Do you have to pay for an Enshrouded server? The honest answer

The short answer: no, you're not required to pay to play Enshrouded online, but free comes with a real hidden cost. Enshrouded lets you host it yourself, for free, on your own PC. The question is whether that's really a good deal.

The free route: self-hosting at home

You can run the Enshrouded dedicated server on your machine or as a host game. It's "free", but it assumes:

• A PC on permanently so the world stays accessible 24/7.
• Plenty of free RAM: Enshrouded is very demanding, especially with several players.
• Some network configuration: opening ports, exposing your public IP, firewall.
• No Anti-DDoS protection: your personal IP becomes a target.

The real cost of "free"

Between the electricity of a PC running day and night, hardware wear and the time spent troubleshooting the network, self-hosting isn't so free. Not to mention the lag when you play on the same machine that hosts the server.

Free is fine for testing with a friend over a weekend. For a permanent, smooth and shared world, it quickly becomes a limitation.

The paid server: what you're really buying

For a few euros a month, a host removes all the technical hassle: a server online 24/7, dedicated RAM generously sized for Enshrouded, a Ryzen 9 7950X3D processor, Anti-DDoS included and the FlyPanel panel to control everything. No ports to open, no IP to expose.

So, should you pay?

If you play occasionally with a friend, free is enough. As soon as you're aiming for an active community and a world available around the clock, a dedicated server is more worthwhile in both time and comfort. At Fly-Serv, that's an Enshrouded server from €5.99/month, with no commitment. To pin down the exact budget, see How much does an Enshrouded server cost?, and to get started, create yours in one click.