About Rust Census

Rust Census was built because the in-game server browser is a weak way to choose where to play. Our figures come from two sources. The first is Steam's public Rust server list: names, player counts, queues and the tags each server publishes. The second is each server itself, queried directly for map seed, FPS and entity count. Not every server answers those direct queries, so some entries show only what Steam publishes.

From those sources we keep player counts, wipe dates, wipe schedules, settings and ranks for every public server we can see. The list is refreshed every five minutes, and every figure on a server page states the time it was measured. That lets you check a recently wiped server, a busy server in your region or a group limit that suits you before you connect. Rankings use players over the past week, measured hour by hour: a server that holds a population every day ranks above one that fills for a single evening after a wipe. Lists are ordered by measured player count, never by payment.

Figures are rounded. Population history is built from the samples we record, so short spikes between refreshes may not appear, and servers that stop answering are shown with the last figures we hold. Ranks and counts cover public servers only; private servers are not listed. Everything published comes from what servers report about themselves. If a detail about your server looks wrong, the cause is usually in the server's own settings, and a change should appear within about five minutes of it taking effect.

Rust Census is independent. It is not affiliated with Facepunch Studios and nothing here is endorsed by them. Server names, descriptions and images belong to the people who run those servers.

For corrections, data questions or advertising, write to hello@rustcensus.world. Our privacy policy and terms of use set out the rest; the contact page lists every way to reach us.