Manual / Getting started / 1.4
Your TeamSpeak server
Brevity's voices travel through TeamSpeak, on a server your unit provides. We run the relay; the TeamSpeak server is yours. This page helps you pick one.
What every server needs
- A TeamSpeak 3 server. Every player uses the TeamSpeak 3 client (1.3).
- A slot for everyone who joins an op, plus a few spare. A free server has 32.
- One channel for the whole unit. TeamSpeak only carries a voice to people in the same channel, so a player in another channel hears nobody.
- A password on that channel. In the game, our plugin silences anyone in the channel who is not in your game. A stranger without the plugin still hears everyone.
The ways to get one
| Way | What it means for you | 32 / 64 / 100+ |
|---|---|---|
| Your own PC | Free up to 32. The PC must be on during ops, players connect to your home's address, and it needs a good upload | $0 + $55/yr + $100/yr |
| A rented VPS | An always-on computer in a data centre that you set up yourself (1.5.8). The smallest from OVHcloud is about €8 a month | €8/mo + $55/yr + $100/yr |
| A rented TeamSpeak 3 server | A host runs it for you. Ready in minutes, and you pick the city | from $8/mo $14-20/mo $20-30/mo |
| A free public server | A channel on a stranger's server. Avoid it (1.4.7) | $0 |
| A dedicated server | A whole machine. Far more than TeamSpeak needs | the most |
The "+" is TeamSpeak's own licence for more than 32 slots (1.4.6). Rented TeamSpeak servers include theirs. Prices checked on 16 October 2026; they change, so check before you pay.
Cheapest, fastest, dearest
- Cheapest: your own PC, for 32 or fewer. Then a rented TeamSpeak 3 server.
- Best performance: a rented TeamSpeak 3 server or a VPS in a data centre close to most of your players. Always on, a fast connection, no home upload to run out of.
- Most expensive: a dedicated server. You pay for a whole machine and TeamSpeak gains nothing from it.
Renting: three hosts we checked
| Host | Where, and how many slots | Per slot, a month |
|---|---|---|
| Host Havoc | Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Chicago, Montreal, London, Nuremberg. From 20 slots, in steps of 10 | $0.20 |
| DatHost | Over 50 cities, Toronto, New York, Frankfurt and Sydney among them. Any number of slots | €0.30 |
| teamspeaks.eu | Europe only. 10 to 250 slots, VAT included | €0.25 |
We earn nothing from these. Prices are from each host's own page on 16 October 2026. Whichever host you pick:
- It must say TeamSpeak 3.
- Pick the city closest to most of your players. The closer, the less delay.
- Enough slots for your biggest op, plus a few.
- Pay monthly until you know it suits you.
Licences
- Free: one server with 32 slots costs nothing.
- Bigger, when you host it yourself: TeamSpeak sells licences to non-commercial groups. 64 slots cost $55 a year; 128 slots $100 a year; 256 slots $175 a year. You get a file,
licensekey.dat, for the server folder. - Rented: the host's licence is in the price.
The old free non-profit licence is no longer given out.
Avoid
- A free public server. Its owners can see your channel, move or kick your players, and close the server the night before an op. You can't add slots.
- Your own PC for more than 32. You need the licence and a big upload. Everyone is in one channel, so the server sends every voice to every player: 64 players with 3 talking at once is about 5 Mbit/s of upload (our estimate, from TeamSpeak's own formula).
- A dedicated server just for TeamSpeak. It costs the most and gives nothing a small VPS doesn't.
Make the unit channel
The same on every server. Connect as the server's admin first.
- In TeamSpeak 3, right-click the server's name at the top of the channel list, then Create Channel.
- Give it a name and a Password, and set it Permanent, so it stays when everyone leaves.
- Press OK. Give the server address and the channel password to your unit only.