Palworld server: fixing lag, rubber-banding and stuttering

By far the most lag on a Palworld server comes not from a shortage of RAM but from a memory leak in the server process. A server for 4 players that sits comfortably at 5 GB on day one can be pushing 8 GB a week later, and no combination of settings fixes it: only a scheduled automatic restart, usually every 6 to 12 hours, clears the memory out again. Pocketpair officially recommends 16 GB of RAM for a dedicated server and flags 8 GB itself as crash-prone.

Which problem do you have: server lag, rubber-banding or low FPS?

Before you change anything, you need to know which of the three complaints you are dealing with. On your screen they feel almost identical, but two of the three cannot be fixed by tinkering with the server.

• Server lag: the world responds slowly for everyone at once. Pals move in jerks, chests open late, a felled tree topples seconds after your swing. This lives in the server process.
• Rubber-banding: you run forward and get yanked back. That comes from the network between you and the server, or from a server confirming your position too late. If it hits one player, it is that connection; if it hits everyone at once, it is the server.
• Low FPS: your picture judders, but the world responds normally. This is a problem on your own PC and will not change if the host buys more RAM.

What tick rate (server updates per second), MSPT, FPS and ping actually are is explained in our guide to TPS, MSPT, FPS and ping.

Why does your Palworld server's memory fill up?

The Palworld server process demonstrably climbs in memory usage the longer it runs. That is not a wrong setting or a corrupted world: it happens on virtually every server. A server for four players using 5 GB shortly after a restart can be pushing 8 GB a week later. The closer you get to the ceiling, the slower the world responds and the more routine rubber-banding becomes for everyone.

The honest conclusion: you do not fix this leak with settings. What does work is a scheduled automatic restart, usually every 6 to 12 hours, which empties the memory out. A daily clean restart keeps the server permanently in that fresh baseline state. Throwing extra RAM at it does not, it only moves the moment you hit the ceiling.

1. Pick a time when nobody is playing, the middle of the night for instance.
2. Set up a task in your control panel that stops the server cleanly and starts it again; in Pterodactyl that is called a scheduled task.
3. Start with once a day and tell your players when the restart lands.
4. After a week, check what memory usage looks like just before the restart. If you are already close to your limit by then, move to every 12 hours and, if needed, every 6 hours.

How many bases and working Pals can your server handle?

After the memory leak, this is the most common cause. Every base with working Pals is a chunk of world the server keeps simulating, even when nobody is anywhere near it. A group that has played the same world for months usually has more base area lying around than anyone realises.

• Demolish bases nobody uses any more and pull the Pals out of them. That usually gives you the biggest win and costs you nothing.
• In your largest base, remove the Pals that are not doing anything useful. A Pal standing around idle still costs the server processing time.
• Clear up loose items and surplus chests lying on the ground.
• Spread your production across a few normal bases instead of one megabase where everything runs at once.

Which settings actually reduce the load?

The most important dial is bEnableInvaderEnemy, the switch for hostile invaders and raids. It is closely tied to how fast the memory leak grows. Turn it off and the leak generally grows more slowly. If you want to keep raids, use the settings from the Tower of Mercy update of early 2026 to scale the difficulty.

All settings live in PalWorldSettings.ini. On a Linux server you will find it in Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/. The file holds roughly 119 settings, so work carefully.

1. Shut the server down. Edit the file while the server is running and your changes get overwritten on restart.
2. If there is no PalWorldSettings.ini in that folder yet, copy DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini across and rename the copy.
3. Edit only that copy, never the original default file.
4. Find bEnableInvaderEnemy and set the value to False.
5. Save, start the server and watch for a day or two to see whether memory climbs more slowly.

Still setting things up? The basics are in our guide to how to host your own Palworld server. Dials like ExpRate at 2 to 3, PalEggDefaultHatchingTime at 5 to 10 instead of the default 72 hours, DeathPenalty at None and WorkSpeedRate at 1.5 are quality-of-life settings: lovely if you play a couple of hours a day, but they fix no lag whatsoever.

How many players can a Palworld server handle?

A dedicated server supports a maximum of 32 players. Above roughly 24 players you will get the occasional stutter no matter what: that is a limit of the game engine, not of the hardware.

More important than the number is where they are. A group building one base together costs less than the same group scattered across the map, because then the server keeps a chunk of world active everywhere at once. If the stuttering starts exactly when everyone fans out, that is your explanation, and it is not your RAM.

For the processor, the official documentation asks for 4 cores or more, but in practice clock speed and per-core performance weigh heavier than core count. More thinking on that is in our hosting tips for Palworld servers.

When is too little RAM genuinely the cause?

Only once everything above is in order. RAM (your server's working memory) is the last suspect, not the first, but it does exist. The guidance by group size: 4 to 6 players runs on 8 GB but with no headroom, 4 to 16 players sits safely on 16 GB, and large or modded servers want 32 GB.

Here is how to tell the difference: a server that already feels sluggish shortly after a restart either has too little memory or too much to do. If it runs smoothly after a restart and only stutters after days, you do not have a RAM problem, you have a restart problem.

Which plan suits your group?

At MC-Node the price is a flat EUR 1.50 per GB of RAM on every plan, always with 1.25 GB of NVMe storage per GB of RAM. We run these servers ourselves, so we will say it plainly: with three friends you do not need 32 GB.

In between sit Fuddler with 20 GB at EUR 30.00, Teafant with 24 GB at EUR 36.00 and Killamari with 28 GB at EUR 42.00. Included as standard are automatic backups, NVMe storage, DDoS protection from PletX and a Pterodactyl panel with scheduled tasks. Those last two are exactly what Palworld needs: scheduled tasks let you set up the restart schedule in a minute, and with automatic backups a damaged save file is not a lost world. You choose from four locations, including our own hardware in the Previder PDC2 data centre in Hengelo. The plans are listed at MC-Node Palworld hosting.

Frequently asked questions

How often should I restart my Palworld server? Every 6 to 12 hours is the usual approach, and a daily clean restart keeps the server permanently in that fresh baseline state. Start with once a day at a time when nobody is playing, and shorten the interval if memory is already filling up before then.

Does more RAM fix the memory leak? No. Extra RAM only moves the moment you hit the ceiling. Pocketpair recommends 16 GB for a dedicated server, but even on 16 GB a scheduled restart stays necessary.

Why do I get rubber-banding when my friends don't? Then it is almost certainly the connection between you and the server, not the server itself. Compare your ping with everyone else's; only once it affects everybody at the same time should you look at server load.

Does turning off raids help with lag? Often, yes. The bEnableInvaderEnemy switch is closely tied to how fast the memory leak grows. If you want to keep raids, use the scaling settings from the Tower of Mercy update of early 2026 to make them lighter.

How many players can a Palworld server handle without stutters? A maximum of 32 players is the hard limit, but above roughly 24 players you get the occasional stutter regardless. That is a limit of the game engine and not of the hardware, so heavier hardware does nothing about it.

Further reading

• Which Palworld server plan suits your group? 4 to 32 GB
• How Much RAM Does a Palworld Server Need? 8, 16 or 32 GB
• Palworld Memory Leak: Why Your Server Keeps Getting Slower