Best Zombie Survival Games With Dedicated Servers (2026)

The best zombie survival games with dedicated servers in 2026 are 7 Days to Die for base building against blood moon hordes, Project Zomboid for deep, slow survival with up to 254 players in Build 42, and DayZ for tense open world PvP. Night of the Dead, HumanitZ, Unturned and No One Survived round out the list. Every one of them runs a dedicated server, so your world and your base stay online when the host logs off.

How we picked

Every game here has a dedicated server you can run yourself or rent, real multiplayer beyond two or three people, and a reason to keep a persistent world: a base to defend, loot to keep or a story that builds over weeks. We favoured games that are still updated and listed what each server is like to run, not just how the game plays.

Quick comparison

Game	Players on a server	Style	Mods	From (our plans)
7 Days to Die	Up to your plan, 8 on crossplay	Co-op base building, horde nights	Yes, PC only	19.99 USD a month
Project Zomboid	Up to 254 in Build 42	Deep co-op or PvP survival	Yes, Workshop	14.99 USD a month
DayZ	Up to 60 on our plans	Open world PvP and PvE	Yes, Workshop	19.99 USD a month
Night of the Dead	`MaxPlayers`, most crews 4 to 8	Tower defense survival	Easy Anti-Cheat, no client mods	14.99 USD a month
HumanitZ	Up to 24	Isometric open world	No official support	14.99 USD a month
Unturned	Up to 200	Free, blocky, PvP or PvE	Yes, Workshop and plugins	9.99 USD a month
No One Survived	Up to 100 slots	Co-op building	No	19.99 USD a month

1. 7 Days to Die

7 Days to Die is the best pick for groups who want to build. You scavenge by day, craft and fortify, and by default every seventh night a blood moon horde comes for whatever you built. A dedicated server matters more here than in most co-op games because the day counter keeps running and the base keeps standing whether or not the host is online.

The world, player limits and passwords live in serverconfig.xml, while since V3 difficulty, loot, XP and blood moon settings come from a single sandbox code you build in the game and paste into the server. Crossplay servers let PlayStation and Xbox players join, capped at 8 players with Easy Anti-Cheat on and no mods. PC servers can run overhauls like Darkness Falls, which every player installs. It is a demanding server: plan for 8 GB on a vanilla world with friends and 12 to 16 GB for big random worlds or overhaul mods.

7 Days to Die survivors facing zombies outside a fortified base

Guides: how to host a 7 Days to Die server and the best 7 Days to Die server settings.

2. Project Zomboid

Project Zomboid is the deepest zombie survival game on the list. There is no rescue coming: you farm, cook, read skill books, fix up cars and slowly lose your mind in Knox County. On a server it becomes a shared story, with groups splitting into a medic, a mechanic, a carpenter and the one who keeps getting bitten.

Build 42 multiplayer supports up to 254 players since hotfix 42.20.3, though most groups are 2 to 8. Settings live in servertest.ini and the sandbox file, and Steam Workshop mods load from the Workshop and Mod ID lists. It runs on Java, so the server needs enough heap for the area players have loaded: about 6 GB for a vanilla group, 8 GB for a few mods and 12 GB for big mod lists or map mods.

Project Zomboid player surrounded by zombies in Knox County

Guides: Project Zomboid player limits and how to host a Project Zomboid server.

3. DayZ

DayZ is the zombie game where the zombies are not the biggest threat. You spawn on the coast with nothing, scavenge across a huge map and decide whether the next player you meet is a friend. Private servers are where DayZ shines: PvE servers, trader economies, roleplay communities and modded maps all run on community servers.

Our DayZ servers run Chernarus, Livonia and Sakhal, with Workshop mods like Community Framework and DayZ Expansion loaded from their Workshop IDs and keys installed for you. Loot is tuned in types.xml and gameplay rules in cfggameplay.json. Admin commands go through BattlEye RCon. Vanilla up to 20 players runs on 8 GB, and modded servers with 40 or more players want 12 GB and up.

DayZ survivor scavenging an abandoned town

Guides: how to host a DayZ server and the best DayZ server mods.

4. Night of the Dead

Night of the Dead splits each day in two. While it is light you explore an island and gather materials, and when night falls a horde attacks your base, so walls, traps and turrets decide whether you survive. It reached version 1.0 in May 2024 with followers, vehicles, dungeons and automation added on top of the tower defense core.

It is a great fit for a co-op crew where one person handles power, another runs production and everyone mans the defenses at night. The cap is MaxPlayers in ServerSettings.ini. Watch out for one quirk: the PvP setting is reversed, with 1 meaning PvE and 0 meaning PvP. A few friends run on 6 GB, and a full crew with a sprawling fortress should use 8 GB.

Night of the Dead base defenses lit up at night as the horde arrives

5. HumanitZ

HumanitZ is an isometric open world zombie survival game that left Early Access with its 1.0 release in February 2026. You scavenge towns, farm, build a base and fight both the dead and hostile humans. It is co-op first, with PvP as an option, and the developers list the player cap at 24.

What makes it great on a server is how much you can tune without touching a file: permadeath, what you lose on death, zombie health, speed and damage separately, loot respawn, air drops, season length and day length. There is no official mod support, so those settings are how you shape a server. 8 GB covers a 16 player group for most worlds.

6. Unturned

Unturned is free on Steam, which makes it the easiest zombie game to get a whole group into. It is blocky and lighthearted to look at, but servers range from quiet PvE worlds to big PvP and roleplay communities with custom maps, kits and economies. The Steam Workshop is huge, with curated maps alongside thousands of mods.

Settings live in Commands.dat (map, mode, player cap and owner), Workshop content goes in WorkshopDownloadConfig.json, and Rocket plugins add permissions, kits and shops. A server can hold up to 200 players. A vanilla map with friends runs on 4 GB.

7. No One Survived

No One Survived is a co-op open world survival game with a detailed building system, skills from medicine to metallurgy, and power from fuel, thermal and solar generators. Cat Play Studio released 1.0 in December 2025. Bases take a long time to build and very little time to lose, so groups want a world that stays saved and online.

The server settings you will actually change are short: name, max players, region, password, admin password and the number of zombies, which sets how big each corpse tide gets. Start on 8 GB for a few friends.

Honourable mentions

Dead Matter. A survival shooter in the Canadian Rockies with a deep medical system. It is in Early Access and Steam notes the developers' last update was over two years ago, so it only suits groups who already own it and enjoy it as it is.
Left 4 Dead 2. Four player co-op campaigns and 4v4 versus. A dedicated server is the way to run custom campaigns.
Killing Floor 2. Wave based co-op against zeds for up to six players, with Workshop maps.

Which zombie game should my group pick?

You want to build and defend a base: 7 Days to Die or Night of the Dead.
You want long, slow survival that becomes a story: Project Zomboid.
You want PvP tension and other players as the real danger: DayZ.
You want console friends included: 7 Days to Die crossplay servers.
Money is tight or friends will not buy a game: Unturned, since it is free.

If you want more than zombies, our best survival games to play with friends covers the wider genre.

FAQ

What is the best zombie game with dedicated servers?

For most groups, 7 Days to Die or Project Zomboid. 7 Days to Die suits base building and horde nights, while Project Zomboid suits deep, slow survival that lasts for months.

Which zombie survival game supports the most players?

Project Zomboid supports up to 254 players in Build 42 and Unturned up to 200. DayZ servers commonly run 60 players.

Is there a free zombie game with dedicated servers?

Yes. Unturned is free on Steam and has full dedicated server support with Workshop maps and plugins.

Can console players join a zombie survival server?

7 Days to Die crossplay servers let PlayStation and Xbox players join, capped at 8 players with no mods. Our DayZ servers are for PC players only.

How much RAM does a zombie survival server need?

Most need 6 to 8 GB for a small group. Modded DayZ, overhaul mods in 7 Days to Die or big Project Zomboid mod lists need 12 GB or more.

Hosting one with us

Every game on this list is in our catalog, ready minutes after paying, with DDoS protection, full file access and SFTP, and backups before game updates. Friends can split the bill, each paying their own share from a link, and new customers get 50% off the first month. Start with 7 Days to Die, Project Zomboid or DayZ.