Free Valheim Server,
Try It Before You Buy It
A real Valheim server in our paid node pool, free for 72 hours. Crossplay on, a join code for console friends, the full panel — and no card, so nothing can be charged when it ends.
4 GB · London, United Kingdom, Virginia, US East and 4 more · one per person
Vanilla
Free Valheim trial
What you get in the free trial
- 72 hours
Clock starts when the server is online
- 4 GB RAM
20 GB NVMe · 2 backup slots · the paid Karve plan
- 10 seats
Valheim’s own cap — all of them included
- 0 cards
Nothing to enter, nothing to charge
Not a demo
Same Server as the Paid Plan, Crossplay On
The trial runs on the paid node pool with the paid plan’s specs. Nothing is throttled or hidden, so what you see in the first hour is what your crew would get every month.
Console friends can join
The trial server boots with crossplay on, exactly like a paid one. It prints a six-digit join code in your panel console; PlayStation 5, Xbox and Switch 2 friends type it on the Join Game screen, PC players use the code or your IP and port.
The whole panel, nothing capped
Console, file manager, SFTP, world modifiers, scheduled restarts and backups — the same dashboard a paying customer gets, on the same hardware. If something feels slow here, it would feel slow after you paid, which is the point of trying first.
Bring your world, keep what you build
Import an existing world from the Server Settings tab, or start fresh. When the trial ends we archive the world; when that succeeds it is kept for 60 days and any plan brings it back. Characters live on each player’s own machine, as always.
ONE QUESTION · NO CARDYour 72-hour Server: Three Steps to the Join Code
Pick a region
One question, on one screen: we pre-select the nearest region, and you can switch it with a tap. The size is fixed and the name is generated.
Continue with Discord
One trial per person, and Discord is how we check that. The same button signs you in and creates the server — nothing to fill in, and no card.
Online in about a minute
The server boots with crossplay on and prints its join code in the console. Share it with the crew and set sail.
A real test, not idle time
What Your Crew Can Do in 72 hours
Two bosses, three biomes and a boat is a normal first weekend of Valheim. Here is how to spend the trial so you know what the server is like with ten people on it, not just one.
- Day 1
Land, build, beat Eikthyr
Share the join code the console prints and get the whole crew in — PC and console alike. Raise a longhouse in the Meadows, craft your first gear and summon Eikthyr, the first Forsaken. Watch the panel while ten people load into one zone: that is the performance test.
- Join code shared with console friends
- Password set, Public Server off
- First boss down
- Day 2
Black Forest, bronze and portals
Push into the Black Forest for copper and tin, smelt bronze and link your camps with portals. Try the Server Settings tab: switch a world modifier, change the resource rate, rotate the password, and restart to apply — the same controls a paid server has.
- A world modifier changed and applied
- Portals linking two camps
- The Elder summoned
- Day 3
Build a karve and sail
Nail together a karve and cross open water to the Swamp. Take a backup from the Backups tab first, then decide: if the crew wants to keep going, buy any plan after the trial ends and this exact world loads onto the new server.
- A manual backup taken and listed
- Swamp reached by sea
- Decision made before the clock runs out
Control panel
Run Your Valheim Server From One Screen
Crossplay and the join code, in one place
Crossplay is a toggle, on by default. The code console players need is printed in your console every boot.
Name, world, password, public — all editable
Rename the server, switch worlds, rotate the password or hide it from the community list, then restart to apply.
Live console, files, backups
Full console and file access, SFTP, scheduled restarts in your quiet hours, one-click restore.
The clock starts once the server finishes booting, not from the moment you click start.
Stated up front
What Happens in 72 hours
The server stops.
At the deadline the server is shut down and removed from the node. You get reminders before it happens.
Your world is kept for 60 days, and we tell you if we cannot package it.
We archive the world as the trial ends. When that succeeds it is held for 60 days; if it cannot be packaged automatically, you have 14 days to open a ticket so we can move it by hand.
Buy any time to bring it back.
Choose any plan afterwards and the saved world loads onto the new server. No card was taken, so nothing renews on its own.
The honest answer
Is the Valheim Dedicated Server Free?
The software: free
The server software is. Iron Gate ships the Valheim dedicated server free on Steam, and you can run it on a PC you already own. What costs money is somewhere to run it around the clock: a machine that stays on while you sleep, a connection that can carry ten players, open ports, patch-day updates and backups that actually exist.
The hosting: try it free, then from $7.99/mo
Hosting is paying for that to be someone else’s job. This page is the no-cost way to see what that looks like: a real server in our paid node pool, crossplay on, for a fixed window, with no card and no automatic charge at the end. If it fits your crew, paid plans start at the price below and your trial world comes with you.
See every Valheim planBefore you start
Free Valheim Server Questions
