ARK: Survival Ascended
ARK: Survival Ascended Server Hosting
Host an ARK: Survival Ascended dedicated server with instant map switching across The Island, Scorched Earth, The Center, Aberration, Extinction, Ragnarok, Astraeos, Valguero, Lost Colony and Genesis: Part 1. Passwords, admin access, automatic world saves and instant setup.
7 days free, no card. One subscription runs any game we host.
- 12 GB minimum
- PC on Steam, Xbox and PlayStation 5
- Ports assigned for you
- Mods and add-ons supported
- Game
- ARK: Survival Ascended
- Address
- play.example.com
- Players
- 6 / 10
- RAM
- 12 GB
Console
© Studio Wildcard
What you get on a ARK: Survival Ascended server
Tame dinos and survive in the UE5 remake of the ARK saga. Everything below is in the panel from the moment the server finishes installing.
- DDoS protection and NVMe storage on every server
- Daily backups with one-click restore and a file manager
- Console, scheduled tasks, team access and SFTP
- Split your RAM across as many servers as you want
ARK: Survival Ascended server requirements
What the server needs before you pick a size. 12 GB of RAM is the minimum, and the table below sizes it by player count.
- RAM
- 12 GB minimum. Every extra gigabyte is $1 a month and can be added or removed later without a reinstall.
- CPU
- Heavy: Unreal Engine 5 with big maps. A fast core matters as much as the 12 GB minimum.
- Disk
- The server is over 20 GB with maps; saves add a few GB.
- Ports
- One UDP game port and RCON, assigned for you.
- Mods and plugins
- CurseForge mods by ID in the server settings; players get them automatically when they join.
- Your existing world
- Upload the SavedArks folder for your map; maps switch in the settings (The Island, Scorched Earth, Aberration and the rest as released).
RAM by player count
Sizing by player count. Start small and add RAM later in a couple of clicks, with no reinstall. For a Minecraft server with plugins, mods or Bedrock players, the RAM calculator sizes it from what servers hosted here use.
| Players | Recommended RAM | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ≤10 | 12 GB | Fresh map, small tribe |
| 10 to 30 | 16 GB | Established server with mods |
| 30+ | 20 GB+ | Large community, high tame caps |
How to make a ARK: Survival Ascended server
ARK: Survival Ascended is the heaviest game we host, so a dedicated server with proper RAM is the difference between a tribe war and a slideshow.
- 1
Create your server
Start the free 7-day trial (no credit card) or pick a plan. 12 GB minimum. ASA under UE5 does not run well on less. Then hit Create Server in the panel, choose ARK: Survival Ascended and your region, and the server installs itself. Your server's address and port appear on the server page as soon as it's up.
- 2
Pick your map and session name
Choose the map (each map keeps its own save, and switching is a setting plus a restart), session name, player slots and admin password from the Settings tab.
- 3
Join the server
ASA uses its own in-game server browser (not Steam's): search your session name in Unofficial servers, or open the console and connect directly with your server's address and port.
What the panel hands you
- Address
- On the server page as soon as it is up, port and all.
- Console and files
- Live console, a file manager and SFTP, from the first minute.
- Backups
- Daily, with one-click restore and a backup you can take by hand before a risky change.
- If it goes wrong
- The crash doctor reads the log and tells you the cause in plain words.
Start from a preset
When you create a ARK: Survival Ascended server, pick one of these and every setting is filled in. Change any field, or save a running server's setup as your own preset.
Friends on The Island
The classic map, 10 slots.
- Map: The Island
- Player slots: 10
Public Ragnarok
The big free map, 30 slots.
- Map: Ragnarok
- Player slots: 30
Aberration
The underground map for veterans.
- Map: Aberration
- Player slots: 10
What a ARK: Survival Ascended server costs
You pay for RAM, not for the title: a server slot is $2.50 a month with 1 GB and 30 GB of storage, and every gigabyte after that is $1. A year is ten months. The same subscription runs ARK: Survival Ascended today and anything else we host tomorrow.
Smaller
8 GB
$9.50/mo
or $95 a year
Under the 12 GB minimum. Move up whenever you need to, without a reinstall.
Start with 8 GBRecommended
12 GB
$13.50/mo
or $135 a year
12 GB is the minimum this page lists for ARK: Survival Ascended. The table above sizes it by player count.
Start with 12 GBMore room
16 GB
$17.50/mo
or $175 a year
Headroom for a bigger group or a world that has grown.
Start with 16 GBEvery size starts with the 7-day trial and no card. Add RAM, storage or a second server later from the panel, on the same subscription. See how pricing works
Who can join
The honest version, so nobody buys a server their friends cannot reach.
Platforms
PC on Steam, Xbox and PlayStation 5.
Crossplay
Unofficial dedicated servers take all three platforms in the same session; crossplay is a server setting.
Regions and latency
Pick Europe or North America when you create the server. North America has nodes on the east coast and the west coast, Europe in the west, all on NVMe storage with DDoS protection in front. Players on the same continent as the server see 20 to 60 ms, which ARK: Survival Ascended handles well; a group split across the Atlantic should host where most of them are. Changing region later is a backup, a new server in the other region, and a restore.
Frequently asked questions
- Which maps can I run, and can I switch between them?
- Every released ASA map: The Island, Scorched Earth, The Center, Aberration, Extinction, Ragnarok, Astraeos, Valguero, Lost Colony and Genesis: Part 1, with new maps added as Studio Wildcard ships them. Lost Colony is the one paid expansion in that list, so everyone joining needs to own it. Switching maps is a panel setting: each map keeps its own save, so you can rotate between them without losing progress.
- How much RAM does an ARK: Survival Ascended server need?
- ASA on Unreal Engine 5 is heavy: 12 GB is our floor, 16 GB recommended for 20+ players or mod-heavy servers. Tame caps and big bases push memory up over a long season.
- Does crossplay work between PC, Xbox and PlayStation?
- Yes. ASA dedicated servers use Epic Online Services, so PC (Steam/Epic), Xbox and PlayStation players can all join the same server. No extra configuration needed beyond your server password policy.
- Can I install mods?
- Yes, ASA uses CurseForge cross-platform mods. Paste the mod IDs into the Mods field in the panel and they install on the next start, for console players too. That's a huge upgrade over ASE's Steam-Workshop-only mods.
- Is my world saved safely when the server stops?
- Yes. ASA famously doesn't save on a plain shutdown signal, so our stop sequence issues a SaveWorld over RCON before exiting, every time. Scheduled backups add point-in-time restores on top.
- Can I send commands and schedule restarts?
- Yes. The panel console talks to the server over RCON, so SaveWorld, Broadcast, ListPlayers and the rest work live, and scheduled tasks use the same path: a daily restart with a warning message and a SaveWorld before it is a two-minute setup. You also get your own RCON port for external tools.
- Can I adjust rates like taming, harvesting and XP?
- All the classic ARK dials are in the panel: taming speed, harvest amount, XP multipliers, mating intervals and more. Changes apply on restart, and event-style boosted weekends are easy to script with scheduled tasks.
Other games on the same subscription
All gamesRuns alongside your ARK: Survival Ascended server
All products and pricesStart your ARK: Survival Ascended server
Seven days free, no card. The server installs itself, the address is on the page as soon as it is up, and you can cancel from the panel.
Start the free trial