A Space Engineers server with nobody on it uses about 2.0 to 2.6 GB of memory. That grows as players join and as the world fills up with grids. The smallest plan has 6 GB, so a small world has plenty of room.
The plan sizes
Space Engineers plans are sized by memory:
- Small: 2 cores, 6 GB memory, 30 GB disk, up to 8 players.
- Standard: 4 cores, 8 GB memory, 40 GB disk, up to 16 players.
- Large: 4 cores, 12 GB memory, 50 GB disk, up to 32 players.
A bigger plan has more memory: 8 GB on Standard and 12 GB on Large.
What the game asks for
Keen Software House, the game’s makers, list these minimums for a dedicated server: a 3.2 GHz processor, 3 logical cores, 6 GB of memory and a 5 Mbps connection. For better performance they recommend 4.5 GHz, 3 logical cores and 10 GB of memory.
The game’s wiki adds that a server below the minimum still runs, but it turns on Experimental mode by itself (a game setting for features Keen treats as unstable). The Small plan has 6 GB, which meets the memory minimum. Keen also names 3 logical cores, and Small has 2. Not checked whether that counts as below the minimum as of 15 November 2026.
See what your server uses
Look at the memory reading (Memory load) at the top of any server page. It shows how much of the plan’s memory the server uses now. Look when the server is running, and again when players are on.
The 2.0 to 2.6 GB figure was measured on a server with nobody on it. It does not tell you how a busy world will behave.
What makes memory grow
Keen’s own pages name these as the things that make a server work harder. They are the first places to look when memory climbs.
- Big grids. A grid is a ship or a station. Grids with a lot of blocks cost the most, such as battleships covered in turrets or large drill arrays. A world full of grids nobody uses adds up.
- Players. More players in the world means more for the server to hold.
- Mods with scripts. A mod can run its own code on the server.
- Floating objects. Loose items, such as ore and parts left after a fight, pile up. The game removes the oldest when it reaches its limit.
Not measured as of 15 November 2026: how many GB each of these adds. Only the empty server figure was measured. Not checked with a big world on 1.210 either.
When memory runs out
When a server reaches its memory limit, the machine ends it. A server ended this way cannot save or write down why.
- Open the Crashes page.
- Pick the start marked Crashed with “out of memory” next to it.
- Read the finding The server used all its memory and was stopped. Its fix line names removing grids nobody uses, trash removal and more memory.
- The memory finding
Do the fixes in this order: remove grids nobody uses, then set trash removal (see trash removal). A bigger plan has more memory, so it always gives more room.
If it does not work
- Memory is high and the server is not crashing. That is not a crash. Check Crashes now and then for the Crashed finding.
- It crashes soon after every start. Read the finding on Crashes, and see server ran out of memory.
- It is slow, not crashed. See server lag.
More about the game: Space Engineers servers.
Sources: spaceengineersgame.com: Dedicated servers, spaceengineers.wiki.gg: Setting up a Space Engineers Dedicated Server