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Updated 10 October 2026
Counter-Strike: Source is more than twenty years old, yet its community servers still run surf maps, zombie modes, jailbreak rounds and plain 5v5 matches. Valve’s dedicated server costs nothing to download, so renting one is really about a machine that never sleeps, a panel that handles SourceMod and custom maps, and a data center near the people who play on it. The six hosts below all sell CS:S servers today, and everything said about each one comes from its own page.
Quick facts
- Godlike.Host: CS:S plans priced by slots and memory, from 10 slots with 1 GB up to 60 slots with 6 GB, with a built-in mod installer that costs nothing extra, 10 data center locations and a daily limit of three free backups (its CS:S page, 10 October 2026).
- Game Host Bros: Metamod and SourceMod installed with one click, automatic FastDL and 14 locations.
- Kinetic Hosting: memory-based plans starting at 4 GB, with no player cap set by the plan.
- GPORTAL: slot-based servers from 4 slots, with a tick rate the page says you can change.
- XGamingServer: a Ryzen 9 7950X starter plan with a slot count you choose.
- 4Netplayers: two package sizes, 4 or 8 slots, with tax already in the price, across 14 locations.
How we compared them
Every host’s Counter-Strike: Source page was checked on 10 October 2026, viewed from the United States, for the same details across all six: the entry plan, how its slots compare with the game’s 64-player ceiling, server locations, backups, mod tools and the standard monthly price. Nitrado, BisectHosting and PingPerfect did not show CS:S prices our checks could read, Citadel Servers quotes only a per-slot starting rate, and Streamline Servers showed Australian-dollar prices to our US connection, so none of them is in the table.
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What Valve’s server sets for every host
Whichever company you rent from, the server software is the same Source Dedicated Server, and Valve’s developer wiki documents three facts that frame every plan below:
- 64 players is the ceiling. The wiki lists 65 as the maxplayers limit for Counter-Strike: Source and notes that some games set it one above the expected number to make room for the SourceTV client, which leaves 64 for players. The value cannot be changed while the server runs.
- It installs as app 232330. SteamCMD fetches the CS:S dedicated server with an anonymous login, and Valve’s list of dedicated servers warns that CS:S will not download through a normal Steam account.
- Four ports matter. 27015 on TCP and UDP carries game traffic, pings and RCON; 27020 UDP is for SourceTV; 27005 UDP is the client port; and 26900 UDP is an outgoing Steam port. Each can be moved with a startup option.
1. Godlike.Host: six plans from 10 to 60 slots
Godlike.Host sells Counter-Strike: Source in two groups, according to its CS:S page as read on 10 October 2026. Ultra (10 slots, 1 GB), Unstoppable (20 slots, 2 GB) and Rampage (30 slots, 3 GB) make up the first group; the community group adds Immortal (40 slots, 4 GB), Legendary (50 slots, 5 GB) and a plan called Godlike (60 slots, 6 GB). Custom builds cover 10 to 30 or 40 to 60 slots. The servers use Ryzen hardware with SSD storage.
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The panel, built on Pterodactyl, includes a free automated installer and updater for supported mods and maps, a choice of launch options and game version, full SFTP access, a personal firewall for filtering IP addresses and a text editor that lets you share a link to a config file without handing over file access. You can run several independent or linked servers, control them from a Discord bot and change plans with pro-rata billing. A new server is installed within five minutes, DDoS protection is free, servers sit in 10 data center locations, and its support team works 24/7/365 through live chat and tickets; the page puts the average reply at twenty minutes.
Limit: the largest listed plan has 60 slots, four fewer than the 64 players CS:S allows, and the free backup allowance is three per day.
2. Game Host Bros: SourceMod and FastDL handled by the panel
Game Host Bros installs Metamod and SourceMod with a single toggle and keeps both updated, and its automatic FastDL compresses custom maps, models, sounds and materials and serves them to connecting players. Plans are sold by memory: Starter with 4 GB, Standard with 6 GB and Premium with 8 GB, each listed with 600% CPU and 200 GB of storage on Ryzen 9 9950X processors with NVMe drives and 10 Gbps connections. The company charges for resources rather than slots, so you can set any player count the game supports.
Servers build themselves at checkout and are ready in under 60 seconds. The panel adds a live console, a browser file manager, sub-users with custom roles, daily automatic backups with one-click restores and free transfers from another host, and new servers carry a seven-day money-back guarantee. Its guides include one on creating a Steam Game Server Login Token for CS:S.
Limit: “unlimited” player slots still end at the game’s 64-player ceiling, and three of its 14 locations, Ashburn, Portland and Chicago, were marked as restocking on 10 October.
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3. Kinetic Hosting: no player cap from the plan
Kinetic Hosting prices CS:S by memory, with 4, 8, 10 and 12 GB plans. Each one lists NVMe storage, CPUs topping out at a 5.7 GHz Ryzen 9 9950X, six CPU threads, five backup slots and the option to split the plan into four servers. Storage begins at 60 GB per server, with free upgrades under a fair-use policy, and comes with SFTP or panel file access, automatic updates, a firewall manager, scheduled tasks, a MySQL database and the freedom to switch to another game at no cost.
Kinetic’s refund promise covers seven days with no questions asked and stretches to 14 days when a fault is on its side, and its support staff are humans, not bots. Its knowledge base explains how to add a login token made with CS:S’s app ID, 240.
Limit: the plan sets no player cap, but CS:S itself stops at 64 players, and its CS:S page names no data center locations.
4. GPORTAL: tick rate you can change, from 4 slots
GPORTAL sells CS:S by the slot, with a minimum of four, and lists 10-, 12- and 24-slot servers priced per 30 days. Its benefits list states that the tick rate (FPS) can be changed, a new server is live in less than three minutes, 50 GB of backup space is set aside for savegames and configs, and the hardware uses NVMe SSDs. Bulwark and Corero supply its DDoS protection, and the Gamecloud feature lets you switch the server to another game.
Besides the 30-day plans, short rentals start at three days.
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Limit: prices are per 30 days, the plans shown stop at 24 slots, and Central Europe is selected until you change the region.
5. XGamingServer: reserved Ryzen 9 7950X threads and self-set slots
XGamingServer’s CS: Source Starter plan reserves two threads on an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, clocked as high as 5.7 GHz, alongside 4 GB of DDR5 that the page calls guaranteed and a 35 GB NVMe drive. On Starter, Novice and Rookie you set the game slots yourself, while Pro and the larger plans list unlimited player slots. DDoS protection is included, and the page describes SourceMod and Metamod:Source as the frameworks behind CS:S’s custom modes.
Locations cover five regions: North America’s two coasts, Europe, Singapore and Oceania.
Limit: slot counts above 64 are not possible in CS:S whatever the plan lists, the CS:S page does not describe a backup system for its plans, and the advertised discount is a first-month code.
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4Netplayers sells CS:S in four-slot and eight-slot packages, with a custom configuration as the third option, and its prices already include tax. Servers are ready within minutes, run on NVMe drives with ECC memory and Intel or AMD processors, update automatically and can move between its 14 locations at any time. Its web interface starts, stops and configures the server and manages automatic backups, and FTP, database access and scheduled tasks are included too.
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The FAQ mentions a 14-day right of withdrawal for testing a server without risk.
Limit: the 8-slot package holds two players fewer than a full 5v5, and the advertised price reflects a 50% discount on the first month only.
CS:S hosting prices compared
| Host | Key fact | First plan | Player limit | Data centers | Backups | Usual monthly price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Godlike.Host | Built-in mod installer | 10 slots, 1 GB | 10 to 60 by plan | 10 | Up to three free per day | $3.99 (Ultra, 10 slots) |
| Game Host Bros | One-click SourceMod | 4 GB | Any count the game allows | 14 | Daily, one-click restore | $7.99 (Starter, 4 GB) |
| Kinetic Hosting | No plan player cap | 4 GB | Not capped by plan | Not listed | 5 backup slots included | $4.99 (4 GB plan) |
| GPORTAL | Changeable tick rate | 10 slots | Minimum of 4 | Region chosen at order | 50 GB storage | $15.59 for a 10-slot, 30-day rental |
| XGamingServer | Ryzen 9 7950X threads | Starter: 4 GB, two threads | You choose (Starter) | 5 regions | Not described | $10 (Starter renewal) |
| 4Netplayers | Tax-inclusive pricing | 4 or 8 slots | 4 or 8 per package | 14 cities | Automatic, from the panel | $12.39 (eight slots, tax in) |
US list prices, checked 10-Oct-2026. Amounts are what each plan costs month to month once any introductory deal has ended.
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After you rent: three common add-ons for CS:S servers
Metamod:Source and SourceMod
Many CS:S plugins, from admin tools to surf timers, are written for SourceMod, which needs Metamod:Source 1.9.0 or newer underneath it. According to the AlliedModders wiki, you extract Metamod:Source into the game folder so that cstrike/addons/metamod exists, restart, and type meta version in the server console; a line reading “Loaded As: Valve Server Plugin.” confirms it works. SourceMod’s package then goes into the same addons folder, which ends up holding a sourcemod directory. Valve updates sometimes break both projects between releases, and the wiki points to snapshot builds when that happens. Panels such as Game Host Bros’ do these steps for you.
FastDL for custom maps
Valve’s wiki describes sv_downloadurl as the way to get custom content to players faster, over HTTP. The setup: copy the server’s folders, such as cstrike/maps, to an ordinary web server, point sv_downloadurl at it, and set sv_allowdownload and sv_allowupload to 1, ideally in server.cfg. Compressing those files with bzip2 makes downloads quicker and saves disk space, and it works for Source games only.
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A Steam login token
Kinetic Hosting’s guide creates the token on Steam’s game server page using App ID 240, the number for Counter-Strike: Source itself, and Game Host Bros publishes a similar walkthrough. Valve’s server documentation adds that an error reading “Could not establish connection to Steam servers” with result 18 or 106 means the token passed to sv_setsteamaccount needs regenerating or replacing.
Hosting CS:S on your own hardware instead
A home server follows Valve’s pattern: install SteamCMD, log in anonymously, run app_update 232330, edit cstrike/cfg/server.cfg to set the hostname, then start srcds_run with the game, a starting map and a maxplayers value. Valve’s notes list the catches. Many residential connections lack the upload capacity for large games, providers that use CGNAT can make hosting impossible, and the server ignores queries until a map has loaded, so test with a friend rather than by pinging yourself.
FAQ
How large can a Counter-Strike: Source server get?
Up to 64. Valve’s wiki gives 65 as the maxplayers limit and notes that some games count one extra slot for the SourceTV client.
Which app ID do I need?
232330 installs the dedicated server through SteamCMD, while 240, the game’s own ID, is the one Kinetic Hosting’s guide uses for a login token.
Is SourceMod required?
No. It is an optional plugin framework that many community modes are built on, and it only runs with Metamod:Source 1.9.0 or later installed.
Which ports does a CS:S server use?
27015 TCP and UDP for the game and RCON, 27020 UDP for SourceTV, 27005 UDP as the client port and 26900 UDP for outgoing Steam traffic.
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Only if you run custom maps or models. It lets players fetch that content over HTTP, which Valve’s wiki describes as the faster route.
