CS:GO Server Hosting (2021)
Last updated: April 9, 2021
Jason Lawrence
To date I have tested 52 different providers to see who can really deliver the best CS:GO Server Hosting.
If you have tried to rent a game server at any point in the last 20 years or so you will have noticed that you have an immense choice of providers. The number of companies that have come and go is astronomical and only a small selection have survived over the years.
The game hosting companies that have survived the test of time have done so by cutting costs (and prices along with them), evolving their control panels and providing top-notch support. Any company that has failed at any 3 of these factors has slowly decayed away.
In my best Counter-Strike: Global Offensive server hosting guide (that you are reading now) I pick apart my top 10 picks of 52 providers I have tested. You can read the summaries I have given, ensuring that I focus on the most important factors that you should be looking for.
You can read more about my process and how I pick the top 10 CS:GO providers featured below in this article here.
What are the most important factors you should look for in a game hosting company?
- The total cost per month
- The ease of setting it up
- Performance of your server under load
- Adding mods to your server
- The support-ticket waiting time
- Extra features in control panel
Best 10 CS:GO Server Hosting Companies
You may recognize some of these companies on this list, especially the more mature ones like GameServers.com and GTX Gaming. Use this guide as a starting point for your own research, I hope it is as helpful to you as it was fun for me to make it.
LOW.MS - The Best Budget CS:GO Host
Ranks #1 of 10 CS:GO hosts
The Positives
Team made up of experienced members who had left a different provider
A large catalogue of niche games
Competitively priced
The Negatives
A fairly new company
Control Panel
Video Tour Image SlideshowFor the newest host on this list, LOW.MS has seriously hit the ground running. It was formed when staff and founders from other game hosting companies got together to create a new enterprise.
You can see the quality of their website which follows through the checkout all the way to the control panel.
This company has amazingly cheap prices for their game server hosting with this game being no exception.
Everything I needed for server maintenance was within hands reach and when I fired a few test support tickets at them they were quick to react and sort my issues.
You can pay using the traditional payment methods with LOW.MS and you have the choice of European, American, Australian or an Asian data center for your game server to live.
GameServers.com - The Best Established CS:GO Host
Ranks #2 of 10 CS:GO hosts
The Positives
Back by a huge data-center company
Host lots of different games
Provide hosting directly to game companies
Possibly the oldest game hosting company
Servers in every region
They don't pay for their Truspilot account
The Negatives
High price compared to others
Outdated website
Control Panel
Video Tour Image SlideshowIf you can get past the outdated website that GameServers.com uses to sell its services then you will find a truly stable industry leader.
This company is backed by a huge data center company that is known for providing the built-in game servers that come with many titles. If you scroll through the default server lists when you buy a new game you will probably be looking at architecture ran by GameServers.com.
The pricing is a bit on the high-side like you would expect from an industry leader but for that price, you get a stable platform that’s well thought out. The support is amazing too, they know the games they offer (a lot of titles!) as well as the control panel workings.
If you need a server in a nontraditional location then chances are this company will have you covered with a low ping data center near you. Countries such as Japan and India are usually hard to find CS:GO server hosting for but these are covered too.
Host Havoc - The Best All Round Host
Ranks #3 of 10 CS:GO hosts
The Positives
Dynamic and friendly team
Focus on providing an amazing service for a few games
Value for money feature-ful game hosting
The Negatives
Relatively new provider compared to others on list
Less locations worldwide
Control Panel
Video Tour Image SlideshowIn this prime position is Host Havoc, a game hosting company that focuses on around 30 games only and strives to know them inside and out. The support team was fast and explained everything thoroughly to me so I could ensure that I don’t keep repeating mistakes.
The control panel was well laid out and managing my server once activated was a breeze. The checkout process was near perfect, I was up and running in minutes.
Me and 2 other friends tried out my test 10 slot server with Host Havoc and experience no hiccups once we all joined, it’s hard to find anything bad about these guys.
The pricing was at the lower end of the scale when compared to other providers on this list and I was able to pay with PayPal like I always do for this sort of thing.
Unfortunately, they only seem to serve English-speaking territories; like America, Europe and Australia though.
Nitrous Networks - The Best US CS:GO Host
Ranks #4 of 10 CS:GO hosts
The Positives
Backed by a large gaming brand
Easy to use modern website
The Negatives
Less locations to choose from
My experience with Nitrous Networks was pretty good, they have a great-looking website and control panel that filled made the customer journey pleasant.
The test support tickets I submitted got answered timely and thoroughly which paired with the pricing being low-mid range made this company a good contender for the “best value for money” provider.
They offer all of the important locations to choose from (EU + USA) and accept most of the usual payment methods that people use, obviously including my recommended method: PayPal.
GTX Gaming - The Best BIG CS:GO Host
Ranks #5 of 10 CS:GO hosts
The Positives
Experienced UK based team
Cover almost every game
Loads of server locations
The Negatives
Some regions require additional fee
Control Panel
Image SlideshowGTX Gaming is experts at “economies of scale”. They know how to provide lots of games to lots of people in order to keep costs down and ensure they compete on price. If you are after a cheaper but featured Counter-Strike hosting experience without sacrificing support then these guys are ideal.
The team behind GTX Gaming has been operating for over a decade as this brand and knows the industry well. Speaking to the support staff it was obvious this was a serious operation that stretches across the globe, although they are based in the UK.
You are able to host your CS:GO server at many locations around the world but more exotic locations like Brazil are charged at a premium, so keep this in mind during your research.
Serenity Servers - The Best Half Life CS:GO Host
Ranks #6 of 10 CS:GO hosts
The Positives
Offer a cheap entry level package
The Negatives
Smaller company offering only a few games
Few server locations
Serenity Servers are on the lower scale of pricing (but they are definitely not the cheapest on this list) but fall down when it comes to support and control panel features.
They focus more on hosting Half-Life-based games but I’m not sure if that’s a plus or a negative in this case.
Streamline Servers - The Best Global CS:GO Host
Ranks #7 of 10 CS:GO hosts
The Positives
Passionate about server performance
The Negatives
Usually pretty expensive
Streamline Servers are hardcore when it comes to server hardware, using water-cooled monsters called HPGS+. You can expect amazing performance as standard but like everything in this world, it comes at a price.
These guys are at the higher end of the pricing spectrum but do have an amazing network of global locations to choose from if you are in the western world.
Bisect Hosting - The Best Budget Host
Ranks #8 of 10 CS:GO hosts
The Positives
Cheap
Lastly is Bisect Hosting, a company that was purely Minecraft server hosting focused for many years and then branched out into other games. What they did do when they made this shift created a discount provider option for many games but unfortunately their CS:GO isn’t as cheap as some of the better providers and it’s fallen behind.
They offer a budget solution but with pricing that isn’t cheaper than some of the above companies reviewed. I would recommend Bisect Hosting for Minecraft but not so much for CS:GO.
Ping Perfect - The Best UK CS:GO Host
Ranks #9 of 10 CS:GO hosts
The Positives
Support a community of Twitchers
Wide range of games
Lots of global locations
The Negatives
Support was a little slow
With plenty of American and European server locations (as well as some Russian ones too), PingPerfect offers a decent value-for-money package for those requiring basic Counter-Strike: Global Offensive server hosting.
My experience with this company was good, everything was set up quickly. Although the support wasn’t as quick as some of the others I had tested in the same cost category, the problems I asked for help with were sorted out in the end.
Interestingly, you are able to save some money off the price of your server by allowing them to put their brand on it. This is something that most people pay a premium for (think Gucci for example) so this is a strange feature of this offering.
Fragnet - The Best Bitcoin CS:GO Host
Ranks #10 of 10 CS:GO hosts
The Positives
Lots of server locations
Server hosting experts
Backed by a large server company
The Negatives
Outdated website
Expensive starter package
Fragnet only does a premium offering for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive server hosting, a lot of the others default to a basic package and then charge more for a premium upgrade. The higher price that Fragnet does charge matches the other providers on this list but it’s a bit annoying that you are forced in that direction.
These guys feel a bit left behind when I tested their control panel and support wasn’t the quickest, annoying for a premium product.
Important CS:GO Hosting Features
Before you choose a company from the list above make sure they cater for these features if they are needed by you and your community.
For a full list of important factors and features check out my Choosing a CS:GO Hosting Company guide I wrote.
Tick Rate
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive servers can run in 1 of 2 modes, 64 tick rate and 128 tick rate.
This tick rate is the number of calculations your server makes per second, with the high number requiring much more CPU resources.
As standard your server will most probably come with a 64 tick rate limit, then if you wish to increase that number to 128 you will need to pay more.
Memory Limits
Like the CPU limitations enforced on your server in the form of a tick rate, you can also experience hidden memory limits.
This limit can reduce game-play quality as your server won’t have the available memory space required to make lightning-fast reactions.
Check to see if your host boasts of not having these restrictions to ensure you are getting a great deal.
My Hosting Review Process:
1. Find 52 popular CS:GO Server Hosting providers
2. Buy a basic package and set it up
3. Run speed tests on server
4. Compare the features vs. cost
My Choices For CS:GO Hosting
