How to host an Insurgency server (2026)

Short answer. You can host an Insurgency server yourself for free: install the Insurgency Dedicated Server (Steam app 237410) with SteamCMD using an anonymous login, put your name in insurgency/cfg/server.cfg, start it with srcds_run and open port 27015 (TCP and UDP). Or rent an Insurgency server and skip the networking.

Players find it by name in the in-game server browser, or join by its address (IP and port).

Checked on 5 November 2026 against the newest Steam announcement for the game, dated 12 December 2025, which removed BattlEye from the client and the Windows dedicated server.

This guide is about the 2014 game, Insurgency, not Insurgency: Sandstorm. It uses Valve's Source Dedicated Server documentation for the generic parts and our own Insurgency install for the rest. To skip to the rental route, go to Option 2.

What you need

• The server software: "Insurgency Dedicated Server", Steam app 237410. It is free and downloads with an anonymous Steam login. You do not need to own the game to download it.
• A machine that stays on: a spare PC, a home server or a cloud virtual machine. This guide uses 64-bit Linux, which is what we run. The game's Steam page lists Linux, Windows and Mac for players, and a Windows dedicated server exists, but we have not tested one.
• RAM and CPU: the developer does not publish dedicated server requirements. The Steam page lists only what the game needs to play, so treat any server figure you read elsewhere as an estimate.
• A player cap: set with -maxplayers on the start line. We cap our servers at 32.
• Network: port 27015, TCP and UDP, reachable from the internet. Valve's documentation says it can be changed with -port.

Option 1: host it yourself

These steps are for Debian or Ubuntu. The download command, the file paths and the start line are the ones our Insurgency install uses.

Install the server

1. Install the libraries SteamCMD needs.

   sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install lib32gcc-s1 curl tar -y

2. Create a user for the server and switch to it. Valve warns against running SteamCMD as root.

   sudo useradd -m -s /bin/bash -U insurgency
   sudo su - insurgency

3. Install SteamCMD and let it update itself once.

   mkdir -p ~/steamcmd ~/server
   cd ~/steamcmd
   curl -sSL -o steamcmd.tar.gz https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steamcmd_linux.tar.gz
   tar -xzf steamcmd.tar.gz
   ./steamcmd.sh +quit

4. Download the server.

   ~/steamcmd/steamcmd.sh +force_install_dir /home/insurgency/server +login anonymous +app_update 237410 validate +quit

   In our installs SteamCMD sometimes failed while still reporting success: on a clean install about two runs in seven, leaving an empty folder. Check that steamapps/appmanifest_237410.acf exists in the server folder, and run the command again if it does not.
5. Copy the Steam client library into .steam/sdk32 in the home folder of the user that runs the server, as our install does:

   mkdir -p ~/.steam/sdk32
   cp ~/steamcmd/linux32/steamclient.so ~/.steam/sdk32/

6. Strip the Windows line endings from srcds_run. Valve ships it with CRLF line endings, so Linux looks for an interpreter named /bin/sh followed by a carriage return. The file exists and is executable, yet the shell answers "No such file or directory". This fixes it:

   sed -i 's/\r$//' ~/server/srcds_run

Write the settings

1. Create server.cfg in insurgency/cfg inside the server folder. Valve's documentation says the name people see in the server browser is the hostname line of this file:

   hostname "My Insurgency server"
   sv_password ""

   Put a password between the quotes for a private server. Leave it empty for a public one.
2. Restart the server after you edit the file, so it starts with your changes.

Open the ports

• Game: allow port 27015 on the machine's firewall, TCP and UDP (for example sudo ufw allow 27015), and forward it on your router. Valve's documentation lists 27015 TCP/UDP for game traffic, pings and RCON.
• Another port: add -port with your number to the start line and open that one instead.

Start it and join

1. Start the server from the server folder. This is the line our install uses, with port 27015, 16 players and the map sinjar:

   ./srcds_run -game insurgency -console -port 27015 -maxplayers 16 +map sinjar +ip 0.0.0.0 -strictportbind -norestart

   It is ready when the console prints gameserver Steam ID. Run it under a service manager such as systemd so it starts again after a reboot or a crash.
2. Join it. In Insurgency, open the server browser and search for your server name exactly as written in hostname, or join by your public IP address and port as described in How to connect to your Insurgency server.
3. Update by stopping the server and running the step 4 download command again. When the game updates, the server must be updated too: the newest announcement tells server owners to update the dedicated server through Steam.

Option 2: host it on PlayNHost

Renting removes the install, the libraries, the ports and the update routine. You still choose a name, a password and a map.

1. Pick a plan. Open the Insurgency server hosting page and compare the plans: MAKAROV (8 players), AKM (16) and M249 (32) at the time of writing. Press Create Server on the one you want and finish the order. Prices change, so check them on that page.
2. Wait for the install. The server appears in the panel. Its Console prints gameserver Steam ID when it is ready.
3. Name it. On the Settings tab, set the Server name and, for a private server, the Join password. Then restart. See How to change your Insurgency server name, password and map.
4. Choose the starting map in the Starting map field on the same tab.
5. Make yourself admin. See How to become an admin on your Insurgency server.
6. Invite your players. The Play with friends card on Overview shows what to give them, and Copy invite message copies it. They can also join as described in How to connect to your Insurgency server.

What the panel does for you:

• Your port is assigned and open from the start, and it goes onto the start line for you, so there is nothing to forward.
• The name and password are written into insurgency/cfg/server.cfg at every start, so you change them in the panel, not in the file. The install also creates that file with empty hostname and sv_password lines. This matters: the panel only edits an existing server.cfg and will not create a missing one, and in our test without the file the server name stayed "Insurgency".
• The download runs up to three times, so one failed SteamCMD run like the ones described above does not leave you with an empty server. The Windows line endings in srcds_run are removed for you too.
• With Auto Update on (the default, under Show advanced on the Settings tab), the server installs the newest build when it starts, so a restart is an update. A server that never restarts never updates.
• Turn on Install SourceMod to add Metamod:Source and SourceMod to insurgency/addons. It is read while the server installs, so turning it on later takes a reinstall, not a restart. You upload the plugins yourself.

Self-hosting or renting: an honest comparison

• Cost: the server software is free. Self-hosting costs power, hardware and bandwidth, or a cloud machine. Renting is a recurring fee set by the plan, billed monthly, quarterly or yearly.
• Uptime: a home server is only up while your PC, power and internet are. A rented server runs on the host's hardware.
• Exposure: at home, players connect to your public IP address and you look after the firewall and router. A rented server keeps your home IP out of it.
• Setup: self-hosting needs the command line, port forwarding, the SteamCMD retry and the line-ending fix above. Renting needs a name, a password and a map.
• Control: self-hosting gives you every file. On our servers you change the name and password in the panel and still have the Files tab for server.cfg and the rest.

Ready to skip the setup? See the Insurgency server plans. Server not showing up? Read Insurgency server is not in the browser or will not load a map.