Best Garry's Mod Server Hosting in 2026

Garry’s Mod turns twenty this year and is still a staple of game server hosting, mostly because of four gamemodes: DarkRP, TTT, Prop Hunt, and Sandbox. It’s also a game where hosting pages are hard to compare. Some hosts sell RAM, some sell player slots, some sell named plans with a CPU percentage attached, and almost none of them say how long they keep your backups. This comparison lines up nine hosts on price per GB, CPU policy, and support model, using each host’s own Garry’s Mod page, so you can pick one without guessing.

How We Ranked These Hosts

Price per GB of RAM. Where a host sells RAM, we compare the per-GB rate on its standard plan. Several GMod hosts bill per player slot or sell named plans without stating RAM (G-Portal, GTXGaming, HostHavoc, Streamline Servers, Survival Servers), so we list those at a comparable player count rather than invent a per-GB conversion the host doesn’t publish.

Like-for-like tiers. We compare each host’s recommended or most popular plan against WinterNode’s equivalent, never a competitor’s budget tier. Where a host splits plans into quality tiers, we use the non-budget one.

CPU policy. GMod runs physics, Lua hooks, and entity updates on one main thread, so single-core speed decides whether a DarkRP server at peak or a Sandbox server full of Wiremod contraptions holds its tickrate. A host that caps CPU at a percentage, or charges extra for normal scheduling priority, will show it at exactly those moments.

Support model. GMod problems tend to be Lua errors, addon conflicts, and missing content after a Workshop update. Whether you reach a 24/7 ticket queue, live chat, or a Discord matters when your server is down on a Friday night.

How Much RAM Does a GMod Server Need?

Less than the price tables on most hosting pages suggest. GMod’s server process is light on memory and heavy on single-thread CPU, so a bigger plan won’t fix lag caused by entity count or a badly written addon. Our Garry’s Mod RAM guide breaks down how gamemode, addon count, map size, and props change the number, with a recommended allocation for each setup. Read that first, then use the prices below to see what that allocation costs at each host.

The Best Garry’s Mod Server Hosting in 2026

WinterNode

WinterNode sells one plan type at $1.99/GB with no quality tiers, no CPU limits, and no cap on player slots. Light TTT and Prop Hunt servers fit on 2GB ($3.98/mo), the 3GB tier we recommend for Sandbox and growing communities is $5.97/mo, a typical DarkRP server on 4GB is $7.96/mo, and a heavy RP stack on 6GB is $11.94/mo. That last figure is about two-thirds of what BisectHosting charges for the same 6GB.

For GMod specifically, the parts that matter are all included: Steam Workshop addon support, FastDL support for custom content, MySQL databases for DarkRP and admin mods, NVMe storage that’s unmetered with free expansion, and backups twice daily with 45-day retention. Servers run on AMD Ryzen hardware in 9 locations, with 24/7 support. Prices above are for Chicago and the European locations; Los Angeles and Miami add $1/mo, and New York and Sydney add $2/mo. Start your Garry’s Mod server at WinterNode and it’s online in under 60 seconds. There’s no free trial, but every plan is backed by a 48-hour money-back guarantee.

BisectHosting

BisectHosting sells GMod on its single BisectOne plan at about $3.00/GB, with a 4GB minimum. Its GMod page features 4, 6, and 8GB sizes, and the 6GB plan flagged as popular in its site’s plan data is $17.99/mo. Its BisectOne page describes CPU as fair usage with access to up to 8 vCores rather than hard per-plan caps, and lists unlimited disk space on NVMe. Backups are daily with 3 days of history, well short of WinterNode’s 45. Support is 24/7 by live chat or ticket, and new customers can get a refund within 3 days of activation. The GMod page doesn’t mention Workshop collections or FastDL specifically.

Physgun

Physgun is a GMod specialist, and it shows in the tooling: a one-click Steam Workshop sync that generates your workshop.lua and FastDL, a one-click addon installer, and a bundle of free GModStore addons. Its “Most Popular” plan, Growing Community, is $39.87/mo. Physgun’s own landing page lists that plan at 8GB with 100% CPU, while its order page lists 6GB with 75% of a Ryzen 9 7900X allocated, so check the order page before you buy. Either way, it’s $4.98 to $6.65 per GB, and WinterNode’s 8GB tier is $15.92/mo. Physgun runs in 2 locations (Chicago and London), backs orders with a 3-day money-back guarantee, and doesn’t state backup retention.

Shockbyte

Shockbyte sells GMod as fixed plans sized by RAM. Its “Most Popular” Tool Gun plan is 3GB for $9.99/mo (about $3.33/GB), and Physics Gun is 4GB and up from $11.99/mo. That makes Tool Gun a direct match for WinterNode’s recommended 3GB tier at $5.97/mo. The page confirms Workshop collection support, automatic backups, and 24/7 support, but doesn’t state CPU policy, storage, backup retention, FastDL, or which support channels you get. Refunds are self-serve within 72 hours of payment.

HostHavoc

HostHavoc bills per slot, starting at 20 slots for $10.00/mo, without stating RAM. Normal CPU priority is included, and HostHavoc labels its High CPU Priority add-on (+$4.00/mo) as recommended, which puts a comparable setup at $14.00/mo. Its panel has a Workshop installer and one-click installers for addons and gamemodes, plus an included MySQL database. Backups are offsite with no stated frequency or retention. It runs 14 locations and backs orders with a 72-hour satisfaction guarantee.

GTXGaming

GTXGaming prices in GBP at £0.50 per slot ($0.63), with up to 5GB of RAM included, so 20 slots is £10 ($12.60/mo). It’s clear about hardware and storage (NVMe, up to 100GB free), and sells higher CPU priority and clock boosts as paid add-ons on top of the included normal priority. Backups are offsite and schedulable, with retention not stated. Workshop collections and FastDL aren’t mentioned on its GMod page. Refunds are available within 24 hours.

G-Portal

G-Portal rents GMod servers per slot for fixed periods of 3, 30, or 90 days. Ten slots for 30 days is $15.59, and its “Top seller” is 10 slots for 90 days at $42.09 (about $14.03 per 30 days). Its GMod page states NVMe hardware and 24/7 ticket support, but doesn’t state RAM, CPU policy, backups, refunds, Workshop support, or FastDL, and the plans shown on the page are for Central Europe.

Streamline Servers

Streamline Servers splits GMod into two quality tiers. Standard limits tickrate to 11 to 33, so the like-for-like comparison is Premium (33 to 100 tick) at $1.13 per slot, or $22.60/mo for 20 slots. CPU priority is Normal by default, with High (+$3.75/mo) and RealTime (+$7.50/mo) sold as add-ons. It runs 21 locations, offers 24/7 tickets, sales live chat, and a Discord, and backs orders with a 48-hour refund period. Backup retention, storage, and FastDL aren’t stated on its GMod pages.

Survival Servers

Survival Servers bills per slot with a Standard or Premium hardware toggle and no stated RAM. Its “Most Popular” plan is 20 slots, which is $20.00/mo on Standard and $25.99/mo on Premium (overclocked CPU, DDR5, NVMe) at standard recurring prices. First-month promo prices are lower, but they don’t renew. Its GMod page has the clearest Workshop wording of the slot-billed hosts: add a collection ID in its Server Config tool and the server downloads it, and you can switch gamemodes from the same tool. Database backups run every 30 minutes with 5 days of history, while full-server backup retention isn’t stated, and neither is FastDL. Support is by ticket, with responses promised within 12 to 24 hours, across 8 locations. Its FAQ offers a refund within the first 72 hours, though its terms of service say refunds are only made in special circumstances, so read both before you order.

Head-to-Head: WinterNode vs. the Field

The honest case against WinterNode: Physgun has the most GMod-specific tooling here, with one-click Workshop and FastDL generation and bundled GModStore addons. Streamline Servers, GTXGaming, and HostHavoc offer more locations than WinterNode’s 9. And if you want a refund window longer than 48 hours, HostHavoc and Shockbyte offer 72 hours.

The case for WinterNode is price and policy together. Compared on each host’s own recommended or popular plan:

• 3GB: WinterNode $5.97/mo vs. Shockbyte Tool Gun at $9.99/mo.
• 6GB: WinterNode $11.94/mo vs. BisectHosting $17.99/mo, with 45 days of backups instead of 3.
• 8GB: WinterNode $15.92/mo vs. Physgun Growing Community at $39.87/mo, with no CPU percentage cap and 9 locations instead of 2.
• Slot-billed hosts at 20 players: WinterNode’s 3GB tier at $5.97/mo has no slot cap, against $10.00 (HostHavoc), $12.60 (GTXGaming), $22.60 (Streamline Premium), and $25.99 (Survival Servers Premium).

No other host in this table publishes all three of a per-GB price, a no-CPU-limits policy, and a backup retention window longer than 3 days. WinterNode is better on the things a GMod server depends on and more affordable on the plans people actually buy.

Workshop Collections and FastDL: What a Host Has to Support

Most GMod servers load content two ways, and a host needs to handle both.

Workshop collections. You build a Steam Workshop collection of your addons and pass its ID to the server with the +host_workshop_collection startup parameter. The server downloads and mounts everything in it on boot. To make players’ clients download the same content, add a Lua file in garrysmod/lua/autorun/server/ with one resource.AddWorkshop("<id>") line per addon. A host has to let you set startup parameters, give you file access to lua/autorun, and have enough storage for the Workshop cache, which grows with every addon you add.

FastDL. Anything that isn’t on the Workshop, such as a private map, custom materials and sounds, or GModStore assets you’re not allowed to re-upload, has to reach players another way. Without FastDL, those files trickle down through the game server itself, which is slow and stalls joins. With FastDL, you mirror the files (usually .bz2 compressed, in the same folder structure) on a web server and point sv_downloadurl at it. A host should either run FastDL for you or make it easy to point at your own.

WinterNode supports Workshop addons and provides FastDL support on every Garry’s Mod plan, with unmetered NVMe storage, so a growing collection doesn’t turn into a storage bill.

Gamemodes People Actually Rent For

DarkRP. The most demanding of the four. A typical server runs dozens of addons (inventory, jobs, weapon bases, vehicles, admin tools), many of them paid GModStore scripts that aren’t on the Workshop and need FastDL. DarkRP stores player data in sv.db (SQLite) by default and can use MySQL instead, which is worth doing once you want to back up or share data across servers. Look for a host with a MySQL database included, file access to the darkrpmodification addon where your jobs and config live, and unthrottled CPU for peak hours.

TTT (Trouble in Terrorist Town). Ships with Garry’s Mod, so there’s nothing to install beyond maps (ttt_ prefixed) and the usual admin and damage-log addons. It’s round-based and light, and most of its content lives on the Workshop, so a Workshop collection covers it.

Prop Hunt. Not bundled with GMod. Most servers run a Workshop version such as Prop Hunt Enhanced, plus ph_ maps. Like TTT, it’s round-based and light, and a Workshop collection is usually enough.

Sandbox. The default gamemode and the hardest to size, because load depends on what players build. Wiremod, ACF, and large prop counts push physics work onto the main thread, so CPU policy matters more here than anywhere else. Prop limits (sbox_maxprops and friends) and an anti-crash addon help more than extra RAM.

Moving an Existing Server’s Addons and Data

If you’re coming from another host or a home server, here’s what to copy from the garrysmod folder:

• addons/ for any addons not loaded from your Workshop collection, including darkrpmodification
• cfg/ including server.cfg (hostname, passwords, rates)
• data/ where many addons and admin mods keep settings, bans, and logs
• gamemodes/ for any gamemode not loaded from the Workshop, such as darkrp
• sv.db, the SQLite database where DarkRP and some admin mods store player data by default
• maps/ and any custom content you serve over FastDL
• lua/autorun/server/ for your resource.AddWorkshop file

Note your startup settings too: gamemode, map, max players, Workshop collection ID, and your Steam Game Server Login Token if you use one. If your server uses an external MySQL database, export it from the old host and import it into a new database on WinterNode, then update the credentials in your addon configs.

Upload everything over SFTP (compress it first for a faster transfer), start the server, and watch the console for Lua errors. Don’t cancel the old server until you’ve confirmed players’ money and inventories carried over, your admin ranks work, and a player who has never joined can connect and download all the content. Our migration guide covers the general steps, and changing your server name covers the hostname setting in server.cfg.

FAQ

What is the best Garry’s Mod server host in 2026?

WinterNode, at $1.99/GB with no CPU limits, 45-day backup retention, and FastDL support. BisectHosting is the closest on per-GB price at about $3.00/GB with 3 days of backups, and Physgun has the most GMod-specific tooling at a much higher price.

How much RAM does a Garry’s Mod server need?

Less than most people expect, because GMod leans on single-thread CPU speed rather than memory. See our RAM guide for a recommendation by gamemode and addon count.

Does WinterNode offer a free trial for Garry’s Mod?

No. WinterNode doesn’t run a Garry’s Mod trial. Every plan is backed by a 48-hour money-back guarantee instead, which covers you if the server doesn’t work out.

Do I need FastDL if I use a Workshop collection?

Not for Workshop content, which players download through Steam once your server calls resource.AddWorkshop. FastDL is for custom content that isn’t on the Workshop, like private maps, materials, sounds, and GModStore assets.

How much does Garry’s Mod server hosting cost per month?

At WinterNode, $3.98/mo for a 2GB TTT or Prop Hunt server, $5.97/mo for the 3GB tier we recommend for Sandbox, $7.96/mo for a 4GB DarkRP server, and $11.94/mo for 6GB, all at $1.99/GB with no slot caps.

Can I move my existing Garry’s Mod server to a new host?

Yes. Copy addons, cfg, data, custom gamemodes, and sv.db from your garrysmod folder, upload them over SFTP, and match your startup settings. Export and import any external MySQL database separately.

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