Free Core Keeper Server Trial: Cross-Play, No Card
Core Keeper is a game people host for each other, and a player-hosted world quietly disappears the moment its host closes the game. The usual next step is a dedicated server, and the usual first question is whether everyone can actually reach it, because the group that plays together often bought the game on different stores. GHosting's free 48-hour Core Keeper server trial lets you settle that with the real thing. No payment card, no subscription, no automatic renewal.
Try a Core Keeper server free for 48 hours
What the free Core Keeper trial includes
The trial provisions the same isolated container and dashboard as a paid plan. It uses the 3 GB Miner plan and includes:
- 3 GB RAM, 2 vCPU and 15 GB NVMe storage.
- The official native Linux dedicated server from Steam app 1963720.
- A public UDP port, which is what turns on direct connections and PC cross-play.
- The generated Game ID as well, so Steam players can still join the familiar way.
- Managed join password, player limit, seasonal event override and optional daily restart.
- Live logs, browser file access and SFTP to the dedicated-server data directory.
- A choice of Europe or North America, subject to available trial capacity.
Cross-play is the thing to test first
Core Keeper's default route is a Steam relay connection through a Game ID. That works, and it also quietly excludes everyone who bought the game somewhere else. Supplying a public UDP port enables Direct Connections instead, which is how Steam, Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store and GOG players share one world.
GHosting allocates and forwards that port automatically, so the address, port and password on your dashboard are all your group needs. Spend the first hour of the trial getting the awkward one on the list connected, whichever store they use. If that works, the rest of the decision is just how much world you want.
Sizing a world that is going to grow
Core Keeper is lighter than most 3D survival games, and the entry plan deliberately starts above the bare minimum so world generation and updates are not the thing that runs out of memory. Where it gets heavier is a long-running world with several people mining in different directions at once, which is exactly the load the trial can reproduce.
- 3 GB Miner: a small private group of up to four.
- 4 GB Explorer: a regular group of up to eight.
- 6 GB Titan: a busy long-running world with extra headroom.
The game is designed around a maximum of eight players, so the plan choice is about how much explored world sits behind those players rather than the slot count.
Bring the world you already have
A world that started as a player-hosted session can move onto the trial server. Stop the server first, replace the world data under the dedicated-server data directory through Files or SFTP, then start it again. Take a copy of both the world files and the player data before you replace anything, and do the swap while the server is stopped, because Core Keeper writes on shutdown.
Doing this during a free trial is the low-risk version of a migration: the original save is still on the original machine, and you get to confirm the base, farms and tunnels arrived before any money is involved. The Core Keeper dedicated server guide covers the directory layout.
Settings, seasons and clean restarts
The panel exposes the settings that are safe to change after launch: join password, player limit, a seasonal event override and an optional daily restart that is off by default. The world itself is created in Normal mode, because the game does not support switching a world between creative and non-creative afterwards. Season is the fun one to try during a trial: leave it on Automatic to follow the real-world calendar, or pin an event and restart to see it immediately.
No card and no surprise charge
Starting the trial never opens Stripe Checkout. After 48 hours the server stops and nothing is charged. A reminder arrives four hours before the end, and the files are kept for three days so you can continue from the dashboard or download the world.
Can I keep the same world?
Yes. Choose a paid term during the retention window and the same container resumes with its world, password, settings, files and public address in place. Nothing has to be migrated a second time.
How to start the Core Keeper trial
- Open the Core Keeper server hosting page.
- Choose a region and select Start free trial.
- Create an account and verify your email address.
- Return to the hosting page, start the trial, then add the server from your dashboard.
Each verified account can claim one trial per eligible game. A rolling network allowance, a global slot limit and a paying-customer capacity reserve keep the free servers available for genuine groups, so trial slots depend on capacity at the time you start.
Start the free Core Keeper server trial