NETWORK CAPACITY
Server Bandwidth Calculator
Egress in Mbps, per-player rates, and daily GB from tick rate and snapshot sizes.
MULTIPLAYER EGRESS
Estimate server bandwidth
| Client type | Snapshot size (B) | Clients | Remove |
|---|---|---|---|
Server bandwidth guide
Multiplayer servers pay for bandwidth whether you are self-hosting or renting — and the bill scales with players × tick rate × snapshot size. This calculator estimates your egress in Mbps, per-player up/down rates, and daily gigabytes so you can size your server and your budget.
Where the bytes go
Every tick, the server sends each connected player a snapshot of the world state. If that snapshot is 100 bytes and the server runs 30 ticks a second, one player costs 3 KB/s down — 24 Kbps. A thousand players is 24 Mbps of continuous egress, which is a serious hosting line.
The full-state snapshot is the naive approach. Real games shrink it with delta compression (only changed entities), interest management (only entities near the player), and binary packing.
Reading the numbers
Per-player down tells you the minimum connection quality players need — mobile players on 4G handle a few hundred Kbps fine, but 1+ Mbps per player will cause complaints. Server egress in Mbps is your hosting bill. Daily GB tells you your transfer cap exposure.
Tip: Rule of thumb: 30 Hz with 50–100 byte snapshots is comfortable for 1000 players (~12–24 Mbps). If your numbers are 10× that, you are sending too much state — add interest management before buying a bigger pipe.
Frequently asked questions
How much bandwidth does a game server use?
Depends on tick rate, snapshot size, and player count. Example: 30 Hz × 100 bytes × 1000 players ≈ 24 Mbps egress ≈ 260 GB/day. Use this calculator with your own numbers.
What is a snapshot?
The world state sent to a client each tick — positions, health, state changes. Bigger snapshots and higher tick rates both multiply bandwidth.
How do I reduce server bandwidth?
Send deltas instead of full state, use interest management (only nearby entities), quantize coordinates, and drop the tick rate where the game allows it. The calculator shows the impact of each change.
Privacy note: bandwidth calculations happen in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.