh/month, about $6–8 at average US rates. Full breakdown in the cost section.+login anonymous +app_update 2278520 validate — no purchase, no account with the game. You only need to own Enshrouded to play on the server.slotCount to your connection. See requirements.queryPort, default 15637. The old 15636/15637 pair is obsolete: as of build v0.9.1.2 (June 2026) the server deletes the gamePort key at boot and binds only the queryPort — we verified it on a live server. Details in ports.IP:queryPort meanwhile), the UDP queryPort isn't forwarded or the firewall is blocking it, there's a version mismatch after a patch, or you're behind CGNAT and need Tailscale. Full table in troubleshooting.userGroups carries its own join password, the password a player types decides their role, and once every role has one, passwordless joins are refused outright. Network-level: Tailscale — friends connect to your private 100.x.y.z:15637 address, no port forwarding, never exposed to the public internet. Enshrouded is PC-only in early access, so Tailscale covers everyone today.+app_update 2278520 validate. The server doesn't auto-update, and server and client versions must match — until you run it, freshly-patched players get rejected. Back up the savegame folder first. See updating.saveDirectory points at — ./savegame next to the exe by default. Stop the server, copy the folder, point the destination server at it. Works in both directions: self-hosted → rented, or rented → back home. Your world is a folder; whoever holds the folder holds the world. See save transfer.Server's up — now tune the world. Our Enshrouded pages cover every setting and command so you don't have to hand-edit JSON or count nanoseconds.