How to make a Palworld server without paying anyone: install the dedicated server with SteamCMD (App ID 2394010 — you don't even need to own the game to host), configure PalWorldSettings.ini, forward UDP 8211, and get your friends in. Plus the parts other guides skip: the Xbox/PS5 catch, the Tailscale trick that skips port forwarding entirely, and what "free" actually costs in electricity.
The server software is free and you don't need to own the game to run it. The catch is hardware: Palworld's server is hungrier than most survival games, and the official numbers are honest about it.
2394010) installs with anonymous SteamCMD login — no purchase.One honest note before you commit: if the plan is to run the server and play on the same 16 GB PC, it's tight. The game wants its share, the server wants its share, and Windows never met a gigabyte it didn't like. It works for a short session with a friend or two; as a 24/7 arrangement it's asking for crashes. A spare machine — even an old one with 16 GB and an SSD — or 32 GB in your main rig makes this a non-issue.
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 Palworld dedicated server is a free, standalone app. Install SteamCMD (Valve's command-line installer), then run:
steamcmd +login anonymous +force_install_dir C:\palworld-server +app_update 2394010 validate +quitThat anonymous is the whole free angle: you don't need to own Palworld to host it. No purchase, no second copy, no account with the game on it. (If you do own it on Steam, the server also shows up under Library → Tools as "Palworld Dedicated Server" — same software, pick whichever install path annoys you less.)
Keep the validate flag — it verifies the files, and re-running this exact command later is also how you update or repair the install.
Launch PalServer.exe from the install folder once, give it a moment, then stop it. This generates the live config file:
...\Pal\Saved\Config\WindowsServer\PalWorldSettings.iniDefaultPalWorldSettings.ini sitting in the install root. It's a template — editing it does nothing. The server only reads the one under Saved\Config. If the generated file is near-empty, that's normal: paste your OptionSettings=(...) line into it (step 3).PalWorldSettings.iniPalworld keeps every setting on one giant OptionSettings=(...) line — all 108 of them, comma-separated, no line breaks. The minimum to set before going live:
ServerName — what shows in the server browser.ServerPassword — the join password. Empty = anyone who finds you gets in.AdminPassword — required for admin commands; make it long and random.Hand-editing one 108-setting line is exactly as pleasant as it sounds, so we built a way out: the Palworld settings generator turns every setting into sliders and toggles and hands you a ready-to-paste line — correct key names (including Pocketpair's own typos, which must match exactly), correct formatting. For what each setting actually does, see all 108 settings explained; for in-game admin, the admin commands reference.
For friends to join over the internet by IP, your router has to know where to send them:
Full port detail, 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 PalServer.exe. Then, depending on platform:
8211 (e.g. 203.0.113.10:8211). The in-game community list only shows your server if you've registered it as a public community server.192.168.x.x:8211) from inside your network. Your own public IP may not loop back from inside — many routers don't support NAT loopback, and it proves nothing about whether outsiders can join. Have one friend outside your network confirm.Stay alive: if the server should survive reboots and crashes, wrap PalServer.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.
One port carries the game. Most "nobody can join" problems live in this section — the port, the firewall, or an ISP that quietly made port forwarding impossible.
| Port | Protocol | Purpose | Forward? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8211 | UDP | All game traffic. The default — changeable via the server's launch options if you need a different one. | Yes |
| 25575 | TCP | RCON (remote admin console). Off by default — only relevant if you enable it, and don't expose it to the internet casually. | No |
| 8212 | TCP | REST API (HTTP admin). Also off by default; same advice. | No |
Some third-party guides also tell you to forward a 27015 "query port." It doesn't appear in the official server docs, and direct IP connections don't need it — UDP 8211 is the one that matters.
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.
Crossplay on dedicated servers is real and default-on (Steam, Xbox, PS5, Mac — since v0.5.0, March 2025). How console players reach your server is the part with a rule attached.
Per the official docs: Xbox and PS5 players can only join a dedicated server that's deployed as a public community server — listed in the in-game browser. They cannot direct-connect by IP, and they can't install Tailscale (there's no console client). The closest thing to a private console-friendly server is a community server with a password: publicly listed, but only your group gets in.
Registering as a community server is done through the server's launch configuration — the exact flags have changed across Palworld versions, so check the official server docs for the current method rather than trusting a guide frozen in 2024 (including, eventually, this sentence — which is why we date-stamp our checks).
If your group is all on PC, 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.
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, pitching it as the alternative to paid hosting or opening firewall ports.
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:8211 — the Tailscale address instead of a public IP. That's it. No router was harmed.This guide gets the server online. Tuning what the world feels like — rates, death penalty, PvP, breeding — is its own discipline, and we've already written it.
Everything lives in PalWorldSettings.ini (the one under Pal\Saved\Config\WindowsServer\ — not the Default template), all 108 settings on one OptionSettings=(...) line. The working method: stop the server, edit, start it — settings only load on boot. The deep-dives:
DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini (the template) instead of the live file, you didn't restart, or the world reads WorldOption.sav, which overrides the INI on worlds first created in-game. The settings page FAQ covers the fix.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:\palworld-server +app_update 2394010 validate +quitWhy it's urgent: after a Palworld patch, clients must match the server version. 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.
Pal\Saved\ — that folder holds your world saves and config. Copy it somewhere safe first; the update itself doesn't touch it, but a backup costs ten seconds and corruption stories are never about people who had one.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 | A machine with 16 GB+ RAM and an SSD. Free if you have a spare; not free if "free hosting" talks you into buying one. |
| Electricity | A typical gaming 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. |
| 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 Palworld server doesn't work" thread is one of these. Find your symptom, apply the fix.
| Symptom | Cause & fix |
|---|---|
| Friends can't connect by IP | The classic triple-check: UDP 8211 forwarded to the server's LAN IP, Windows Firewall allowing the server, and you gave them your current public IP (it can change after a router reboot). If all three pass, rule out CGNAT — router WAN IP ≠ public IP means you're behind it, and only Tailscale (or renting) will help. |
| Works for you, fails for everyone else | You're testing from inside your own network, which doesn't exercise the port forward. Test from the LAN IP locally; have someone outside your network confirm the public IP works. |
| Xbox / PS5 friend can't join | Not a bug. Consoles can only join via the public community-server list — no direct IP, no Tailscale. Deploy as a community server with a password. See the console section. |
| Settings changes do nothing | You edited the DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini template instead of Pal\Saved\Config\WindowsServer\PalWorldSettings.ini, you didn't restart (settings load on boot), or WorldOption.sav is overriding the INI. Fix here. |
| Everyone rejected after patch day | Version mismatch — clients auto-updated, your server didn't. Re-run +app_update 2394010 validate and restart. See updating. |
| Server crashes under load | Usually RAM. 8 GB is officially "boots but risks crashes," and a 16 GB box that's also running the game is in the same neighborhood. Close everything else, or get more RAM into the server machine. |
| Server isn't in the community list | Direct-IP servers don't appear in the browser — listing requires deploying as a public community server. The launch flags have changed across versions; use the official docs' current method. |
2394010 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 2394010 validate — no purchase, no account with the game. You only need to own Palworld to play on the server.27015 query port — it's not in the official docs and direct connections don't need it. Details in ports.ServerPassword in PalWorldSettings.ini. PC-only groups: use Tailscale — friends connect to your private 100.x.y.z:8211 address, no port forwarding, and the server is never exposed to the public internet at all. Console-inclusive groups need a password-protected community server instead.+app_update 2394010 validate. The server doesn't auto-update, and after a patch clients must match the server version — so until you run it, freshly-updated players get rejected. Back up Pal\Saved\ first. See updating.Server's up — now tune the world. Our Palworld pages cover every setting, command, and breeding pair so you don't have to hand-edit anything.