What to look for in The Isle server hosting
The Isle is a dinosaur survival game from Afterthought LLC, in Early Access on Steam since 2015. Players spawn as a juvenile dinosaur and try to grow to adulthood by hunting, foraging, nesting and avoiding everything bigger than them, on servers built around realism and roleplay.
The game has two separate branches, and they do not mix. Evrima is the current, actively developed version, picked from the evrima beta on Steam. Legacy is the old build, frozen since early 2022,. A Legacy client cannot see Evrima servers and the other way round, so the branch your server runs decides who can join. The Evrima dedicated server installs through SteamCMD with the evrima beta, runs on Windows or Linux, and registers with Epic Online Services so it appears in the in-game browser.
What to compare
- The right branch. Make sure the host installs and updates the Evrima branch, or Legacy if that is genuinely what your community plays. A wrong branch means nobody can find the server.
- Game.ini access. Player limit, growth speed, AI density, migrations, admins and the allowed dinosaur list all live in Game.ini.
- RAM and CPU for big maps. Large populations, AI creatures and long sessions push memory use up.
- Fast updates. Evrima updates change server files and dinosaurs. Servers must match the client version, so prompt updates keep players connected.
- Backups. Player growth and dinosaur saves are what people care about most. Automatic backups protect them from bad updates and crashes.
- RCON and queue support. Admins use RCON for moderation, and busy servers use the queue system.
- DDoS protection and location. Public servers attract attacks, and latency matters in chases.
See the current The Isle hosting deals for offers from listed providers. For a whole machine, see dedicated servers.
The Isle server hosting FAQ
Should my server run Evrima or Legacy?
Evrima, for almost everyone. It is the version in active development, while Legacy no longer receives updates and has few players.
How many players can a The Isle server hold?
The limit is set with MaxPlayerCount in Game.ini. Large servers with 100 or more players need plenty of RAM and a strong CPU.
Can I choose which dinosaurs are playable?
Yes. Evrima servers have an allowed classes list in Game.ini, so you can limit the roster for roleplay or balance.
Can I host The Isle server for free?
Yes. The dedicated server is a free SteamCMD download for Windows and Linux, installed with the evrima beta. It only runs while your machine is on, so communities usually rent one.
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