Garry's Mod server RAM: how much do you need?
In Garry's Mod, addons decide the size of the server so completely that the base game hardly figures in the calculation.
Recommendation
You need a server with at least
4GB
- Engine / Base OS:
- 2 GB
- Player Overhead:
- +1.6 GB
- Estimated Raw Usage:
- 3.6 GB
- Suggested cores:
- 4
- Disk to allow:
- 30 GB+
Addon Lua runs on the main thread, so a heavy addon list is a CPU problem as much as a memory one.
View 4GB PlansWhat uses the memory in Garry's Mod
Vanilla sandbox barely uses anything. DarkRP with a long list of addons is another matter — each addon ships Lua, models and materials that load at boot and never unload. Prop-focused gamemodes then add runtime cost as players spawn physics objects that hang around until cleaned up.
Garry's Mod server RAM by player count
The calculator above, run for 3 common sizes. Each figure is rounded up to a plan size people actually sell.
| Players | Sandbox | DarkRP / Heavy Addons |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | 4 GB | 8 GB |
| 32 | 6 GB | 12 GB |
| 64 | 12 GB | 16 GB |
Where people get it wrong
Sizing by gamemode. Two DarkRP servers can be several times apart depending on what addons they run, so count addons instead of trusting a generic figure — and set a prop limit, or your players will go looking for the ceiling themselves.