Choosing a server location
How to pick the best server region for your players so everyone gets the lowest ping.
3 min read · Updated Sep 24, 2026 · By GuavaHost Team
Pick the region closest to your players
The simple rule: choose the region closest to most of the people who will actually play. Closer means lower ping, and ping is the round trip delay between a player and the server, measured in milliseconds. Lower ping feels snappier, higher ping feels laggy.
GuavaHost hosts in Dallas (United States), Limburg (Germany), Gravelines (France), Warsaw (Poland) and Sydney (Australia). Dallas is also the closest option for South America.
As a starting point:
| Location | Usually the best pick for players in |
|---|---|
| Dallas, United States | North America, and South America |
| Limburg, Germany | Germany and central Europe |
| Gravelines, France | France, the UK and western Europe |
| Warsaw, Poland | Poland and eastern Europe |
| Sydney, Australia | Australia and New Zealand |
To help you decide, the location picker at checkout shows an estimated ping for each region based on your own connection. Use it as a guide:
- On the location step, look at the estimated ping next to each region.
- If most of your players are near you, the lowest number is usually your best pick.
- If your group is spread across countries, pick the region that is most central to the largest number of them, not just the one closest to you.
One thing to keep in mind: the ping shown is estimated from where you are checking out. If your players are somewhere else, base your choice on where they are, not where you are.
Check before you order
If you are torn between two locations, it is worth a quick test from the players' side. How to test your ping before picking a location shows how anyone in your group can measure their own ping with the ping and traceroute tools already on Windows and macOS, so you can compare real numbers instead of guessing.
You can move later
You are not locked in. If your player base shifts over time, say most of your community ends up in Europe when you started in the US, you can move it yourself later with Change location on the server's Overview in your control panel. Your world and files come with you, but the server gets a new IP address and port, so you will need to share the new address. See Changing your server location for how that works.
Common questions
Does the location change the price? No. Every location costs the same. The price depends on your plan and the RAM you choose.
Can each of my servers be in a different location? Yes. You choose the location for each server when you order it, so you can run one in Dallas and another in Warsaw.
Will a closer location fix lag? It fixes lag caused by distance (high ping). If everyone lags at the same moment wherever they are, the server itself is struggling, and moving will not help. Lag or ping? explains how to tell the two apart.
My players are on two continents. What now? Pick the location closest to the larger or more active group. The other group will have higher ping, so if both groups are big, some communities run one server per region.
Still stuck? Jump into our Discord at discord.gg/GuavaHost and the team will help you out.
- billing
- checkout
- server location
- region
- ping
Still need help? Our team is online 24/7 to answer questions.