01 What are you buying: a game panel on a VPS
Hostinger’s Palworld offer is a Game Panel VPS, not a promise that a technician will perform every game administration task. Its product page describes full root access and self-managed VPS hosting. That can suit someone who wants control of a server environment; a group that wants only a ready-to-play game should compare the maintenance responsibility with a managed game host.
The Game Panel can create and manage game instances. Several instances still share the VPS’s finite resources, and a Palworld “dedicated server” process does not make the underlying physical machine exclusive to you. Do not select a plan by adding advertised slot counts across games.
Product scope: Hostinger Palworld offer ↗; supported applications, including Rust and Palworld: Hostinger supported-game list ↗.
02 Read the upfront total and renewal before choosing a tier
Checked October 31, 2026: the Game Panel 2 offer displays 8 GB RAM and $9.49/month equivalent with $227.76 charged for 24 months, followed by a listed $14.99/month renewal. The product page states plans are paid upfront. Region, currency and promotions can change these figures; confirm checkout before treating the monthly equivalent as your next invoice.
The cheapest displayed tier is not our recommendation for every world. Start from the current Pocketpair requirements ↗, then measure your actual world. CPU pressure, memory use, storage and backup space all matter. If you plan a second game instance, budget it as an additional workload rather than assuming unused player slots are spare RAM.
03 Create a Palworld instance through Game Panel
- Complete the VPS setup and choose the intended data-centre region.
- From hPanel’s VPS management area, open the Game Panel via Manage panel.
- Use Create Instance, select Palworld, name the instance and review its boot settings.
- Wait for installation to finish before starting and inspecting the console.
- Record the actual connection address and port shown for the instance.
These controls are documented in Hostinger’s Game Panel getting-started guide ↗. A running VPS and an installed game instance are different states: check the game console before investigating routers. Use the current panel’s labels, not a screenshot from another provider.
Test the fresh installation first, then stop it before uploading an existing world. That separates an installation fault from a migration fault.
04 Import a world and select the right save directory
Hostinger’s Palworld world-import guide ↗ places the world under Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/ and uses DedicatedServerName in Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/GameUserSettings.ini to select the folder. Transfer a working copy with all relevant player data; do not upload only one world file and expect character identity to be reconstructed.
After the import, join with an existing player, inspect a known base and inventory, then save and restart. If the world is fresh, check nesting and the selected WorldID. If the world is correct but the character is missing, investigate player identity separately. Keep the original export untouched until every regular player has passed the check. The migration checklist covers that acceptance gate.
05 PS5 support and second-server ports need separate verification
We found a documentation mismatch: Hostinger’s Palworld sales FAQ still includes Steam-only wording, while Pocketpair’s current server documentation supports PS5 through Community mode. Do not silently treat the game’s capability as a verified feature of every Hostinger template. Before purchase, ask whether its current image and panel expose the required Community launch mode and platform settings.
For a second Palworld instance, use independent data and listeners. A panel-created instance may allocate ports, but you still need to verify the actual process and address. See the two-server port guide and PS5 joining checks. Back up before updates, retain logs for failures, and keep an off-VPS copy of important saves; a panel is a management convenience, not a substitute for a recovery plan.