How free servers work at Alama, and why they come back into stock after 7 quiet days

Alama has free game servers. They are real servers, not demos with a timer. But there is a rule attached, and we would rather explain it here than let you find it in a warning e-mail: a free server on which nobody plays for 7 days is taken back.

This article tells how the rule works and, more importantly, why it exists. We wrote about free servers turned into proxies and about why free servers get abused already. This is a different subject. It is about plain, honest use, and about machines that are not infinite.

The rule, in four lines

• A free server stays as long as someone plays on it.
• If nobody has joined for 7 days, the server is taken back.
• Before that, we send you an e-mail 5 days before and another 1 day before.
• Joining once, for a minute, starts the 7 days over.

What counts is a player joining the game. A server that is on but empty counts as nobody. That is the detail that surprises people: "my server is running" is not the same as "my server is being played".

What one free server includes

The free Minecraft tier, for example, comes with 1 GB of RAM, 10 GB of disk and 2 backups. The order page says it in one line, including the part about the 7 days, so you know before you start.

Each person keeps one free server. That keeps the offer for players, rather than for someone who would collect ten.

Why we take them back

The reason is simple arithmetic. Free servers run on the same machines as paid ones. Every free server that sits idle still holds a part of the memory and the disk of a machine. If we let them stay forever, the free ones would slowly fill the machines, and the paid servers are what pay for those machines. Nobody wins that: not us, and not the paying customers, and in the end not the next person who wants a free server and finds none left.

So we count only what matters: is somebody playing? If yes, the server stays, for as long as they like. If no, the place goes back into stock for someone who will use it.

That is the whole logic. It is not a trick to make you upgrade, and it does not punish you for stepping away. A server that is played never goes away.

What we do before taking it back

We do not want to surprise anyone. Twice, before the 7 days end, an e-mail tells you the server is about to be taken back. It has the address of your server and a link to its page. The "Your server" page also shows when a player was last seen and, when a removal date applies, that date.

If you want to keep the server, connect once. One minute is enough: the 7 days start over from that connection, and the warnings can be sent again after another quiet week.

What it means if it goes

We say it plainly: when a free server is taken back, the server and its files are deleted, and they cannot be brought back. We tell you by e-mail, and you can order a new free server after a short wait.

So if you built something you care about on a free server, do not leave it to chance:

• Download your world or your files from the panel before a quiet week runs out.
• Or connect from time to time, if the server is still used.
• Or, if it has become important, move to a paid tier from the same page, which is a few clicks away.

The copy you keep yourself is the one you can count on once a server is gone.

A fair deal

Free is not a promise to host everything for ever. It is a promise to give you a real server to play on, and to take the place back only when nobody uses it. We think that is the honest way to run it: a rule you can read in one paragraph, a warning twice, and a way to say "I am still here" with one connection.

Want one? Order a free server, and read how free servers work in the help centre if you want every detail.