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Try a Factorio Server Free for 48 Hours (No Card Required)

August 14, 2026 · 6 min read

By GHosting engineering

A Factorio hosting plan cannot tell you whether the group's existing factory will load, whether everyone has the right expansion and mod state, or whether the server stays at 60 UPS once the trains start moving. GHosting now offers a real 48-hour Factorio server trial with no payment card, no subscription and no automatic renewal, so you can test the world you actually intend to play.

Industrial rail lines feeding a dense Factorio megafactory Try a Factorio server free for 48 hours

What the free Factorio trial includes

The trial provisions the same isolated server and dashboard as a paid plan. It uses the 2 GB Burner plan, intended for a small co-op factory, and includes:

  • 2 GB RAM, 2 vCPU and 15 GB NVMe storage.
  • Wube's official native Linux headless server on a public UDP port.
  • A Base game or Space Age world selected before the first save is created.
  • A writable console, live logs, settings, browser file access and SFTP.
  • Automatic rotating saves and graceful save-before-stop restarts.
  • A choice of Europe or North America, subject to available trial capacity.

Choose Base or Space Age before creating the world

The same official headless package can run both variants, but the server must write the correct expansion state before it creates the first save. Choose Base game or Space Age when you add the server. The trial gives the group time to join with representative clients and prove that everybody has the compatible version, expansion entitlement and data set.

That choice is intentionally not an ordinary restart setting. Toggling prototype data after a factory exists can make a save inconsistent. Our Base versus Space Age server guide explains the boundary and how to test a migration copy safely.

Upload the factory you already play

A Factorio world is a ZIP file. Stop the trial server, open Files, use the guided world importer, then start it again and watch Console name the save it loads. The importer keeps existing server saves as rollback points and does not start the process for you, so a version, expansion or mod mismatch is visible before the group moves.

For local save locations, compatibility checks and the exact workflow, follow the Factorio save upload guide.

Settings worth testing in 48 hours

  • Pause when empty. Stop the simulation using CPU while nobody is connected.
  • Autosaves. Choose the interval and number of rotating save slots.
  • Joining behavior. Pause while a player catches up with a large map.
  • Player limit and password. Match the real group rather than a demo profile.
  • Console permissions. Keep commands admin-only, open them to everyone, or disable them.

Direct connection needs no Factorio account credentials. Public browser listing is optional and requires both a Factorio account username and auth token; the token is masked in the panel and encrypted at rest. Leave those fields blank during the trial if all you need is the public address.

What about mods and a large factory?

Factorio uses its own Mod Portal rather than Steam Workshop. Upload compatible mod ZIP files and maintain data/mods/mod-list.json, then restart. Every player needs the matching Factorio version and mod set. A 2 GB Burner trial is deliberately small: it is suitable for proving a light mod set or existing save, not benchmarking a late-game megabase that belongs on a larger paid plan.

No card and no surprise charge

Starting the trial does not open Stripe Checkout. After 48 hours the server stops and nothing is charged. Trial files are kept for three days, giving you time to continue from the dashboard or download the save.

Can I keep the same factory?

Yes. Choose a paid term during the retention window and the same container resumes. The factory, autosaves, settings, mods, files and public address stay where they were, so the group does not migrate twice.

How to start the Factorio trial

  1. Open the Factorio server hosting page.
  2. Choose a region and select Start free trial.
  3. Create an account and verify your email address.
  4. Return to the Factorio page, start the trial, then add a Base or Space Age server.

Each verified account can claim one trial per eligible game. A rolling network allowance and a capacity reserve for paying customers keep the limited slots available for real groups.

Start the free Factorio server trial