How much RAM does an ARK server need?
ARK is one of the most memory-hungry games you can host. Plan on 8 GB for a small ARK: Survival Evolved server and 16 GB for ARK: Survival Ascended.
2 min read · Updated Sep 24, 2026 · By GuavaHost Team
ARK is one of the most memory-hungry games you can host, so plan on 8 GB of RAM for a small ARK: Survival Evolved server and 16 GB for ARK: Survival Ascended, then add headroom as you stack players and mods.
Why ARK needs so much memory
ARK loads the entire map plus every creature, structure and item into memory, and that footprint grows as your world fills up with tamed creatures and bases. This is why RAM, more than anything else, decides how smoothly your server runs.
ARK: Survival Evolved guidance
- Small vanilla server for a few friends: 8 GB, which is also where our ASE plans start.
- Bigger maps like Ragnarok, Genesis or Fjordur, or 10 or more players: 10 to 12 GB.
- Heavily modded: 12 to 16 GB.
ARK: Survival Ascended guidance
ASA runs on Unreal Engine 5 and is far heavier on memory than ASE. Studio Wildcard, the developer, has not published a clear server RAM requirement, so these numbers come from how ASA servers behave in practice.
- Minimum: our ASA plans start at 12 GB. That can work for a couple of players on a fresh map, but it leaves little headroom.
- Recommended for a small group: 16 GB.
- Populated or modded: 20 to 24 GB.
It is completely normal for an ASA server to sit at a high memory figure even with only a few players online.
What pushes RAM higher
- Player count.
- Large or DLC maps.
- Mods, especially structure and creature overhauls.
- A long-lived world with lots of tamed creatures and big bases.
- Running a cluster, where each map is its own instance with its own RAM.
Signs you need more
- Rubber-banding, or creatures teleporting back after you move them.
- Long load times or timeouts when joining.
- Crashes, especially around a world save.
- Out-of-memory messages in the Console tab.
Upgrading on GuavaHost
Every plan is fully configurable. Pick your RAM at checkout, and if you outgrow it you can upgrade any time from Manage plan in your control panel at customer.guavahost.com, with billing prorated. A quick restart applies the new memory. NVMe SSD storage and AMD Ryzen or Intel CPUs help too, but for ARK, RAM is the main lever.
Regular restarts also keep memory in check, since ARK tends to use more the longer it runs. Scheduling one every several hours is a good habit that pairs well with having enough RAM in the first place.
Still stuck? Jump into our Discord at discord.gg/GuavaHost and the team will help you out.
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