Rust Server Hosting
How to Grow a Rust Server From 0 to 100 Players
From 0 to 100 players
Most new Rust servers never get past an empty map. The ones that grow aren’t lucky: they know who they’re for, wipe on a schedule players can plan around, advertise at the right moment and give people a reason to come back next wipe. This guide covers each of those in order.
Pick a server identity
“Rust server, 2x, good admins” describes thousands of servers. Players pick the one that’s clearly made for them.
Know who it’s for
Solo/duo, small groups, large clans, PvE, builders, new players. Choose one main audience and set group limits, rates and rules around it. A server that tries to suit everyone ends up suiting no one.
Say it in one line
If you can’t describe your server in one short sentence, players can’t either. “Weekly 2x solo/duo/trio, max 3, active admins” tells a player everything they need to decide.
Keep it consistent
Use the same name, banner and pitch in the server browser, on Discord and in every ad. Players should recognise you the second time they see you.
Your listing in the server browser is your shop window. Set the description, banner and website link in server.cfg, and add server browser tags so players filtering by wipe schedule or style can find you:
server.description "Weekly 2x solo/duo/trio. Max group 3.\nWipes Thursday 7pm UK. Discord: discord.gg/yourserver" server.headerimage "https://i.imgur.com/yourbanner.jpg" server.url "https://discord.gg/yourserver" server.tags "weekly,vanilla"
Run server.readcfg in the console to load the changes. Tags in the same group (for example weekly and monthly) can’t be combined, so only set the ones that are true. Our server description, banner and URL guide covers the listing in detail, including banner sizes and direct image links.
Choose a wipe schedule and keep it
Wipe day is when players pick a new server. A predictable schedule means they can plan to be there.
- Weekly
Best for most new servers. Every wipe is a fresh start, so a player who missed the last one doesn’t feel behind. You get a new chance to fill the server every week.
- Biweekly
A middle ground. Longer progression than weekly without the month-long grind. Works well once you have a regular player base that stays past the first few days.
- Monthly
Hard to start with. Players who don’t join on day one are a month behind, and a quiet start leaves you with a dead map for weeks. Monthly servers usually work best once you already have a population.
Pick a fixed day and time that suits your main region’s evening, and put it everywhere: the description, the Discord, every ad. Moving your wipe day, or wiping early without warning, costs you players who planned their week around it.
Get your first players
A server with ten people online looks alive. A server with zero looks broken, however good it is.
- Launch on a wipe day at peak time. Your first wipe is your best chance to fill the server. Start it when your region is online, not on a Tuesday morning.
- Bring a starting group. Ask friends, a clan you play with or another community to play the first wipe with you. A few real players make the next ones far more likely to stay.
- Play on it yourself. Admins who play learn what’s broken and keep the map feeling busy early on.
- Run something on the first night. An event at peak time gives new players a reason to stay past their first hour.
- Never fake your player count. Players notice an empty map within minutes, and they don’t come back to a server that lied to them.
Advertise your Rust server
Advertising works best in the day or two before a wipe, when players are looking for somewhere new.
Every ad should answer the same questions a player asks in the server browser: what kind of server it is, group limit, rates, region and the exact wipe time. Reward players who spread the word, too. Join Groups can check names for a prefix and add those players to a group, so you can give a perk to anyone with your server tag in their name.
Build a Discord community
The server browser brings players in once. Discord is how they hear about the next wipe.
Keep it simple
Rules, wipe announcements, general chat, looking for group, and support. A Discord with forty empty channels looks as dead as an empty server.
Announce every wipe
Post the wipe time and what’s new before every wipe and ping a role players opt into. This is your most reliable way to bring last wipe’s players back.
Connect it to the game
Raids, events, polls and feedback sent to Discord keep the channel active even while players are offline, and remind them what they’re missing.
Answer fast
A ticket or support channel that gets a reply within the hour builds trust. Players stay where they feel listened to.
Many ModPulse plugins can post to Discord through webhooks, including Raid Announcer, Server Polls, Raffle, Restart Rewards, Kill Feed and Feedback.
Keep the players you get
Growing from 0 to 100 is mostly about not losing people. A player who stays all wipe is worth more than five who leave after an hour.
- Make the first five minutes easy. New players should see your rules, commands and Discord link straight away, without having to ask in chat.
- Keep performance smooth. Lag and long restarts drive players away fast. Restart at fixed, announced times, not in the middle of peak hours.
- Moderate fairly and quickly. Toxic chat and slow responses to cheaters empty servers. Clear rules applied the same way to everyone keep the regulars.
- Listen and show it. Ask for feedback, act on the good ideas and say so in your wipe announcement.
- Speak their language. If your server draws players from several countries, translated plugin messages make it feel like it was made for them.
Welcome new players
Info UI combines a welcome UI, daily rewards and a feedback/bug report system. Welcomer greets players with a personal message and announces them to everyone else.
Moderate with less effort
Chat Mod+ catches spam and bad language automatically, and sets mute durations from each player’s history, so your moderators don’t have to.
Hear from players
Server Polls lets you ask players in-game and post the results to Discord. Feedback gives them a simple UI for suggestions, logged to the console, files or Discord.
Running an international server? Auto Translate translates your plugins’ language files into every language automatically, and can translate chat.
Give players a reason to return
Vanilla Rust gives players a reason to log in on wipe day. Events, competition and rewards give them a reason to log in on day three, and to come back next wipe.
Events
Farm Event
A points event for resource farming, with a leaderboard, a random double-points material and rewards for the winner. Run it automatically or by hand.
Locked Crate Event
King of the Hill style events around a locked crate: the first player to loot it wins. Run them manually or automatically with a cooldown and player requirement.
Raffle
Giveaways for items, kits, groups and permissions, with tickets bought through Economics or Server Rewards and the draw announced on Discord.
Competition and leaderboards
Kill Feed
PvP kill notifications in chat, a UI or Discord, with killstreaks that persist through server restarts. Works with most clan plugins.
Patrol Heli Kill Tracker
Shows which player took down the patrol helicopter, by most hits or last hit, so the big fights get the credit they deserve.
Coinflips
Players challenge each other, or the server, to coinflips for scrap, items, Economics or Server Rewards through a simple UI.
Rewards
Restart Rewards
Schedules your restarts, announces them and rewards players who reconnect within a set time, with kits, items, Economics or Server Rewards. Restarts stop costing you players.
Gems
Rare gems drop as an extra reward for mining, with 19 in the default config. Use them in shops and kits, or let players exchange them.
Loot Box
Chests and keys that open for random loot. A good fit for voting rewards, daily kits and shops.
Clans and community
Raid Announcer
Announces raids with grid coordinates in chat and on Discord, and marks them on the map with the attacker’s and defender’s name or clan. Supports Clans and Clans Reborn.
Announcer Plus
Automated chat messages, with separate messages for VIPs and regular players. Share events and updates, and thank your supporters.
Join Groups
Adds new players to a group automatically, and can check names for a prefix first, so players who wear your server tag get a perk.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to reach 100 players?
Should I run a vanilla or a modded server?
Is it worth paying for advertising?
Do these plugins work on Oxide and Carbon?
What if I need help setting up a plugin?
Give players a reason to come back
Events, rewards and community plugins for Oxide / Carbon, with support on Discord.