The Best Don't Starve Together Server Hosting

Hosting a Don't Starve Together server

Don't Starve Together is Klei Entertainment's multiplayer take on its wilderness survival game, released in April 2016. Players farm, build and explore a procedurally generated world through hostile seasons and boss fights, with the caves, the Ancient Archive and the Lunar islands beyond the surface.

A DST server is set up as a cluster. Settings shared by the whole world sit in cluster.ini, and if you want caves the server runs two shards, the surface (Master) and the Caves, as separate processes that talk to each other. Every dedicated server also needs a cluster token from your Klei account before it will appear in the server list. Hosts handle most of this, but caves do add to what a plan needs.

What to compare

• Caves support. Running caves means a second shard. Check the host runs both from one plan and that the plan has room for them.
• Workshop mods. DST mods come from the Steam Workshop, set up with dedicated_server_mods_setup.lua and switched on per shard in modoverrides.lua. A mod manager or file access helps.
• Player limit. max_players in cluster.ini goes up to 64, but most groups run between 4 and 16.
• Pause when empty. The pause_when_empty setting stops the world when nobody is online.
• Admin lists. Admins, whitelists and bans use Klei user IDs in adminlist.txt, whitelist.txt and blocklist.txt.
• Backups. Long-running worlds are hard to replace, and a failed boss fight or a bad mod can ruin one.

See the current Don't Starve Together hosting deals for offers from listed providers. For a whole machine, see dedicated servers.

Don't Starve Together server hosting FAQ

How many players can join a DST server?

Set max_players in cluster.ini. It goes up to 64, though most groups play with 4 to 16.

Can I run mods on a DST server?

Yes. Add the Workshop IDs to dedicated_server_mods_setup.lua and enable each mod in modoverrides.lua for both the surface and caves shards.

Do I need a Klei account to run a server?

Yes. You generate a cluster token from the Game Servers section of your Klei account and place it in cluster_token.txt.

Can console players join a PC DST server?

No. The console versions of Don't Starve Together play separately from the PC version, so a PC server is for PC players.

Can I host a Don't Starve Together server for free?

Yes, if you run it yourself. The dedicated server is a free SteamCMD download (app 343050), or you can host from inside the game. The world is only online while that machine is on, so groups who play at different times usually rent one.