Game Server Uptime Guarantees Explained: What an SLA Really Covers

An uptime guarantee, or SLA, is a promise that the host's network and machines will be available a certain share of the time, and the only thing you usually get when the promise is broken is a credit on your next bill. It almost never covers your game crashing, a bad mod, a game update, or scheduled maintenance. So the percentage on a host's homepage tells you less than it seems. What matters more is how quickly problems are noticed and fixed, and if your world survives them.

How much downtime the percentages allow

The numbers look close together but the gaps are large. Over a 30 day month:

These are just arithmetic on the percentage. They say nothing about whether a given host actually reaches them.

What an SLA usually covers

Read the SLA page or the uptime section of the terms. Most cover:

• Network availability: the host's network reaching the internet.
• Hardware availability: the physical machine your server runs on being powered and reachable.
• Sometimes power and cooling in the data center.

That is the host's side of things. It makes sense: those are the parts the host controls.

What an SLA usually leaves out

This list is where most disappointment comes from. Typical exclusions:

1. Scheduled maintenance. If the host announces it, the downtime does not count.
2. Your game crashing. A server that is reachable but whose game process crashed is "up" as far as the SLA is concerned.
3. Mods, plugins and config changes. Anything you installed or changed.
4. Game updates. Downtime while the game itself updates, or a version mismatch after a patch.
5. DDoS attacks. Many SLAs exclude attacks, even when the host sells DDoS protection.
6. Third party outages. Steam, Epic Online Services, Mojang authentication or other login services going down.
7. Problems you did not report. Many SLAs only count downtime from when you opened a ticket.

So if your Valheim world will not start because a mod broke after an update, that is not an SLA event, even though nobody can play.

What you get when the guarantee is broken

Almost always: a credit. Common patterns are a percentage of that month's fee per hour of downtime past the limit, capped at one month's fee. Cash refunds are rare. You usually have to:

• Open a ticket within a set number of days.
• Give the times the server was unreachable.
• Be paid up on your account.

For a 10 USD a month server, even a generous credit is small. The guarantee is a signal of what the host aims for, not real compensation for a lost weekend.

What actually keeps your server up

The things that keep a game server online day to day are mostly not in the SLA:

• Auto restart on crash. A host that restarts the game process when it dies turns a crash into a short blip.
• Scheduled restarts. Many games leak memory, so a planned restart beats a crash. See how often to restart a game server.
• Backups before updates. If an update corrupts a save, you roll back instead of losing the world.
• Always on DDoS protection. Attacks are a common cause of real outages for public servers.
• Responsive support. Ten minutes to a reply matters more than a decimal point.
• Status updates. A status page or announcements so you know whether the problem is yours or theirs.

Uptime vs sleep features

Some hosts offer a sleep or hibernate option that stops the server when nobody is playing. That is not downtime in the SLA sense; it is a choice you make to save resources, and it should be optional and easy to wake. Read sleep mode vs always on for when it makes sense.

Checking a host's real reliability

1. Search for outage reports, not reviews. Search the host name with "down" or "outage" and look at how often and how they were handled.
2. Look for a public status page with a history.
3. Ask support how they handle a machine failure: is your server moved, and what happens to the world.
4. Monitor it yourself once you buy. Our guide on getting alerts when your game server goes down shows free ways to do it.

How GamezServers handles it

We do not publish an uptime percentage, because a number we cannot show you proof for is not worth much. What we do offer: always on DDoS protection, one click backups stored off the server, automatic backups before game updates, a live console so you can see exactly what your server is doing, and 24/7 support at support@gamezservers.com. Sleep when empty is optional, starts only after 4 days with nobody on, and one press of Start wakes the server. You can see the plans for any game before you buy.

FAQ

Is 99.9% uptime good for a game server?

It allows about 43 minutes of downtime a month on the host's side, which is fine for a game server. But it does not cover the game crashing or updates, so real playable time depends on the game and how the server is run.

Does an uptime guarantee cover my server crashing?

Usually not. SLAs cover the host's network and hardware. If the machine is up but your game process crashed, most SLAs count that as available.

Can I get a refund for game server downtime?

Most hosts give an account credit, not a cash refund, and only if you claim it within a set time. Check the SLA section of the terms for the exact process.

Why did my server go down during maintenance without a credit?

Scheduled maintenance is excluded from almost every SLA as long as the host announced it in advance.