Best Factory and Automation Games With Dedicated Servers

The best factory and automation games with dedicated servers are Factorio, Satisfactory, Foundry, Astro Colony, Mindustry, TerraTech Worlds, Stationeers and Craftopia. Automation games are made for servers: factories take weeks of evenings to build, groups play in uneven bursts, and a world that is always reachable lets anyone fix a bottleneck at midnight without waiting for the host. Server needs vary a lot, from 2 GB for a Factorio group to 12 or 16 GB for a late game Satisfactory megabase.

One more thing sets these games apart: the CPU matters as much as the RAM. Factory simulations update thousands of machines every tick, and they do most of that work on one core. A late game factory that stutters is usually short on single core speed, not memory. Best CPU for a game server explains why clock speed beats core count here.

Automation games compared

1. Factorio

The genre's benchmark. Mine, smelt, build production lines, research, defend against biters and, with Space Age, take the factory to other planets. Factorio is fully deterministic: every player runs the whole map on their own machine and the server keeps everyone in lockstep. That makes the headless server extremely light on memory, and makes CPU speed the thing that matters at megabase scale.

• Players: no hard cap.
• RAM: 2 GB for vanilla co-op, 4 GB for Space Age or up to 16, 8 GB for a megabase or overhaul mods.
• Read next: Factorio Space Age multiplayer server and best Factorio mods for multiplayer.

2. Satisfactory

Factorio in first person, on an alien planet you can walk through. Conveyor belts become three dimensional spaghetti, trains run across biomes and the factory turns into architecture. The game defaults to 4 players, and on our servers the cap follows your plan: 4, 8 or 12. By default the server pauses when everyone leaves, and you can turn Auto Pause off.

• RAM: 8 GB for a new or mid game save, 12 GB for a late game factory with 4 to 8 players, 16 GB for a megabase or heavy mods.
• Read next: Satisfactory dedicated server requirements.

3. Foundry

A first person factory builder in an infinite voxel world, published by Paradox. Mine ore, lay out machines, research and scale up to a robot producing megafactory. Research is shared by everyone on the server. Pause Server When Empty is on by default, and Steam Workshop mods are supported, most of them built on the Unfoundry framework.

• RAM: 8 GB for a small co-op group, 12 GB for a mid game factory with outposts and trains.
• Read next: how to host a Foundry server.

4. Astro Colony

Space automation on voxel planets: land astronauts, dig, lay conveyors and production chains, and keep everyone supplied with oxygen and food while you research more than 70 technologies. It left Early Access in June 2026.

• Players: up to 10.
• RAM: 4 GB for a few friends on a new map, 8 GB for a full 10 or linked colonies.

5. Mindustry

A factory game with a tower defense problem. Belt copper and lead through factories, feed turrets and unit factories, and survive the next wave. The whole team shares one core and one pool of resources, so roles form quickly. It is open source and runs on almost anything.

• RAM: 2 GB for a few friends on stock maps, 4 GB for long runs with big factories.

6. TerraTech Worlds

Build vehicles block by block, mine and refine resources, and set up automated bases on an alien planet while hostile machines attack. It mixes Satisfactory style automation with vehicle building. The developers recommend 6 players on a dedicated server.

• RAM: 6 GB for two or three players early on, 12 GB for a late game world with large automated factories.

7. Stationeers

Hardcore engineering survival: atmosphere, gases, temperature, power and manufacturing, all simulated. IC10 programming automates furnaces, airlocks and greenhouses so they keep working whether anyone is online or not, unless you turn on Auto Pause.

• RAM: 4 GB for a small crew, 6 GB for a big automated base or 8 plus players.

8. Craftopia

Pocketpair's everything game ends in automation: conveyor belts and production lines that eventually run your whole economy. It is chaotic and less pure than Factorio, but a great fit for groups who want combat and farming alongside the factory.

• RAM: 8 GB for a small group, 12 GB for heavy automation.

Should the factory run while you sleep

Factorio, Satisfactory and Foundry pause when nobody is online by default. Stationeers keeps running by default. Turning pause off means full storage when you return, and in Factorio, more evolved biters too. Games where the world keeps running while you are offline lists the setting for each.

A server for your factory

Factories grow, and the server has to grow with them. On GamezServers you can move up a plan the day your megabase starts to stutter, prorated, and keep the same save. Every server is live in about a minute (big games take longer to install), with one click backups before you rip out a production line and the bill split with up to 10 friends. Start with Factorio or Satisfactory.

FAQ

What is the best automation game for multiplayer?

Factorio for the deepest systems and lightest server, Satisfactory for building a factory you can walk through.

Why does my factory game server lag late in the game?

Usually the CPU. Factory simulations update every machine each tick, mostly on one core. More RAM helps only if memory is actually full.

How many players can play Satisfactory on a dedicated server?

The game defaults to 4. On our servers the limit follows the plan: 4, 8 or 12 players.

What is the cheapest automation game to host?

Factorio and Mindustry both run a small group on 2 GB, which is 4.99 USD a month.