How to compare 7 Days to Die server hosts

How many zombies will your server run on horde night?

Work it out from the three caps in the Official 7 Days to Die Wiki (edited 12 October 2026), which says the number spawned at once is the lesser of three values: MaxSpawnedZombies (default 64, game-wide), BloodMoonEnemyCount times players (default 8 per player), and a game-stage maxAlive figure times players. Natural spawns count against the 64.

With the two default settings, the arithmetic gives this ceiling:

At a low game stage, maxAlive can hold the count lower still. Two points follow. At default settings the horde stops growing with player count at 8 players, so a 16-slot plan buys more people and more loaded terrain, with no larger horde. And raising the caps is a hardware decision: the wiki says doubling BloodMoonEnemyCount means double the zombies attacking at once, with "significant performance impacts for both the server and the clients", and its Server page (24 July 2026) warns of MaxSpawnedZombies that "anything over 90 will tank performance".

Why would a quiet-hours reading mislead?

A quiet 7 Days to Die reading misses the one window when the server is under its heaviest simulation load. The default horde runs from 22:00 to 04:00 on every 7th in-game day, per the wiki. Host Havoc's game page says "blood-moon hordes are CPU-bound", which is a vendor statement. The 7D2D Wiki, which links to a hosting service, says game logic runs "primarily on a single thread" and advises watching single-core use during horde nights.

A host with a fast core on a loaded node could look identical to a slower one at 3 p.m. and diverge at the horde.

Whose 7 Days to Die figures conflict?

Sizing guidance disagrees across publishers and even within one host's pages.

Version matters. The 7D2D Wiki gives V3.4.0 as stable on 26 October 2026, and Host Havoc's blog predates that by two years.

Crossplay or mods: which do you want?

Decide this first, because it sets the plan you need. Host Havoc's game page says crossplay needs Easy Anti-Cheat and vanilla files, that mods need EAC off, and that crossplay servers "stay capped at 8 players by the game itself". A crossplay group therefore has no use for a large slot plan. Indifferent Broccoli's page says the game "isn't crossplay between PC and consoles", which conflicts, so confirm with support before ordering.

Two hosts were confirmed to sell 7 Days to Die on pages read 8 November 2026, listed in no order of merit; other hosts may sell it too. Which fits, on published plan structure only: a crossplay group should start with Host Havoc, whose page lists crossplay (capped at 8 players by the game) and an 8-slot plan at $10.00 a month, since Indifferent Broccoli's page says the game is not crossplay between PC and consoles. A modded group that wants more slots is choosing between Indifferent Broccoli's 32-player ceiling at $24.99 a month and Host Havoc's 64 slots. Neither host's horde-night behaviour is known.

Prices show "$" with a currency selector, and promotions vary. The Host Havoc and Indifferent Broccoli reviews cover wider plans.

What should you ask a 7 Days to Die host?

Ask what your plan controls, since the settings that matter on horde night may sit outside the panel.

• Can you edit serverconfig.xml directly? WinterNode, which sells hosting, says on 20 March 2026 that on its panel these settings must be edited in the file.
• Which CPU will you get, and what shares the node?
• Can you schedule restarts? WinterNode recommends one before a blood moon, a seller's advice with no published data behind it.
• Can you pin a game branch? The 7D2D Wiki says mods are often pinned to a specific version.
• Does the refund window cover a horde? On the default 60-minute day, day 7 is about seven hours of game time away (7 × 60 minutes).

How can you judge a horde night on your own server?

Play a real horde with your group, after reading that host's terms, and read the server's log. Silence in terms is not permission, and load tools need the host's agreement; see independence and host terms.

1. Lower BloodMoonFrequency, a documented setting in days, if you need a horde inside a short refund window.
2. Keep BloodMoonRange at 0 so it arrives when expected.
3. Read the log. Loafhosts, which sells hosting, says the game prints a line with FPS, heap, players and zombies (Zom) every 30 seconds.
4. If FPS falls as Zom rises, the horde is the load.
5. Change one setting per blood moon, as WinterNode advises, or you will not know which one helped.

The guide to benchmarking your server lists the other readings.

What would be measured, and why?

The planned protocol would run the same world seed and settings on three hosts, start one horde at the same in-game time, and log the following. The scripting method has not been chosen, and whether any load client is acceptable on a host is unresolved.

See load profiles and MSPT and TPS explained. No test server exists and each host's terms must be checked first. Next: the benchmarks hub or the method overview.