Small Dedicated Server
A small dedicated server is a dedicated game server sized to what one match needs, often a fraction of a vCPU. Each match gets its own server, started close to its players and stopped when the match ends. It gives games with light simulations, such as co-op, small-team PvP, card and mobile games, server authority and low latency with relay-like resource efficiency.
Also called
fractional game server, fractional dedicated server, small game server
,
How Small Can a Dedicated Server Be?
"Dedicated" describes who owns the match, not how big the machine is. A dedicated server runs headless, without rendering, audio or input, so what is left is the game loop: the simulation, at its tick rate, for the players in that match.
For a 1v1, a four-player co-op session or a card table, that loop is light. Many engines also run game logic on one main thread, so even a busy server gets little from more than one or two vCPUs (vCPU covers sizing).
The size comes from measurement, not from the genre. Profile a headless build with a full match of bots (load testing), then size the server to the peak with some headroom.
In Practices - Insights from Edgegap's Blog
Article's key insights
Authoritative Servers: one server holds the true game state and validates what every player does. When it runs on infrastructure no player controls, it's a dedicated server, the model behind most competitive games.
Relays: a relay forwards packets between players who can't connect directly. It fixes connectivity and hides IP addresses, but runs no game logic, so one player's machine still owns the match.
Peer-to-Peer: players' machines connect directly, either to one player hosting the match or to every other peer. It has no server cost, but the host can alter the game and NAT blocks some connections.
Additional Insights Covered in This Article
Two separate questions: "who owns the game state" (authority) and "whose hardware runs it" (hosting) are different choices, and a relay answers neither of them.
Relays are safer than raw P2P, not safe: the host can still alter the match, and the authoritative logic ships inside a build any player can decompile.
An extensible relay runs on your own dedicated server: players connect out to a relay the studio deploys and can extend; the host owns the match until the studio adds game logic.
Dedicated servers come in sizes: from a small dedicated server or a multi-room server up to a full simulation, each keeps authority on a machine players don't control.
Peer-to-peer fits a narrow set of games: friends-only sessions and deterministic lockstep titles, with no ranked play or economy to protect.
Small Dedicated Server or Multi-Room Server?
Both give each match a server-side referee for a fraction of a vCPU. They get there differently.
Small dedicated server | ||
|---|---|---|
Matches per process | One | Many, one per room |
Placement | Per match, nearest its players | Once, in one central location per region |
A crash affects | One match | Every room on the process |
Engine fit | Any engine, including those built for one map per process | Frameworks that isolate rooms in one process |
Suits | Matches where latency decides the result | Latency-tolerant games |
The trade is shared costs against placement. A multi-room server pays the engine's fixed costs once for every room, but players far from it get worse latency and fairness. A small dedicated server repeats those costs per match, and in return every match runs close to its own players.
Where Does a Small Dedicated Server Sit Among Game Server Types?
Ordered from no server to a full one:
Peer-to-peer: one player's machine hosts (peer-to-peer).
Shared relay service: a platform forwards traffic, and a player still hosts (relay server).
Extensible relay: a relay the studio runs on a dedicated server, with the option to add game logic (LightNet Relay).
Multi-room game server: many matches in one central process.
Small dedicated server: one match per server, placed nearest its players.
Full dedicated server: one match with a heavy simulation, sized in whole vCPUs.
Steps 1 to 3 leave the match on a player's machine. From step 4, a server holds the match: no host advantage, and the match survives any player leaving. An extensible relay that starts running game logic becomes a multi-room server. A small dedicated server is the step for matches that need that authority close to every player.
How Is a Small Dedicated Server Deployed?
Per match. The matchmaker forms a group, the orchestrator picks a location from the players' measured latency, starts the server in a container and returns its address. When the match ends, the server stops.
On Edgegap, the smallest stated size is 0.25 vCPU, with 512 MB of RAM (Edgegap documentation, checked 30 October 2026). Edge Cloud places on-demand servers at the best available location at request time. At scale, Private Fleets run reserved hosts in 58 locations. Either way, stop each server when its match ends.
A word from our sponsor (ourselves!)
Most lag comes from distance, not from code. Edgegap's Edge Cloud is a distributed network with up to 615+ locations available on demand, so each match runs at the best available location for its players. Independent replays of live studio traffic measured a 58% drop in average round-trip time compared with public cloud.
Edgegap's Take (just our opinion, take it with a grain of salt!)
Small Is a Sizing Decision, Not a Downgrade
Teams often skip dedicated servers because they picture one heavy machine per match. For many games, the server that match needs is small. Profile it before deciding it is out of reach.
Bloody Bastards, a mobile game with 40 million downloads, moved from peer-to-peer to dedicated servers and a matchmaker, with "zero cheaters since" (Edgegap blog, 2026). Cheating ruins everyone's fun, in a casual match as much as a ranked one, and a server holding the match is what stops it.
Pick small when latency decides the result and the simulation is light. If your matches tolerate a few extra milliseconds, a multi-room server shares more. If the simulation is heavy, the server isn't small, and that's fine too.
,
