How to Reduce Ping on a Game Server (What Actually Helps)
Ping is round-trip time: how long a packet takes to travel from the player's machine to the server and back. Most things people try to reduce ping do not actually affect this. Here is what does.
What ping is
Ping is round-trip time (RTT): how long it takes a packet to travel from the player's machine to the server and back, measured in milliseconds. Lower is better.
20–60ms feels instant. 80–120ms is noticeable in fast games. 200ms+ is painful for most players. Ping is a property of distance and network path, not of server hardware.
Ping vs server lag: two different problems
These are not the same thing. "Lag" gets used to mean both in gaming communities, but the causes and solutions are completely different.
Ping (latency)
Travel time between the player and the server. Fixed by choosing a server location close to your player base. Not fixed by upgrading server hardware.
Server lag
The server is overloaded and cannot process game logic fast enough. Fixed by upgrading RAM or CPU, or reducing addon load. Does not affect RTT.
What affects ping
Physical distance to the server
This is the single biggest factor. Packets cannot travel faster than light through fibre. If your players are in the UK and the server is in Germany, that distance has a fixed minimum RTT.
ISP routing
Some ISPs take inefficient routing paths even to nearby servers. There is little you can do about this as a server owner.
Player's own connection quality
Packet loss, congestion on their local network, or distance from their router all add latency on the player's side.
Wireless vs wired connection
WiFi adds 5–30ms of variable latency and introduces packet loss under contention. Wired is always more consistent.
What the server owner can control
Server location is the most important decision you make for player ping. Choose a location close to your player base. Everything else is a rounding error by comparison.
- Upgrading server hardware does not reduce player ping.
- Higher tick rate can improve responsiveness feel but does not reduce RTT.
- DDoS protection routing can sometimes add a few milliseconds: an unavoidable trade-off.
- Server owners cannot compress or speed up the network path itself.
What the player can control
- Switch from WiFi to a wired (Ethernet) connection: the single biggest improvement most players can make.
- Close bandwidth-heavy background applications (game downloads, streaming, video calls).
- Check for packet loss using a tool like WinMTR or PingPlotter.
- Contact their ISP if routing seems unreasonably bad to a known server location.
- Use a gaming router with QoS if multiple devices share the connection.
Our server locations: UK and EU (London and Germany)
Most of our servers run on Hetzner infrastructure in Germany, giving excellent ping for players in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and most of the EU. We also have a real UK node live in London for low-latency UK connections.
Players in the UK typically see approximately 20–40ms, perfectly playable. Players in Australia, the US, or Southeast Asia will see much higher ping due to the physical distance involved. This is a physics problem, not a hosting problem.
If your entire player base is in Australia, a European server will not give them good ping regardless of which EU host you use.
When switching hosts actually helps ping
If your current server is in the US and your players are in the EU, moving to an EU host will meaningfully cut ping. If your current server is already in Germany or central Europe, switching EU hosts does not significantly change player ping.
The question to ask is: where is the server physically located relative to my players?
Frequently asked questions
What is ping in a game server?
Ping is round-trip time (RTT): how long it takes a network packet to travel from the player's machine to the server and back, measured in milliseconds. Lower numbers mean a more responsive connection.
Why is my ping high on my game server?
The most common cause is physical distance between the player and the server. Packets travel at a fixed speed through fibre; if your players are far from the server's data centre, ping will be high. Other causes include poor ISP routing, WiFi instability on the player's end, and packet loss.
Can upgrading server RAM or CPU reduce ping?
No. Server hardware affects server-side performance (how fast the server processes game logic) but does not reduce the travel time of packets between the player and the server. Only server location and network path quality affect ping.
What is the difference between ping and server lag?
Ping is the network travel time between a player and the server. Server lag occurs when the server itself is overloaded and cannot process game logic fast enough. Both feel bad but have different causes and solutions.
How do I reduce my ping on a game server as a player?
Use a wired Ethernet connection instead of WiFi, close background applications using bandwidth, check for packet loss, and make sure you are connecting to a server close to your geographic location.
Where are Zeros Host game servers located?
Most of our servers run on Hetzner infrastructure in Germany, which gives EU players consistently low ping, and we also have a real UK node live in London for the lowest-latency option for UK players. Players in the UK typically see approximately 20–40ms on the German node. Players outside Europe will see higher ping due to the physical distance involved.
Our servers run from Hetzner Germany, great for EU player bases
See our plans and benchmark results before committing.