Counter-Strike server hosting
Counter-Strike 1.6 and Counter-Strike 2 are on sale today. Counter-Strike: Source and CS:GO are coming later. They run on three engines, so the server and its plugins differ by game.
See CS 1.6 plansWhich Counter-Strike should you host?
Host the game your players already play. The engine decides the server binary and which plugins load, so plugins don't carry over from one game to another. Every cell links its source.
Counter-Strike 1.6
On sale today. New servers install with xHLDS, our fork of ReHLDS.- Engine
- GoldSrcSource:VDC: GoldSrc (external site, opens in a new tab)
- Dedicated server
- HLDS, ReHLDS or our xHLDS, a fork of ReHLDS, for CS 1.6 onlySource:GitHub: ReHLDS (external site, opens in a new tab)
- Mod stack
- AMX Mod X on MetamodSource:AlliedModders: AMX Mod X (external site, opens in a new tab)
- Status
- On sale todayCounter-Strike 1.6 server hosting
Counter-Strike 2
Valve's current Counter-Strike, on sub-tick: "Tick rate no longer matters for moving, shooting, or throwing."Source:counter-strike.net: CS2 (external site, opens in a new tab)- Engine
- Source 2, 64-bitSources:VDC: CS2 (external site, opens in a new tab)VDC: CS2 dedicated servers (external site, opens in a new tab)
- Dedicated server
cs2 -dedicatedSource:VDC: CS2 dedicated servers (external site, opens in a new tab)- Mod stack
- Metamod:
Source 2.0 development builds and CounterStrikeSharpSources:Metamod:Source dev builds (external site, opens in a new tab)CounterStrikeSharp docs (external site, opens in a new tab) - Status
- On sale todayCounter-Strike 2 server hosting
Counter-Strike: Source
Valve still patches it, with an update in August 2026. Its tick rate is fixed at 66.Sources:Steam news: CS:S, 24 August 2026 (external site, opens in a new tab)VDC: Source networking (external site, opens in a new tab)- Engine
- Source, on the Team Fortress 2 branchSource:VDC: CS:S (external site, opens in a new tab)
- Dedicated server
SRCDSSource:VDC: dedicated servers list (external site, opens in a new tab)- Mod stack
- Metamod:
Source and SourceModSources:Metamod:Source stable builds (external site, opens in a new tab)SourceMod stable builds (external site, opens in a new tab) - Status
- Coming laterCounter-Strike: Source server hosting
CS:GO (legacy)
Valve's previous Counter-Strike, now a frozen legacy build with no official matchmaking.Source:VDC: CS:GO (external site, opens in a new tab)- Engine
- SourceSource:VDC: CS:GO servers (external site, opens in a new tab)
- Dedicated server
SRCDSSource:VDC: CS:GO servers (external site, opens in a new tab)- Mod stack
- Metamod:
Source and SourceModSources:Metamod:Source stable builds (external site, opens in a new tab)SourceMod stable builds (external site, opens in a new tab) - Status
- Coming laterCS:GO (legacy) server hosting
Where the servers are
Our CS 1.6 servers run in Frankfurt and Bucharest, and our CS2 servers in Frankfurt. We haven't decided where CS:S or CS:GO servers will run.
Hardware and locationsCounter-Strike hosting questions
Counter-Strike 1.6 and Counter-Strike 2. Counter-Strike: Source and CS:GO are coming later, and we have no dates for them yet.
The one your players already play, since each game connects only to its own servers. CS2 is Valve's current Counter-Strike. Valve still patches CS:S. CS:GO is a frozen legacy build with no official matchmaking. Of the four, we sell CS 1.6 and CS2 today.
The engine. CS 1.6 runs on GoldSrc with HLDS or a rebuild such as ReHLDS. CS:S and CS:GO run SRCDS on Source. CS2 runs on Source 2, and its 64-bit server binary is the game itself, started with -dedicated.
No, plugins are built for one engine. AMX Mod X plugins run on CS 1.6. SourceMod ships builds for CS:S and CS:GO on Metamod:Source. SourceMod does not support CS2, where plugins are written in C# for CounterStrikeSharp on Metamod:Source 2.0 development builds.
CS2 and CS:GO do, for a server players join from the internet. Other players can't join a CS2 server until you add a Game Server Login Token (external site, opens in a new tab) made for app 730. A CS:GO server without one accepts players from LAN addresses only. For CS:S we found no Valve page that requires one.
No. xHLDS is our fork of ReHLDS, which rebuilds the GoldSrc server, so it runs CS 1.6 only. Source and Source 2 games use their own Valve server.
Our CS 1.6 servers run in Frankfurt and Bucharest, and our CS2 servers in Frankfurt. We haven't decided where CS:S or CS:GO servers will run. The hardware page lists each location.