DayZ Server Hosting

What You Get with a Hosted DayZ Server

DayZ is built around persistence. Tents, barrels, base walls and buried stashes are stored by the server and survive restarts, and the Central Economy keeps loot and infected spawning to the rules in the mission files. A community server lets you own all of that: which map, how much loot, how hard the infected hit, who gets in and what happens to rule breakers.

Bohemia publishes the PC dedicated server on Steam, for Windows and Linux, and documents its config in the official wiki. Running it yourself means a machine left on, ports opened, BattlEye set up and updates applied by hand on patch day. A hosted server takes care of the machine and the network, and adds tools such as mod installers, scheduled restarts and backups on top of Bohemia's files.

What stays your job is the community: the rules, the mod list, the loot balance and the people who keep order. The rest of this guide is about making those decisions well.

DayZ in 2026: Road to Badlands and Nasdara

DayZ left Early Access with version 1.0 on 13 December 2018 and has had a steady run of updates and expansions since. Livonia joined the base game for free with update 1.25 in May 2024, and the paid Frostline expansion added the frozen islands of Sakhal in October 2024.

This year has been about the next expansion. Update 1.29 went stable in April 2026 and the Road to Badlands update followed in July. Update 1.30 entered Steam Experimental on 16 September 2026, and both 1.30 and DayZ Badlands came out on 15 October 2026 on PC, Xbox and PlayStation.

• Nasdara: a 267 square kilometre arid province west of Chernarus, bordering Takistan.
• New systems: sandstorms, rebuildable houses, radio signals and underground facilities built on a new terrain-hole system that Bohemia says will also be open to other maps and modders.
• Motorbikes: the moped and the enduro, with a new two-wheeled physics model.
• Price: Bohemia gives about $24.99 for the expansion, with regional pricing.

Choosing a Map for Your Community

A DayZ server runs one mission at a time, and the map you choose decides who can join and which mods make sense.

If your community is mostly new players, Chernarus keeps things simple because everyone owns it and every guide refers to it. Established groups often move to a community map for a change of scenery, and most of the big mod packs support several of them. Nasdara is out with DayZ Badlands. As with Sakhal and Frostline, expect players to need Badlands to join, so check your regulars own it before you switch.

Slots, Memory and a Smooth Server

Bohemia's store page talks of up to 60 players per server, and its Switch 2 announcement gives 60 on Chernarus and Livonia and 50 on Sakhal, which makes a good reference point. A smaller server feels more personal and keeps loot competition gentle. A bigger one needs active admins, a well-tuned economy and more hardware behind it.

Every plan bundles memory that grows with its slots: 8GB on 10 slots, 12GB on 20, 16GB on 40, 20GB on 60, 24GB on 100 and 32GB on 127. Mods, community maps and lots of bases all add to the load, so the panel's graphs are the best guide. If memory sits at the ceiling or server FPS drops as the server fills, move up a tier or look at the loot settings.

Processing power matters as much as memory on a busy DayZ server. Every plan includes a 5.0GHz CPU, and faster clocks or a higher CPU priority can be added at checkout or later from the client area.

Planning a Mod List That Lasts

A good mod list is short, maintained and tested. The DayZ Workshop has thousands of mods, but every one you add is another thing that can break on patch day and another download for new players.

• Start with a purpose. Decide what the server is about, such as hardcore survival, PvE trading or base raiding, and pick mods that serve it.
• Check the maintenance record. A mod that has not been updated for a year is the most likely to stop a server booting after an update.
• Respect the frameworks. Many mods need CF or Dabs Framework underneath. Our Mod Manager installs them with the packs that need them.
• Add mods one at a time. Boot and join after each one, so you know exactly which mod caused a problem.
• Keep server-only mods server-side. Admin and logging tools often belong in -serverMod, so players do not have to download them.

Bohemia's server checks every mod file against its key, and the Workshop installer places each key on the server for you. Our DayZ server setup guide covers keys, the launcher and update tasks in detail.

Hardcore, Friendly or Somewhere Between

A handful of settings in the server config decide the character of a DayZ server long before any mod does. These are the ones communities argue about most.

Changes take effect at the next start, so stop the server, edit, save and start again. Then tell your players what changed; a surprise switch to first person on a busy evening is a quick way to lose regulars.

Restarts, Updates and Wipes

A DayZ server needs a rhythm. Restarts clear up the world and keep performance steady, updates keep the server on the same build as players, and an occasional wipe gives a community a fresh start.

1. Restarts: schedule them with countdown messages in game and on Discord, so players can log out safely. For most modded servers we recommend a four-hour cycle.
2. Game updates: when Bohemia patches DayZ, players on the new build cannot join an old server. A timed update task can check, warn and restart only when there is something new.
3. Mod updates: a separate task can refresh Workshop mods and restart with warnings only when a mod has changed.
4. Wipes: back up first, then clear the persistence from the panel. Announce the date well ahead so nobody is caught with their best loot in a stash.

Behind all of this sit our backups: snapshots you take or schedule in the panel, and offsite copies for the last 7 days. If an update or a mod goes wrong, you can roll the persistence back rather than start from nothing.

What to Compare Before You Rent a DayZ Server

DayZ hosting offers can look identical. These are the details that matter once your server has a community.

1. Memory in the advertised priceModded DayZ uses a lot of RAM. Check how much the base price includes and what the next tier costs.
2. Mod and map toolsLook for Workshop installs that handle keys, and one-click community maps, rather than manual uploads for every mod.
3. Restart and update schedulingMake sure restarts can warn players in game and that updates can run automatically with warnings.
4. Full file accessYou will want to edit types.xml and the mission files. Check you get a file manager and SFTP, not only a settings form.
5. Backups you can restoreAsk how far back backups go and whether you can restore persistence without opening a ticket.
6. Locations near your playersRun a ping test. DayZ gunfights are decided by small margins, and a nearby data centre helps.
7. Contract termsCompare monthly and longer billing and look for setup fees or minimum terms.

DayZ Server Glossary

Persistence

The saved state of the world, including tents, stashes and base parts, kept between restarts.

Central Economy

Bohemia's system of mission files that controls how loot, infected, animals and events spawn.

types.xml

The Central Economy file that sets how many of each item exist and how long they last.

Mission

The folder of map-specific files a server loads, such as dayzOffline.chernarusplus.

serverDZ.cfg

Bohemia's name for the main server config, holding the name, passwords, slots and gameplay switches.

Client mod

A mod every player must also run, loaded with -mod.

Server mod

A mod that runs only on the server, loaded with -serverMod.

bikey

A mod's signing key. The server only loads mod files whose key it holds.

BattlEye RCon

BattlEye's remote console, used by admin tools to message, kick and ban players.

Server FPS

How many simulation frames the server completes each second; low values mean lag.

Wipe

Clearing the persistence so a server starts a fresh season.

DayZ Server Help and Next Steps

Our own guides and the official documentation.

• DayZ server setup guideOur step-by-step setup hub: config, maps, mods, admin, economy and fixes.
• Bohemia's DayZ Server Configuration pageEvery serverDZ.cfg setting, from the developer.
• DayZ Central Economy files on GitHubBohemia's official mission files.
• Gaming Deluxe control panelWhat the panel does and how to log in.
• Our server locations
• Contact support24/7 help with mods, maps and restarts.