How to port forward a Palworld server
A Palworld dedicated server listens on 8211 over UDP. That is the whole requirement for people to connect; the Steam query port is only about appearing in the community server list.
Your setup
Pick the firmware family, not the exact model — the menus are identical across a range.
Default is 8211. If you changed it, it is the value of PublicPort / -port=.
The private address of the machine running the server — ipconfig on Windows, ip addr on Linux. It starts with 192.168, 10. or 172.
Open these
This firmware accepts ranges, so each line below is a single rule.
- 8211 UDP
8211UDPGame trafficPalworld gameplay is UDP. Note the stock port is 8211, not the 27015 people assume from other Steam games.
Only if you want them
The server works without these. Every port you open is a port someone can knock on, so skip anything you do not need.
- 27015 UDP
27015UDPSteam queryNeeded for the community server list. Direct IP connections work without it.
Do not open these
These are administrative sockets. Plenty of guides list them next to the game ports; opening them puts a remote console for your server on the public internet.
25575TCPRCONPalworld ships RCON disabled. Leave it that way unless you have a reason, and never expose it.
If you need remote administration, reach the machine over SSH or a VPN and talk to the port from there. The port stays closed to everyone else.
Step by step: your router
- 1
Give the server a fixed local IP
A forward points at one address. If the server picks up a different one after a reboot, the rule silently starts pointing at nothing — this is why forwards "stop working" on their own.
On this router:look for DHCP Reservation, Address Reservation, Static Lease or Manually Assigned IP
- 2
Open the router admin page
Try these addresses in a browser on the same network:
- 192.168.0.1
- 192.168.1.1
- 192.168.2.1
- 10.0.0.1
Almost always printed on a sticker on the router itself.
- 3
Find the port forwarding page
Port Forwarding, Virtual Server, NAT, Applications & Gaming, or Port Mapping
Vendors use at least six names for the same feature. Whatever it is called, the page you want is the one asking for a port, a protocol and a device on your network. If the external and internal port fields both exist, set them to the same number.
- 4
Create one rule per line
a description field, if there is one External / WAN / Public / Service port Internal / LAN / Private port Protocol Internal IP / Device / Server IP Palworld 8211 8211 UDP your server’s local IP External and internal port are the same number here. Changing the external port is possible, but then everyone connects on the new one, so keep them matched unless you have a reason.
- 5
Let the server through its own firewall
The router now sends traffic to the machine, and the machine can still refuse it. Windows Defender Firewall in particular blocks a freshly installed dedicated server by default, which looks exactly like a failed forward.
Take it with you
Palworld — port forwarding rules -------------------------------- 8211 UDP -> <server local IP>
Check whether it worked
Test from outside your own network. Connecting from a machine in the house proves nothing — that traffic never leaves the LAN and never touches the rule you just wrote.
This game uses a UDP port and has no query protocol we can speak, so there is no honest way for us to test it from here — a UDP port that is open and one that is filtered look identical from outside. Ask someone outside your network to connect instead.
What usually goes wrong
Almost everyone tries 27015 first, because that is the port every other Steam game trained them to expect. It is not the game port here — it is only the optional query port. The other half of the confusion is that Palworld's in-game co-op, the kind you start from the main menu with an invite code, is not a dedicated server and needs no forwarding at all.
Not forwarding at all
If four players is enough, the invite-code co-op session avoids the whole exercise. Beyond that you need a dedicated server, and Palworld's memory appetite grows steeply with the number of bases in the world.