How to Get a Free Game Server (Without the Usual Catch)

There are three honest ways to get a free game server: use a free host and live with its limits, run the server yourself on a spare PC, or have someone else pay for a real one. This guide covers all three, and spends most of its time on the third, because it is how GamezServers customers end up paying nothing: every account has a share link, and the credits it earns come off your server bill automatically.

The two ways your link earns credits

On GamezServers there are exactly two ways to earn credits, and nothing else to learn:

1. 5 cents for every person who clicks your link. Each person counts once a day.
2. 10 USD for every person who clicks your link and subscribes. Paid once per person, when they start and pay for their first subscription.

A person means anyone at all. Strangers who see your post, your video, your Discord message or your Facebook group count the same as your best friend. They do not need to know you or follow you anywhere.

The 10 USD is 10 USD in credits, not 10 USD off. Credits are money that buys servers with us, and they come off your bills automatically. 10 USD in credits pays for about two months of a 4.99 USD server, or a month of a 9.99 USD one.

Short answer

Option 1: free game server hosts

A handful of services give away servers, almost always for Minecraft. They are real and many players start on them. They pay for it with limits:

• Start queues. At busy times you wait for a slot before the server boots.
• Servers that sleep when empty. When the last player leaves, the server stops within minutes, and someone has to visit a website to start it before friends can join.
• Small memory. Enough for vanilla and a few players, rarely enough for a modpack.
• Ads and upsells. In the panel, sometimes in the server itself.
• Curated mods and limited file access. Often no SFTP, sometimes no custom jars.
• Few games. Survival games like ARK, Palworld or Rust need 8 to 16 GB of RAM, which is too expensive to give away.

If you want to try a server for a weekend, a free host is fine. Free vs paid game server hosting goes through the trade offs in more detail.

Option 2: host it yourself

Every game we host ships a free dedicated server program, so you can run it on your own hardware. The server software costs nothing. What you pay instead:

• Electricity. A gaming PC left on all month can cost 10 to 20 USD in power. An old laptop or mini PC costs less.
• Setup and upkeep. Port forwarding, firewall rules, updates every time the game patches.
• Your home connection. Upload speed limits how many players you can hold, and everyone who joins sees your home IP address.

If you enjoy tinkering and have a spare machine, this is the cheapest way to get a world that stays online. How to host a game server without port forwarding helps if your router gets in the way.

Option 3: a real server your share link pays for

This is how our free game servers work. Your server is a normal paid one, with its own address, DDoS protection, backups, a live console and a file manager. What changes is who pays for it.

Step 1: get your share link

Make an account, open your dashboard and copy your share link. It takes one click. There is no application to fill in and no promo code to hunt down.

Step 2: share it where your people are

Your Discord server, a group chat, a video description, a Facebook group, a forum signature. It does not have to be people you know: every person who clicks counts. Anyone who opens the link lands on our free game servers page, which explains how it works for them too.

Step 3: earn credits

You earn credits the two ways above:

• 5 cents for every person who clicks your link. Each person counts once a day, and your own clicks do not count.
• 10 USD for every person who clicks your link and subscribes. You get it once, when they start their first subscription and pay. It is not paid again every month.

Step 4: spend credits on a server

Credits are spendable right away. Once you have enough to cover a few days of a small server, you can get it with credits alone: no card and no payment. Keep adding time with credits as you earn them.

Credits that do not cover a whole bill still come off it automatically, like points at a shop. On a subscription they are taken off each bill, and on a prepaid server they come off at checkout, with a small card charge of at least 50 cents for the rest. With 10 USD in credits and a 20 USD server, you pay 10 USD.

The math, with real numbers

From people who subscribe. 10 people who click your link and subscribe earn you 100 USD in credits. That is about ten months of a 9.99 USD server, or well over a year of a 4.99 USD one.

From clicks alone. 100 clicks earn you 5 USD in credits (100 times 5 cents), which covers a month of a 4.99 USD server. For a streamer, a YouTuber or a big Discord community, that can come from one pinned post.

Both together. Most people land somewhere in between. One person who subscribes (10 USD) and 200 clicks (10 USD) make 20 USD in credits, which is two months of a 9.99 USD server.

The fine print, in plain words

• Credits are money you can only spend with GamezServers. They have no cash value and cannot be withdrawn or transferred.
• Credits never expire while the program runs. Like any program, its terms can change, and the affiliate terms are the full rules.
• If someone you referred gets a refund or disputes their payment, the credits you earned from it are taken back.
• Hand picked creators can become partners and get paid in real cash at their own rate. If you have an audience, get in touch with support. Everyone else earns credits.

How game server credits work explains credits in more detail.

Other ways to pay very little

If sharing a link is not your thing, there are still cheap ways to run a real server:

• Prepaid rentals. Pay once for a few days of a small plan and nothing renews. It is the lowest price on the site, and credits can pay for it. See cheap game server hosting.
• Split the bill. Choose Split with friends at checkout and up to 10 friends each pay their own share by card from a link, plus a 1 USD payment fee each. A 9.99 USD server split five ways is about 3 USD each. See splitting a game server with friends.
• The new customer deal. Your first subscription gets 50% off the first month.

Which option should you pick?

• Trying a server for one weekend: a free host, or a short prepaid rental.
• You love tinkering and have a spare PC: self hosting.
• You run a Discord, make videos or have friends who play: a real server, paid for with share link credits. It has no start queue and no ads in your panel, and the more people you bring, the less you pay.

To start, make an account, copy your link from the dashboard and share it. When your credits cover a server, pick a game and get it with credits, or pay by card any time you want to start sooner. Your server is live in about a minute, and your link starts earning the moment you share it.