ECO is unlike any other game you’ll host. While most survival games only stress the server when players are actively online, ECO’s fully simulated ecosystem — tracking every plant, animal, pollution level, soil quality and species population — runs continuously in the background whether anyone is connected or not. The economy system records every transaction, the government enforces player-written laws, and the pollution tracker adjusts the world in real time. A 30-day meteor timer creates shared urgency that demands reliable 24/7 uptime: if your server crashes for 12 hours mid-session, your community loses irreplaceable progress toward stopping the meteor. This guide ranks UK-node providers from our full UK game server hosting panel on the specs that actually matter for ECO specifically: always-on simulation performance, world size RAM scaling, and the uptime reliability that a 30-day countdown demands.
ECO’s simulation doesn’t pause when all players log off. Plants grow, animals breed, pollution spreads and soil degrades 24 hours a day. This is fundamentally different from games that idle when empty. Your server needs consistent performance around the clock, not just during peak hours. Uptime guarantees matter more for ECO than almost any other survival game.
ECO’s world size is configured in WorldGenerator.eco. The default 72×72 world creates a 0.52km² area and uses approximately 4GB RAM. A 100×100 world roughly doubles the simulation surface area and RAM consumption. Many communities run 130×130 or larger for 20+ players — plan your RAM with world size in mind, not just player count. Dimensions must be divisible by 4.
ECO’s government system tracks every player action against player-written laws — logging tree felling, pollution events, resource extraction and building placement for legal enforcement. The economy records all transactions in the Game.db database. These systems are what make ECO unique, but they add continuous background server load that lighter survival games don’t have.
ECO is less combat-focused than most survival games, but real-time collaboration — shared crafting tables, trade, building — benefits from low latency. More importantly, ECO communities typically involve many asynchronous players contributing at different times of day. A London UK node means the full UK player base gets smooth interaction with the persistent world they’re collectively building.
Best ECO game server hosting UK
Ranked on UK/London node, continuous simulation performance, uptime reliability for the 30-day meteor timer, world size RAM headroom and GBP value. DatHost does not offer ECO — top 3 is LOW.MS / Host Havoc / GTX Gaming.
LOW.MS Gold Pick 🇬🇧 London UK LOW.MS earns the top UK spot for ECO through hardware quality and the uptime reliability that ECO’s continuous simulation demands. The Ryzen 9 9950X handles ECO’s multi-threaded workload well — ecosystem simulation, law enforcement tracking, economy transaction logging and world generation run on separate threads, and a high-clock modern CPU with DDR5 memory bandwidth handles these concurrent processes without the frame-time stalls that show up on older hardware during high-activity sessions when many players are simultaneously crafting, trading and triggering pollution events.
ECO’s Game.db (the SQLite database storing all player data, economy records and law history) grows continuously and benefits significantly from NVMe storage for write performance. When multiple players are simultaneously interacting with stores, the database handles many concurrent writes — NVMe keeps this imperceptible. On SATA SSD, busy economic sessions can produce noticeable hitches during database writes. LOW.MS’s NVMe-standard storage handles this correctly.
Cloud backups at LOW.MS run automatically and independently — not just the configuration files but the full /Storage/ folder including Game.db and the world data. For ECO, where a world represents weeks of collaborative work and a corrupted Game.db means losing all economy history, having automatic cloud backups that you can restore with one click is not optional infrastructure, it’s a requirement for any serious community. At £9.10/mo from a London UK server, this is the strongest ECO hosting package available for UK communities.
- ✓ Ryzen 9 9950X + DDR5 — handles ECO’s multi-threaded sim
- ✓ Guaranteed 10GB RAM — no overloaded nodes
- ✓ London UK — consistent low latency for UK players
- ✓ 99.9% uptime SLA — critical for 30-day meteor runs
- ✓ NVMe SSD — fast Game.db writes under economy load
- ✓ Cloud backups + 5-day refund · 4.8★ Trustpilot
- ✗ Entry price slightly higher than some RAM-based competitors
- ✗ Fewer ECO-specific guides than some specialist hosts
Host Havoc Silver Pick 🇬🇧 London Host Havoc’s ECO offering stands out for the combination of RAM-based pricing and own-hardware performance. Most ECO communities need to scale their RAM allocation as their world grows — more explored terrain, more player-built structures, more economy transactions stored in Game.db — rather than adding player slots. Host Havoc’s per-GB model scales cleanly with this: start at 1GB and add RAM as needed, without migrating to a different plan or provider. The owned hardware means no CPU throttling when multiple players simultaneously trigger large crafting operations.
The sub-10-minute average support response is particularly valuable for ECO server admins, because ECO’s configuration files and SLG authentication system can cause obscure problems. When your server isn’t appearing in the public browser due to an SLG token misconfiguration, or a mod update has broken a custom law rule, getting a knowledgeable human response in under 10 minutes is genuinely useful. At £7.41/mo entry, Host Havoc is also the most affordable London-node option in our top 3 for ECO.
- ✓ Own hardware — no throttle on ECO background sim
- ✓ RAM-based pricing — better fit for ECO’s actual bottleneck
- ✓ London UK · offsite backups for Game.db protection
- ✓ 4.8★ from 1,515 reviews · <10 min support
- ✓ TCAdmin v2 · FTP · full config file access
- ✓ £7.41/mo — cheapest UK node in our top 3
- ✗ 72h refund window (shorter than LOW.MS 5-day)
- ✗ Less ECO-specific knowledge base content than some hosts
GTX Gaming Bronze Pick 🇬🇧 London + Stockholm Best budget UK GTX Gaming’s DDR5 5.7GHz hardware handles ECO’s multi-threaded simulation well, and their Windows Server 2022 environment is compatible with ECO’s .NET requirements. Their London + Stockholm nodes cover both the core UK community and Scandinavian players, and their 28-location global network means your community can grow internationally without migrating providers. Their control panel exposes ECO’s configuration files directly and supports automated restarts — essential for ECO’s memory management, as the simulation accumulates memory over long sessions.
At £7.99/mo for a 10-slot entry plan with 5GB RAM, GTX Gaming is competitive for smaller ECO communities. Their 7-day refund gives you meaningful time to test world generation, verify SLG authentication, and confirm simulation performance before committing. For UK ECO communities that want a good-value London-node host with solid documentation, GTX Gaming is a strong option.
- ✓ DDR5 5.7GHz — good for ECO’s multi-threaded simulation
- ✓ SLG auth guide published · ECO mod support
- ✓ London + Stockholm UK · 28 global locations
- ✓ Automated restarts · 7-day refund · mod folder support
- ✓ 4.7★ (1,386 reviews) · competitive entry pricing
- ✗ Per-slot pricing — less ideal for RAM-intensive ECO configs
- ✗ Less uptime guarantee clarity vs LOW.MS
All ECO hosting providers compared
All prices GBP ($1=£0.741, €1=£0.865, ). 🇬🇧 = confirmed UK/London node. Sim = simulation performance tier based on hardware. ⚠ = verify directly.
| # | Provider | GBP/mo | 🇬🇧 UK? | Sim HW | Trustpilot | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LOW.MS | £9.10 | ✅ London | 🟢 Excellent | 4.8★ (193) | Ryzen 9 9950X · 10GB guaranteed · 5-day refund · 99.9% SLA | Visit → |
| 2 | Host Havoc | from £7.41 | ✅ London | 🟢 Excellent | 4.8★ (1,515) | Own HW · RAM-based · offsite backups · <10 min | Visit → |
| 3 | GTX Gaming | from £7.99 | ✅ London + Stockholm | 🟢 Excellent | 4.7★ (1,386) | DDR5 5.7GHz · SLG guide · auto-restarts · 7-day | Visit → |
| 4 |  GGServers | ~£4.45 | ✅ London | 🟡 Good | 4.6★ (3,407) | Budget UK · London · NVMe | Visit → |
| 5 | Gaming Deluxe | ~£10 | ✅ London · GBP | 🟢 Excellent | 4.5★ (82) | UK company · GBP billing · DDR5 5.0GHz+ | Visit → |
| 6 |  BisectHosting | ~£8.89–13 | ✅ London | 🟡 Good | 4.8★ (25,348) | 21 locations · live chat · 3-day refund | Visit → |
| 7 |  Apex Hosting | ~£11+ | ✅ London + global | 🟡 Good | 4.8★ (8,054) | Unlimited slots · beginner-friendly · 7-day | Visit → |
| 8 | Shockbyte | ~£7.41+ | ✅ EU nodes | 🟡 Good | 3.8★ (10,176) | 100% uptime SLA · AMD EPYC · 72h refund | Visit → |
| 9 |  G-Portal | ~£8.14/mo equiv. | ✅ Frankfurt DE | 🟡 Good | 4.0★ (2,836) | Pay-as-go · $2.75/3 days · Frankfurt | Visit → |
| 10 | Nitrado | ~£5–12 | ✅ EU nodes | 🟡 Good | 3.6★ (7,403) | Pay-as-go · flexible EU | Visit → |
| 11 |  Survival Servers | ~£7.41+ | ✅ EU nodes | 🟡 Good | 4.7★ (862) | Survival specialist · 100–250 players confirmed | Visit → |
| 12 | Indifferent Broccoli | from £5.18 | ⚠ Germany EU | 🟢 Excellent | 4.4★ (792) | $6.99/mo 4-player · 2-day free trial · Discord support | Visit → |
| 13 |  ScalaCube | ~£5.93 | ✅ UK + EU | 🟡 Good | 4.5★ (4,713) | UK nodes · beginner-friendly · free subdomain | Visit → |
| 14 |  SparkedHost | ~£9.63 | ✅ EU + UK | 🟢 Excellent | 4.8★ (2,291) | Enterprise HW · 99.99% SLA · Apollo panel | Visit → |
| 15 | AleForge | £5.93 (8GB) | ⚠ US only | 🟢 Excellent | 4.9★ (139) | Cheapest/GB · US only · Ryzen 9 7950X · 7-day | Visit → |
| 16 | Hostinger | £7.03 | ✅ UK VPS | 🟡 Good | 4.7★ (66k+) | VPS · full root · .NET compatible · manual setup | Visit → |
| 17 |  4NetPlayers | ~£4.50 | ✅ EU | 🟡 Good | 4.4★ (7,900) | Budget EU · long track record | Visit → |
| 18 |  Godlike Host | ~£7.41 | ✅ EU | 🟡 Good | 3.8★ (416) | EU nodes · verify ECO support directly | Visit → |
DatHost does not offer ECO. 🟢 = modern high-clock CPU ideal for ECO’s multi-threaded simulation. 🟡 = adequate. ⚠ = verify directly. Prices GBP, . SLG authentication token required for public server listing (since Update 11).
ECO server RAM & hardware — world size is the primary bottleneck
Unlike most games where player count drives hardware requirements, ECO’s primary resource bottleneck is world size. A large empty world with one player uses significantly more RAM than a small world with 20 players. Understanding how world size, player count and simulation depth combine is essential for choosing the right plan.
| World Size | Approx. Area | Min RAM | Recommended | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72×72 (default) | 0.52 km² | 3GB | 4–6GB | Small groups 2–10 players |
| 100×100 | ~1 km² | 5GB | 8GB | Medium communities 10–20 players |
| 130×130 | ~1.7 km² | 8GB | 10–12GB | Active communities 20–40 players |
| 150×150+ | 2.25 km²+ | 12GB | 16GB+ | Large public servers 40–100+ players |
World dimensions must be divisible by 4. Larger worlds take significantly longer to generate on first start. NVMe storage reduces initial generation time. After generation, world size is fixed — plan ahead rather than trying to expand later.
ECO’s meteor timer counts down whether or not players are online. Server crashes don’t pause the clock, and if the meteor hits while your server is down, the session ends. Prioritise hosts with 99%+ uptime SLA and automatic crash-recovery restarts. LOW.MS’s 99.9% SLA and GTX Gaming’s scheduled restart support both address this directly.
Initial world generation can take 5–30+ minutes on large maps — NVMe storage makes this significantly faster. More importantly, Game.db receives continuous writes from economy transactions, law enforcement logging and player action tracking. NVMe handles concurrent write load without the hitches that SATA SSD produces during busy economic sessions.
ECO’s simulation accumulates memory over long sessions as it tracks growing numbers of ecosystem entities, economic transactions and law actions. Scheduling daily restarts during off-peak hours (typically 4–6am for UK communities) refreshes this memory without affecting gameplay. Any hosting control panel used for ECO should support automated scheduled restarts.
ECO uses UDP port 3000 for game connections and TCP port 3001 for the web interface (used for law voting, server browser and admin tools). Both must be open. TCP 3001 also hosts ECO’s built-in server status web page, accessible at http://serverip:3001. Managed hosts configure these automatically.
Important: Game.db backup strategy
ECO stores all persistent world data in two files in the /Storage/ directory: Game.db (SQLite database — economy records, law history, player skills, building data) and Game.eco (world terrain and ecosystem state). Both grow continuously and represent the entire history of your civilisation. A database corruption without a backup means losing everything — weeks of collaborative work, economy records, government history. Any ECO host you choose must provide reliable, regular backups of the full Storage folder. Verify this before ordering.
ECO server configuration — key files explained
ECO uses a set of .eco format configuration files (JSON-like) stored in the /Configs/ folder. The most important for new server owners are Network.eco, WorldGenerator.eco, and Difficulty.eco. All settings can also be accessed in-game via the /serverui admin command, which provides a graphical interface for most options.
Set PublicServer to true for the server browser. The WebServerPort (3001) hosts the server’s web UI — accessible at http://serverip:3001 for law voting and admin tools.
⚠ World size changes require a full server wipe and world regeneration. Set this before your community starts — you cannot expand later without wiping.
MeteorImpactTime in seconds. 2,592,000 = 30 days. Many communities set 60–90 days for a more relaxed experience. Set to 0 for a sandbox with no meteor.
SLG Server Authentication — required since Update 11
Since ECO Update 11, all servers that want to appear in the public server browser must have an SLG (Strange Loop Games) Server Authentication token. This is separate from Steam authentication and requires a Strange Loop Games account.
Go to play.eco and create a Strange Loop Games account, or log in if you already have one from purchasing ECO through the SLG website.
In your SLG account, generate a server authentication token. This is distinct from a GSLT — it’s issued by Strange Loop Games directly for ECO’s own server browser.
Add the token to your Network.eco configuration file. Your managed host’s panel should provide a field for this. Restart the server after adding the token.
ECO’s unique server systems — what runs on your server 24/7
ECO is one of a very small number of games where the server is genuinely doing meaningful work even with zero players connected. Understanding what’s running helps you make better decisions about hardware, backups and world configuration.
Dozens of plant and animal species, each with population dynamics, habitat requirements, food chains and response to pollution. Trees grow, respawn and propagate. Animals breed, migrate and die. Fish populations respond to water quality. Soil degradation from over-farming accumulates. This runs continuously — the world is genuinely alive whether players are logged in or not.
Players write actual laws — restricting how many trees can be felled per day, taxing pollution, requiring reforestation, banning certain activities in protected areas. Every player action is checked against active laws in real time. Violations can trigger fines, restrictions or automated responses. Elections run on a schedule. The law data is stored in Game.db and grows with your community’s legislative history.
Player-created currencies, stores, labor contracts and crafting machines that charge usage fees. The economy is fully player-driven — there’s no NPC shop. Prices are set by supply and demand. Players specialize in professions and trade goods they can’t produce themselves. All transactions are recorded in Game.db, creating a persistent economic history that informs government data dashboards.
The central tension: a meteor will strike in 30 days (by default, configurable). To stop it, the civilisation must research laser technology and construct a meteor defence system — requiring advanced materials that can only be produced through industrial-level crafting chains, which produces pollution that can destroy the ecosystem before the meteor arrives. The countdown runs in real server time regardless of player activity.
ECO generates real-time graphs of ecosystem health, species populations, pollution levels, economic activity, income inequality, government approval ratings, and more. Players use this data as evidence to propose laws. The dashboards update from the ongoing simulation — this is both what makes ECO educationally remarkable and what makes it continuously CPU-active on the server side.
Players have limited skill points and cannot master every profession. A community needs farmers, hunters, miners, engineers, researchers, builders, politicians and economists — each contributing their specialty. This forces interdependence and trade. No single player can be self-sufficient past the early game. For server owners, this means ECO needs enough players to have a functional specialisation diversity — typically 8–15 minimum for a rewarding experience.
ECO mods — the SLG mod repository & server installation
ECO uses its own modding framework rather than Steam Workshop. Mods are hosted on the Strange Loop Games mod repository and installed by placing files in the server’s /Mods/ folder. When mods are installed on a server, players automatically download them when connecting — similar to how Workshop mods work in other games.
Adds a real-time information overlay showing ecosystem metrics, pollution levels and economic data. Very popular on community servers as it makes the simulation’s data more accessible without opening menus. Lightweight with minimal performance impact.
Expands the number of plant and animal species in the ecosystem simulation. Adds more biodiversity to the world, making ecosystem management more interesting and the environmental stakes feel more real. More species = marginally more simulation load.
Community-made mods that add new law options, taxes and government mechanics beyond the base game. Popular on servers that want more nuanced environmental policy tools. More government options mean more data tracked in Game.db — budget a little extra RAM for heavy law-focused servers.
Download mod files from the SLG mod repository (mods.play.eco). Upload via FTP or your host’s file manager to the /Mods/ directory. Restart the server. Players receive the mods automatically on connection. Some managed hosts provide a mod installer in their panel — GTX Gaming and LOW.MS both confirm mod support via the Mods folder.
Best UK ECO host for your community type
Ryzen 9 9950X · DDR5 · London UK · guaranteed 10GB RAM · 99.9% uptime SLA · cloud backups · 5-day refund · from £9.10/mo. Best hardware + best reliability for the 24/7 simulation ECO requires.
RAM-based pricing · London UK · own hardware · from £7.41/mo. RAM-based pricing is the natural fit for ECO where world size drives requirements. Start small and add RAM as your world and community grows.
SLG auth guide published · London + Stockholm · auto-restarts · from £7.99/mo. Best for new ECO server owners who need step-by-step documentation for SLG authentication and mod installation.
ECO is used as an educational tool for ecology, economics and civics. Schools using ECO for lessons need reliable uptime (sessions can’t be mid-lesson) and easy reset between class groups. Both offer reliable UK nodes and backup/restore tools.
100+ players with a large world (130×130+) needs the guaranteed 10GB RAM allocation and high-clock CPU that LOW.MS provides. Cloud backups for Game.db are critical at this scale — a corruption means losing a massive active economy.
UK-based company · London · GBP billing · DDR5 5.0GHz+ · ~£10/mo. For UK communities or schools wanting GBP invoicing for VAT purposes and a British company to deal with for contracts.
$6.99/mo entry · 2-day free trial (no payment info needed) · Germany EU. The 2-day free trial lets you test world generation, SLG auth and simulation performance before spending anything. Note: Germany EU adds latency for UK players.
~£4.45/mo · London UK · NVMe. For a small friend group of 4–8 on a default 72×72 world, GGServers provides a London node at the lowest confirmed price. Suitable for first ECO playthroughs.
ECO game server hosting — frequently asked questions
http://serverip:3001. Both ports must be open for full functionality. Managed hosts configure these automatically. If you’re running the ECO client and server on the same machine (not recommended for production), you’ll need to use different ports — typically 4000 and 4001 — to avoid conflicts./Storage/ folder, primarily in two files: Game.db (SQLite database containing all economy records, law history, player skills, building data and government information) and Game.eco (world terrain and ecosystem state). Both grow continuously and represent your entire civilisation’s history. To back up: stop the server, copy the entire Storage folder to a safe location, restart. ECO also creates automatic backups in /Storage/Backups/. For managed hosting, ensure your provider backs up the full Storage folder — not just the Configs folder. LOW.MS and Host Havoc both provide cloud backup systems that cover the Storage folder.Difficulty.eco configuration file via the MeteorImpactTime setting, which is in seconds. The default 2,592,000 seconds equals 30 days. Common alternatives: 60 days (5,184,000 seconds) for a more relaxed community experience, 90 days (7,776,000) for casual groups, or 0 to disable the meteor entirely for a pure sandbox mode. The timer can also be accessed and modified via the in-game /serverui admin command under the Disaster section. If your community hasn’t made sufficient progress when the deadline approaches, you can extend the timer as admin.
