Valheim Valheim servers hold 10 players. That is a limit in the game, not a setting on your server, so there is no max players field in Server Options and no plan that raises it. Iron Gate kept the cap at 10 for the 1.0 release.
If you came here after hunting through the panel for a player count, that’s why you couldn’t find it.
Going Above 10
The cap can be lifted with a BepInEx plugin, which raises it in the game’s code rather than through a server setting. This works, but it carries a real cost that’s worth understanding before you commit to it.
Your server has to run BepInEx instead of vanilla. BepInEx is maintained by the community, not Iron Gate, so after every major Valheim update it stops loading until its authors ship a build for the new version. While you’re waiting, your server can’t run the current game at all, and players get an incompatible version error when they try to join.
If you still want to go ahead, install BepInEx with the modding guide, then add a player-limit plugin from Thunderstore or Nexus. Check the plugin’s page for a release matching your game version before installing it. We don’t provide support for individual plugins, but we can switch your server between vanilla and BepInEx for you, or you can do it yourself with the Game Switcher.
Performance at 10 Players
The cap is rarely the thing that limits a group. Valheim’s server load tracks world size and exploration more than head count, so a long-running world with ten players needs considerably more memory than a fresh one with the same ten. Size the server for the world rather than the player count, and see the Valheim Server RAM Guide for figures.
Next Steps
- Valheim Server Options for every setting the panel does expose
- Modding Your Valheim Server if you intend to run BepInEx
- How to Connect to Your Valheim Server if players can’t join for other reasons
Frequently Asked Questions
Ten. Iron Gate has kept the cap at 10 through 1.0, and it applies to dedicated servers the same way it applies to a player-hosted game.
No. Valheim has no max players setting, so there is nothing to change in Server Options. If you have seen a number like 15 quoted elsewhere, that refers to modded servers, not vanilla.
No. WinterNode prices by RAM rather than player slots, and the cap is a limit in the game itself, so a larger plan does not raise it.
Only when BepInEx supports the game version you are on. After a major Valheim update, BepInEx and its plugins stop loading until their authors ship a compatible build.