What's new on Torchlite

In short: Torchlite launched on 29 October 2026 as free game server hosting in Bucharest, with Minecraft, Terraria, Hytale, Factorio, Don't Starve Together, Unturned, Assetto Corsa, MTA: San Andreas, SA-MP, open.mp, Counter-Strike 1.6, TeamSpeak 6 and Discord bots, on four free plans: Lite, Turbo, Max and Bot. On 30 October 2026 renewals got longer (50, 40 or 30 minutes for game servers, once a day for Discord bots), and a bot came on top of the game servers. Since 31 October 2026 every free server is deleted after 5 days of inactivity, and an account holds one game server plus one Discord bot; since 1 November 2026 only activity on the server itself counts, not just signing in. This page lists what changed and when, newest first.

1 November 2026: only using the server keeps it

• Signing in no longer keeps a server. The 5 days now count only what is done on the server itself: starting, stopping or restarting it, a console command, opening, uploading or editing a file (in the panel or over SFTP), a setting, a plugin or a mod, by you or a subuser. Just signing in to the panel, or using another of your servers, does not reset its clock, and neither does the automatic first start after it is created. The warning email the day before and the renewal guide say the same.

31 October 2026: one inactivity rule, one game server

• One game server per account. An account now holds one free game server, on any plan, Max included (a Max server no longer counts as two), plus one Discord bot, counted apart. Servers you already have stay; you can create a new game server once you hold none. To try another game, use Change game in the panel.
• 5 days for every server. A free server is now deleted after 5 days without its owner in the panel, whether it was used or never opened (servers you used had 7). This applies to existing servers too. We still email you the day before, and signing in resets the timer. The renewal guide has the details.

30 October 2026: longer renewals

• Game servers renew less often. A running game server now asks for a renew every 50 minutes on Lite (was 30), 40 on Turbo (was 25) and 30 on Max (was 20). The ads per renew stay the same, so there are fewer ad breaks per hour of play.
• Discord bots renew once a day. The Bot plan now asks for a renew every 24 hours instead of every 2 hours by day. The Renew button opens 6 hours before the timer runs out, so it fits any routine, and nobody has to be up at night. See Discord bot hosting.
• The plans page, the renewal guide and every game page show the new times.
• A Discord bot on top of your game servers. A bot no longer uses one of an account's two free game servers: every account can have one bot next to them.
• More time before an idle server goes. A server you use is now deleted after 7 days without you in the panel (was 5). A server never opened after it was created still goes after 5 days, so abandoned servers free their slot.
• Fixes. Don't Starve Together servers can be created again (Klei cluster tokens are longer than the old 64-character limit), logging in with Google or Discord no longer ends in an "expired" error when the browser comes back twice, and the "your server is ready" email is never held back by the hourly email limit.
• New guides: your own SA-MP gamemode with plugins and MySQL and an MTA:SA gamemode with resources, admin and MySQL. The email and the page after creating a server now show the next steps and the address players join with.

29 October 2026: launch

• Torchlite is open. Anyone can create a free server from Create your server.
• New pages: plans and limits in one table, free hosting in Romania, and head-to-head comparisons with Aternos, Minehut, FreeMcServer and Server.pro.
• Minecraft topic pages: modded servers for modpacks, Fabric servers and Bedrock crossplay.
• Discord bot hosting has its own page, with two new tutorials: a Discord bot in Python and a Discord bot in JavaScript.

26 October 2026: Discord bots

• Discord bots. A new Bot plan runs one Discord bot in Node.js (discord.js) or Python (discord.py): 512 MB of RAM, half a core and 3 GB of disk. It comes with a starter bot, or deploys your own code from GitHub on every start.
• Free nights for bots. Bots are renewed every 2 hours by day and not at all from 00:00 to 10:00 Romania time. Bots have their own running slots, so they never wait behind game servers.
• Game pages for Unturned, MTA: San Andreas, SA-MP, open.mp, Counter-Strike 1.6 and TeamSpeak 6.
• Discord bot guide: from the Developer Portal to your own code from GitHub.

25 October 2026: sign in with Google or Discord

• Log in with Google or Discord on torchlite.host, besides email and password. Torchlite only asks for your email address and keeps no Google or Discord token.

24 October 2026: Max counts as two

• Max plan rule. A Max server, with 4.2 GB of RAM for Hytale and Forge or NeoForge modpacks, now counts as two of the two free servers an account can hold.

21 October 2026: tuning

• Faster Minecraft starts. Minecraft servers start with Aikar's G1 garbage collector flags, sized to leave room for the memory Java uses outside the heap.
• Fewer ads per hour. The number of ads at each start and renew was tuned so the ads per hour stay in line across plans.
• Game pages for Minecraft, Terraria, Factorio, Hytale, Don't Starve Together and Assetto Corsa updated.

19 October 2026: the guides

• 23 guides went up, from creating your first server and how renewal works to Modrinth modpacks, Bedrock crossplay with Geyser, moving from Aternos and setup guides for Terraria, Factorio, Hytale, Unturned, Assetto Corsa, Don't Starve Together and TeamSpeak 6.

5 October 2026: the panel

• The panel at game.torchlite.host was rebuilt on Pterodactyl with the current game eggs, the base every server runs on today.

Frequently asked questions

When did Torchlite launch?

On 29 October 2026.

How often does Torchlite change?

Several times a week around launch. Every change you can see on the site or in the panel is listed on this page with its date.

Where do I suggest a feature?

On the Torchlite Discord server, or by email at [email protected].