Server = Money?

[WhatComesAround]

So the idea of earning money from hosting a server interested me, and I would like to know how you can make money from them, how much a server would cost to build, and ect. Any info on this subject will be greatly appreciated.

[Luke4efc]

Server for what exactly? Remember you would have to spend at least £400 to get something decent, then you have to pay for beefy internet. You will probably end up losing money tbh unless you host more than 1 thing.

[Bittenfleax]

So the idea of earning money from hosting a server interested me, and I would like to know how you can make money from them, how much a server would cost to build, and ect. Any info on this subject will be greatly appreciated.

What are you hosting? Websites? Games? - The cost depends how good your server is, could be from £100 (for a Shi**y one) or up to £1000 or more

[Soplias]

What sort of Server. What would you be Hosting?

[Guest MinimalEffort]

If you want to earn money from server hosting you will likely need a ton of servers running at the same time with a bunch of customers. A guy with a PC in his bedroom isn't going to earn much, if any, money from server hosting

[WhatComesAround]

What sort of Server. What would you be Hosting?

I don't know, what is profitable to be hosting?

[Br3tt96]

If I ran a server I was gonna get a xeon x5650, but that's because they have 6 core 12 threads and they're cheap used. Servers can be expensive if you wanna host big minecraft servers or whatever. Gotta have lots of ram and really really stable/fast internet. So if you charge someone you need make sure they won't lag and your server is running 24/7 with occasional restarts or something.

[WhatComesAround]

What are you hosting? Websites? Games? - The cost depends how good your server is, could be from £100 (for a Shi**y one) or up to £1000 or more

What would I have to host to earn the most money (What's demanded more often)

[Bittenfleax]

I don't know, what is profitable to be hosting?

MC, Gmod - mainly because you can get like.. young people to pay a lot of money for what they get.. yeah it is kinda mean, but it works. 

[WhatComesAround]

MC, Gmod - mainly because you can get like.. young people to pay a lot of money for what they get.. yeah it is kinda mean, but it works. 

and how can I advertise this?

[WhatComesAround]

If you want to earn money from server hosting you will likely need a ton of servers running at the same time with a bunch of customers. A guy with a PC in his bedroom isn't going to earn much, if any, money from server hosting

And how do I get people interested in renting a server?

[Guest MinimalEffort]

And how do I get people interested in renting a server?

 

Well if you have the server and everything set up, make a website.

[manikyath]

you shouldnt host to make profit, the profit is a side effect if you arent a big company.

 

and profit depends on what exactly you're hosting, and how badly you want to piss off your users.

 

example: there was a Gmod server that played video ads in the background while you were playing, without being able to turn it off.

that'll make you tons of money, but everyone will hate your guts.

[Bittenfleax]

and how can I advertise this?

Urmm.. basically you will need a website (or not but it helps - at least you could host it yourself, haha). Or, basically through word of mouth, get loads of people on Steam who are "into" that kinda stuff and developing game servers and just wait... Over the past year or 2 of doing Gmod "stuff" I have met some cool people who are all into developing their own server, and those are the kinda people who you need to target.

 

But then again, there will not be a lot of profit because you can get at least £20 - £25 a month depending on your server but... you have to pay for the server to it will take a while to make your money back.. 

[WhatComesAround]

Urmm.. basically you will need a website (or not but it helps - at least you could host it yourself, haha). Or, basically through word of mouth, get loads of people on Steam who are "into" that kinda stuff and developing game servers and just wait... Over the past year or 2 of doing Gmod I have met some cool people who are all into developing their own server, and those are the kinda people who you need to target.

 

But then again, there will not be a lot of profit because you can get at least £20 - £25 a month depending on your server but... you have to pay for the server to it will take a while to make your money back.. 

And what components of a computer are normally used a lot when hosting a game server?

[Bittenfleax]

And what components of a computer are normally used a lot when hosting a game server?

Ehh.. the 3 things that are essential or probably CPU (cores over Ghz), erm... Fastish Memory (depending on what your are hosting) and fast internet speed. 

 

EDIT

 

Don't use PC grade components though..

[kichilron]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I wouldn't suggest trying to do this if you're on your own.

 

Especially if you're going to be hosting off your own hardware you're not really going to make any profit whatsoever.

 

And even if you go down the route like everyone else and getting yourself a dedicated server and then rent out gameservers you're running on those the competition is hard and you're likely to lose money on it.

 

I know a few (experienced) people that literally spent 20 hours / day on their business and even then didn't make money off of it. Unless you have a unique selling point (like for example exclusive hosting for a popular game) you'll have a hard time - not to mention you'll have to offer 24/7 support, which is really exhausting on your own.

[Br3tt96]

Get a nice xeon and tons of ram

[WhatComesAround]

Ehh.. the 3 things that are essential or probably CPU (cores over Ghz), erm... Fastish Memory (depending on what your are hosting) and fast internet speed. 

 

EDIT

 

Don't use PC grade components though..

Do I need a good gpu for a game server?

[WhatComesAround]

Get a nice xeon and tons of ram

GPU for game server?

[Bittenfleax]

Do I need a good gpu for a game server?

No. You don't need one at all. 

[Br3tt96]

Servers really don't need crazy gpus, something like a 750ti

[Sir Asvald]

So the idea of earning money from hosting a server interested me, and I would like to know how you can make money from them, how much a server would cost to build, and ect. Any info on this subject will be greatly appreciated.

I use to host at least 5 servers from my house. Using a separate Connection. I made £500 per month. But the only reason why I stopped is because the electricity bill was high. Now I've moved the servers to co-lo and now I only pay like £120 per month for the rack and space. 

 

I used to host a wordpress server, Minecraft, Gmod, different other sites. 

 

I don't think it is worth it anymore to host anything at home. 

[WhatComesAround]

I use to host at least 5 servers from my house. Using a separate Connection. I made £500 per month. But the only reason why I stopped is because the electricity bill was high. Now I've moved the servers to co-lo and now I only pay like £120 per month for the rack and space. 

 

I used to host a wordpress server, Minecraft, Gmod, different other sites. 

 

I don't think it is worth it anymore to host anything at home. 

If you are hosting a game server can you play on it on another pc?

[Br3tt96]

If you are hosting a game server can you play on it on another pc?

Yes, but you'll need super fast net