Enshrouded Server Requirements: RAM, CPU, Disk and Bandwidth

Enshrouded is unusually specific about what its dedicated server needs, because Keen Games publish real numbers rather than a vague "8 GB recommended". This page collects every figure Keen have stated, explains what each one actually constrains, and translates them into the decision you are really making: how much RAM, how many cores, and how much disk.

The short version: an Enshrouded server should not exceed about 6 GB of RAM in total, needs 30 GB of disk to be comfortable, and is bounded by single-core CPU speed before it is bounded by core count.

RAM: 4.4 GB Idle, About 6 GB Full

Keen's Dedicated Server FAQ gives the clearest figures in the whole document:

"In idle state the server process uses ~4.4GB of physical RAM. Each player needs up to 100MB of additional RAM. In total the server should not use more than 6GB of physical RAM."

Working that through:

Two things follow, and both are counter-intuitive:

The baseline dominates. An empty Enshrouded server already wants 4.4 GB. Going from a two-player world to a full sixteen-player one adds roughly 1.4 GB — less than a third of what the server uses doing nothing at all. Sizing by player count is the wrong instinct here; the floor is what matters.

6 GB is a ceiling, not a target. Keen's phrasing is that the server should not use more than 6 GB, not that it will grow to fill whatever it is given. There is no configuration that trades RAM for performance, so provisioning far above 6 GB does not make an Enshrouded server faster.

Headroom, not exactly 6 GB

These are the game process's figures. The server also has the operating system, the update tooling and the compatibility layer the Windows server binary runs under to account for. Treat 6 GB as the game's requirement and leave room above it rather than provisioning exactly to the number.

What happens when RAM runs short

The symptom is usually not a crash. It is players being disconnected as the world streams in around them, because the voxel world loads and unloads chunks as people move. If disconnects cluster around players travelling into unexplored areas or teleporting between distant bases, headroom is the first thing to check — before you look at the network. Enshrouded server connection troubleshooting covers the failures that genuinely are networking.

Keen's own mitigation is to reduce the player cap: "each slot (player) will increase the impact on the performance of the server. If CPU or the RAM are a bottleneck, lowering the max of available player slots can help mitigating the stress for the server." slotCount accepts 1 to 16.

CPU: Clock Speed First, Then Cores

Keen give two configurations, and the interesting part is what changes between them:

For 4–6 players:

• CPU: Intel Core i7 at 3.2 GHz or equivalent AMD, 6 cores / 12 threads
• 16 GB RAM
• SSD storage, at least 30 GB free for the installation
• Up to 100 MB for each additional saved world
• 2 Mbit/s upload per player, with download roughly matching

For a full 16 players:

• CPU: Intel Core i7 at 3.7 GHz or equivalent AMD, 8 cores / 16 threads
• Everything else identical

The RAM figure does not move. The disk figure does not move. The per-player bandwidth does not move. The only thing Keen scale with player count is the CPU — and they scale clock speed as well as core count, from 3.2 GHz to 3.7 GHz.

That is the useful signal. A voxel world with sixteen players simulating terrain, water, enemies and crafting is a workload that cares about how fast a core is, not only how many there are. Given a choice between more cores at a lower clock and fewer cores at a higher one, Enshrouded rewards the second.

The 16 GB in Keen's spec is for a whole machine

Keen are describing a physical box you would build to host a server — an operating system, a desktop and everything else included. Their own measurement of the server process is the 4.4–6 GB figure above. On a hosted server you are provisioning for the process, not for a whole desktop PC.

Disk: 13 GB Installed, 30 GB Recommended

Keen's numbers:

"We recommend to have a free space of 30GB. The uncompressed server files are currently ~13GB."

The gap between the two is deliberate. Steam needs working space to stage an update before it replaces the installed files, so a disk sized exactly to the installation will fail to update. The 30 GB figure is the installation plus that headroom.

On top of the game files:

• Each world save is between 1 MB and 100 MB — small at the beginning, closer to 100 MB for worlds with a lot of large bases.
• Each world keeps ten rolling copies, so budget the world's size ten times over before you count any backups you take yourself.
• Backups you take deliberately are additional. A world plus its rotations plus a fortnight of daily snapshots is still a small number next to 13 GB of game files, but it is not nothing.

See Enshrouded server backups and restoring a world for what those files are and how the rotation works.

SSD, not spinning disk. Keen specify SSD storage. The server writes the world frequently and loads it on every start — the deserialize time is printed in the console at boot, and it is the number you will watch grow as a world matures.

Bandwidth

Keen's figure is 2 Mbit/s of upload per player, with download capacity roughly matching. At the sixteen-player maximum that is 32 Mbit/s up.

This is a figure aimed at someone hosting from home, where upstream is the scarce resource. On a hosted server in a datacentre it is not the constraint it would be on a domestic connection, but it is worth knowing the shape: Enshrouded's server is upload-heavy, because it is sending world state to every connected player.

Player Count: 16 Is a Hard Ceiling

slotCount accepts values from 1 to 16 and Keen's own FAQ describes the game as playable with "up to 16" players. There is no configuration, argument or workaround that raises it. If you need more than sixteen people in one group, the answer is a second server and a second world, not a larger one.

Reserved slots interact with this. Any group with reservedSlots set holds those slots against players joining under a different group — useful for guaranteeing an admin can always get in, and a common cause of a server reporting itself full while it looks empty. Enshrouded admin commands, roles and server settings covers the group system.

What Actually Makes a Server Struggle

Ranked by how often it is the real cause:

1. A long-running session on a heavily built world. The voxel world accumulates state. A daily restart is the cheapest performance intervention available and it costs a minute.
2. Player count against CPU. Every slot is load, and Keen scale their CPU recommendation with slots for a reason. Lowering slotCount is their stated mitigation.
3. Very large bases. They are the reason a save file goes from 1 MB to 100 MB, and they are the reason a world takes longer to load each month.
4. RAM headroom. Below the ~4.4 GB floor plus per-player overhead, chunk-loading disconnects begin.
5. Difficulty settings that multiply entities. randomSpawnerAmount and aggroPoolAmount both accept Many and Extreme. More enemies in the world and more of them able to engage at once is more simulation. If you have pushed either past Normal, that is a knob you can turn back — see Enshrouded server settings and config file.

Restart daily before you resize anything

A scheduled daily restart resets accumulated state, applies any pending game update, and costs your players a minute. It resolves a surprising share of "the server has felt sluggish lately" reports on its own, and it is free.

Sizing for 1.0

Enshrouded leaves Early Access on 15 October 2026. Every number on this page comes from Keen's documentation as it stands today, and Keen have not published revised server requirements for 1.0.

That matters more than it might sound. A release that adds content adds world to simulate and save, and every figure here — the 4.4 GB floor, the 13 GB installation, the 1–100 MB world — is measured against the current build. It would be reasonable for all three to move upward at 1.0, and it would be equally reasonable for none of them to.

What is safe to say now:

• Do not resize on speculation. Nothing has been announced that justifies it.
• Leave headroom above 6 GB rather than provisioning exactly to it, which is good practice regardless and cheap insurance against the figure moving.
• Have disk to spare. A 1.0 update is a large download that has to stage before it installs, and disk is the resource that turns an update into a failed update.
• Back up before the update, which is the advice regardless of sizing. Enshrouded 1.0: what server owners know so far covers what has and has not been announced.

What to Read Next

• Enshrouded 1.0: what server owners know so far — what is announced, what is not, and what to do in advance.
• Enshrouded server backups and restoring a world — save sizes, rotations and disk.
• Enshrouded server connection troubleshooting — separating headroom problems from networking ones.
• Enshrouded server settings and config file — slot count, difficulty and the settings that cost performance.
• Getting started with your Enshrouded server — first boot and the file layout.

FAQ

How much RAM does an Enshrouded server need?

Keen measure the server process at about 4.4 GB idle, plus up to 100 MB per player, and state it should not exceed 6 GB in total. A full sixteen-player server therefore sits around 6 GB. Provision above that rather than exactly to it.

How many CPU cores does an Enshrouded server need?

Keen recommend 6 cores / 12 threads at 3.2 GHz for 4–6 players, and 8 cores / 16 threads at 3.7 GHz for a full sixteen. Clock speed scales alongside core count, so a faster core beats an extra slow one.

How much disk space does an Enshrouded server need?

About 13 GB for the uncompressed server files, with 30 GB free recommended so updates have room to stage. Add up to 100 MB per world, times ten for the rolling copies, plus your own backups.

How many players can an Enshrouded server hold?

Sixteen. slotCount accepts 1 to 16 and there is no way to raise the ceiling.

Does an Enshrouded server need more RAM for more players?

Barely. Each player adds up to 100 MB against a 4.4 GB baseline. Player count drives CPU, not memory.

Will Enshrouded 1.0 need a bigger server?

Keen have not published revised requirements for the 15 October 2026 release. Nothing has been announced that justifies resizing in advance — but keeping headroom above the 6 GB figure and disk to spare for the update is sensible either way.

Why do my players disconnect when they travel?

Chunk loading under memory pressure is the usual cause. Check RAM headroom first, then lower slotCount — Keen's own stated mitigation when CPU or RAM is the bottleneck.

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