For a small co-op group, Checkpoint64 replaces about 90% of a dedicated server for a one-time fee. Instead of renting a 24/7 machine that sits idle most of the day, you pass a single-world game around safely: whoever wants to play grabs the lock, plays, and pushes the save back — with a shared logbook so nobody overwrites anybody.
Why co-op groups rent a dedicated server
Games like Valheim, Factorio, and Satisfactory have exactly one live world file at a time. Without a server, that world lives on one person's PC — so nobody else can play unless that person is online and hosting, and if two people play separately, one save overwrites the other.
A dedicated server fixes both problems by keeping the world in one always-on place. That's genuinely useful — but for a small group it's also mostly wasted.
What a dedicated server actually costs
A rented co-op server runs about €120–240 per year. And most small groups play in the same evening window, so the server sits idle roughly 18 hours a day — you're paying 24/7 for a few hours of use. The long-form cost math runs those numbers session by session, if you want to plug in your own group's schedule.
How Checkpoint64 covers most of it
Checkpoint64 keeps the world in the cloud with a version history, and coordinates who's playing with a server-enforced lock:
- Whoever wants to play grabs the lock and downloads the latest world.
- They play their session — everyone else is read-only for now.
- When they're done, they push the save back and the lock frees up.
Taking a lock from someone warns them and lands in the shared logbook, so there's a record of who did what. The world's full history is preserved instead of overwritten — a bad session is one Restore away. It solves "who has the latest save?" forever, which is the real day-to-day pain, without a monthly bill. For the step-by-step version, and the games that write the host's character into the world, see how to share your world with friends.
Dedicated server vs Checkpoint64
| Dedicated server | Checkpoint64 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | €120–240 / year, ongoing | One-time payment |
| World available 24/7 | Yes | No — someone grabs the lock to play |
| Version history | Usually none (latest world only) | Every version, one-click restore |
| Overwrite protection | Depends on the game | Built-in locks + logbook |
| Setup | Server config, ports, updates | Install, pick the game, share a team |
| Idle waste | Pays 24/7 for a few hours' use | You pay once |
| Everyone in at once | Yes | Yes, on the host's PC via Checkpoint Connect |
Want everyone in at once? Host it yourself, skip the port forward
Taking turns covers most weeks. Some nights you want the whole crew in the same world at the same time, and that has always meant one of two things: rent a box, or have the host fight their router.
Checkpoint Connect is the third option, new in Checkpoint64 2.0 (in beta). The host starts the game's server on their own PC, the way they would anyway, and shares it with their team from the app. Teammates hit Join, their game connects to 127.0.0.1 as if the server were on their machine, and the two copies of the app connect directly when they can and through a relay when they can't. No port forwarding, and CGNAT stops being a problem.
- Team only. Our backend vouches for everyone who connects, and the host's app lets in only members of the team.
- UDP and TCP, so Minecraft Java and Terraria work as well as Valheim, Palworld and Satisfactory. Presets carry each game's ports; anything else, type them in.
- It shares a running server; it never runs one for you. The world is online while the host's PC is, which is the trade you make for not paying rent.
It pairs with the lock: when the host logs off, their last backup is the latest world, so the next person can take the lock and host from their own PC. The co-op page has the walkthrough.
If you do run a server, back up its config
Keeping a real server is a perfectly good answer for some groups, and it comes with its own thing to lose: the rule set. Multipliers, decay timers, slot counts, the admin list — hours of fiddling that exist on one box, usually the one nobody else has access to. Sixteen dedicated servers have a catalog entry of their own for exactly that, separate from the game client; the game config backup guide covers which ones and where their files live.
When you still want a real server
Be honest about the 10%. A dedicated server still wins if your group needs the world online around the clock, with nobody's PC left on for it — a big community that plays across time zones, or 20+ players who expect to drop in any time. Checkpoint64 is built for the small crew that plays together in bursts, not the always-on public server.
Games this works for
Single-world co-op games where only one save is live at a time: Valheim, Factorio, Satisfactory, Don't Starve Together, 7 Days to Die, Sons of the Forest, Enshrouded, and Palworld — plus any other game where the group shares one world folder. Each link is that game's full backup guide: where the saves live, how they break, and how the lock-and-pass flow fits.