Counter-Strike 1.6
€5.99/month for 14 players
- Paid test from €1.99 for 3 days, 14 players
- 14, 24 or 32 players
- Essential, Performance and Premium: shared CPU with standard, high or highest priority
- Frankfurt or Bucharest, DDoS filtering included
Counter-Strike: Source server hosting
- Tick rate
- 66
- Steam app
- 232330
- Went 64-bit
- 2025
- Still patched
- 2026
We don't sell Counter-Strike: Source servers yet. Valve still patches CS:S and gave its server 64-bit support in 2025, so this page covers what a CS:S server runs and needs.
Counter-Strike server hostingNot on sale yet
We have no date or prices for CS:S hosting yet. Email us and we'll tell you when it is on sale.
Counter-Strike 1.6 and Counter-Strike 2 are on sale today.
Ask to be told at launch
The button writes to office@hostsrc.com.
What a CS:S server runs
Counter-Strike: Source runs on SRCDS, the Source Dedicated Server, on Linux or Windows. Valve still maintains both the game and its server.
Dedicated server app
SteamCMD installs the CS:S server as app 232330, for Linux and Windows. It downloads with
login anonymous, so it needs no Steam account.Source: VDC: dedicated servers list (external site, opens in a new tab)
Added in February 2025
Valve added 64-bit support on 18 February 2025. On a 64-bit operating system the 64-bit binaries start by themselves.
Source: Steam news: 18 February 2025 (external site, opens in a new tab)
Still patched
Valve released CS:S updates on 24 August 2026, with security and stability fixes and a Linux fix for custom map assets, and again on 16 September 2026.
Source: Steam news: 24 August 2026 (external site, opens in a new tab)
Source engine, TF2 branch
CS:S shipped on the 2004 Source engine. Since its Orange Box port on 23 June 2010 it runs on the Team Fortress 2 engine branch.
Source: VDC: Counter-Strike: Source (external site, opens in a new tab)
Tick rate
A CS:S server simulates 66 ticks a second. It is the engine's rate, not an option in the start command.
Fixed, not a setting
Source steps the game every 15 ms, about 66 ticks a second, and in CS:S that rate is fixed.
Source: VDC: Source networking (external site, opens in a new tab)
-tickrateis disabledNewer CS:S builds disable the
-tickratelaunch option in code, so adding it to the start command no longer sets the rate.Source: VDC: command line options (external site, opens in a new tab)
Changing it takes a plugin
Only a third-party server plugin can change the CS:S tick rate now. A higher rate needs more CPU and bandwidth on the server and on each player's side.
Source: VDC: Source networking (external site, opens in a new tab)
Metamod:
Plugins on a CS:S server load through two AlliedModders projects. Both still ship CS:S builds.
Metamod:
Source SourceMod and other server plugins load through it. On CS:S you extract it into the
cstrikefolder and check it withmeta version, with no gameinfo edits.Source: AlliedModders: installing Metamod:Source (external site, opens in a new tab)
SourceMod
SourceMod calls itself a server modification for any game that runs on the Half-Life 2 engine. Its plugins are converted to raw CPU code.
32-bit and 64-bit
The current stable releases of both ship CS:S builds for 32-bit and 64-bit Linux.
Source: SourceMod stable builds (external site, opens in a new tab)
Maps and FastDL
This is how the Source engine sends custom content to players. It describes the game, not a Hostsrc feature. We haven't decided how CS:S hosting will handle downloads.
sv_downloadurlPoint
sv_downloadurlat an HTTP server that mirrors the game folder, such as/cstrike/maps/, and setsv_allowdownload 1. Players then fetch missing maps, models and sounds from it.Source: VDC: sv_downloadurl (external site, opens in a new tab)
Compressed files
For Source games the mirror can hold bzip2-compressed copies of those files, so players download less.
Source: VDC: sv_downloadurl (external site, opens in a new tab)
VAC is Valve's
VAC checks a player's computer when they connect to a VAC-secured server. Server admins can ban players from their own server, but they can't VAC-ban anyone.
Source: Steam Support: VAC FAQ (external site, opens in a new tab)
-insecureA CS:S server is VAC secured unless it starts with
-insecure, which runs it without VAC.Source: VDC: command line options (external site, opens in a new tab)
SourceTV and demos
SourceTV is built into the engine. Set
tv_enable 1before the map starts and spectators watch on a delay, on port 27020 by default.tv_recordwrites a demo on the server.
CS:S or CS 1.6?
CS 1.6 and CS2 are the Counter-Strike games we sell today. The two games use different engines and different plugin platforms, so pick the one your players play and your plugins are written for.
CS 1.6: AMX Mod X
CS 1.6 plugins run on AMX Mod X, which describes itself as a Half-Life Metamod plugin for server administration.
CS:S: SourceMod
CS:S plugins run on SourceMod, a server modification for games on the Half-Life 2 engine, which is the Source engine.
What you manage in the control panel
You manage your server in Optymous, the game server panel we build ourselves. It started as a fork of Pterodactyl.
control.hostsrc.com
Sign in with your Hostsrc account, by email code, Google or Discord.
Run the server
Console
Start, stop and restart the server, and send commands from a live console. Search the output, or copy up to the last 5,000 lines for a ticket.
Files
Edit configs, plugins and maps in the file manager, or connect over SFTP. Search file names and the text inside files.
Schedules
Restart the server, run a command or take a backup on a schedule. Schedules run in your server's time zone.
Backups
Back up the server's files or one of its databases, by hand or on a schedule. A deleted backup is kept for a retention period before it is removed.
Databases
Give a database more than one user, choose where it accepts connections from, and rotate passwords.
See how your server ran
- CPU
- Memory
- Network
- Disk I/O
Start, stop and crash markers sit on the same charts, at the moment each one happened.
Log search
Search your server's logs on the same page as the charts.
Run your community
Players online
The status bar shows a live player count for your server.
Private access
Close the server to the public and let in only the players you choose, such as friends, testers or a scrim team.
Admin roles
Invite your admins by email and give each one a role. Owner, Co-owner, Moderator and Member come ready, and you can add your own.
More on Hostsrc
- Counter-Strike server hosting
Every Counter-Strike game we host or plan to host, side by side.
- Counter-Strike 1.6 server hosting
A Counter-Strike we sell today. We set its FastDL download URL for you.
- Counter-Strike 2 server hosting
What a Source 2 server needs.
- Where our servers run
The CPUs, network and power behind each location.
- Contact
Questions before launch go to office@hostsrc.com.
Ask to be told at launch
The button writes to office@hostsrc.com.
Counter-Strike: Source hosting questions
No. We don't sell Counter-Strike: Source server hosting yet, and we have no date. Counter-Strike 1.6 and Counter-Strike 2 are on sale today.
Yes, if your players are on it. Valve still maintains the game. CS:S gained 64-bit support on 18 February 2025, and updates followed on 24 August and 16 September 2026. Metamod:Source and SourceMod both ship 64-bit CS:S builds in their current stable releases.
Not out of the box. CS:S runs at a fixed 66 ticks a second, and newer builds disable the -tickrate launch option in code. Only a third-party server plugin can change the rate, and a higher rate needs more CPU and bandwidth on the server and on each player's side.
They are different engines with different plugin platforms. CS:S runs SRCDS on the Source engine, with Metamod:Source and SourceMod. CS 1.6 runs HLDS on GoldSrc, with Metamod and AMX Mod X. Plugins written for one don't load on the other. We sell Counter-Strike 1.6 server hosting today.
Running a CS:S server
We can't confirm it either way. We found no Valve document that says whether a public CS:S server needs a Game Server Login Token, so we won't guess. Valve's token page (external site, opens in a new tab) does say one Steam account can create up to 1,000 tokens, and the account has to own the game.
Yes. SourceMod loads through Metamod:Source, and both ship CS:S builds for 32-bit and 64-bit Linux. On CS:S, Metamod:Source installs by extracting it into the cstrike folder, with no gameinfo edits.
Yes. CS:S communities build surf, bhop, jailbreak and zombie servers from custom maps and server plugins, such as SourceMod plugins. We have no presets for them, because CS:S isn't on sale yet.
Set sv_downloadurl to an HTTP server that mirrors your game folder, such as /cstrike/maps/, with sv_allowdownload 1. Players then download missing maps, models and sounds over HTTP, and the files can be bzip2-compressed. That is how the Source engine works. We haven't decided how our CS:S hosting will handle it.
Yes. A CS:S server is VAC secured unless it starts with -insecure. VAC is Valve's anti-cheat, not ours. It checks a player's computer when they join, and server admins can ban players from their own server but can't VAC-ban anyone.
Before launch
We have no date yet. Email office@hostsrc.com or ask on our Discord and we'll tell you when it is on sale.
We haven't decided where CS:S servers will run. Our CS 1.6 servers run in Frankfurt and Bucharest today, and our hardware page lists the machines behind them.