Set Up Pterodactyl Panel on Hetzner/Netcup: Complete Guide 2026

Managed hosts like Apex or Shockbyte have nice web panels. You click "Start", select a modpack, done. On a VPS? Just a black console. It doesn't have to be that way.

With Pterodactyl, you get the same panel experience on your own Hetzner or Netcup VPS – at a fraction of the cost. This guide shows you every step.

Who is this for? VPS beginners with some terminal courage. Linux knowledge helps but isn't required.

Don't have a VPS yet? Use our VPS comparison to find the right one for your player count.

What is Pterodactyl?

Pterodactyl is a free, open-source game server management panel. It runs on Docker and provides you with a web interface to manage Minecraft servers (and 50+ other games) – without ever needing to use SSH.

What you get:

• Web interface like managed hosts
• One-click installation of Paper, Forge, Fabric, Vanilla
• File manager in browser (no FTP needed)
• Automatic backups
• Multiple servers on one VPS
• User management (for friends or customers)

Pterodactyl is the reason many small hosting companies exist. You get the same software – for free.

What You Need

Before we start, check these requirements:

VPS with at least 4GB RAM

Pterodactyl itself needs about 500MB. The rest is for your game servers. For a Minecraft server with 10 players, you need at least 4GB total.

Recommendations:

• Hetzner CX22 (4GB, €4.35/month)
• Netcup RS 1000 G11 (8GB, ~€11/month)

Check out our VPS comparison with at least 4GB RAM.

KVM Virtualization (NOT OpenVZ!)

Docker doesn't run on OpenVZ or LXC. Hetzner Cloud, Netcup Root Server, and Contabo VPS all use KVM – that works.

Warning: Some budget providers use OpenVZ. Check before purchasing!

Domain or Subdomain

For the panel, you need an address like panel.yourdomain.com. A subdomain at Cloudflare is sufficient. If you don't have a domain: Cloudflare offers free subdomains via workers.dev.

Ubuntu 22.04 or Debian 12

The official Pterodactyl docs recommend these distributions. Others work but require more effort.

Which VPS Should You Choose?

Step 1: Install Panel

Connect to your VPS via SSH and run these commands. We use the official installer script that sets up everything automatically.

Update System

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Makes sure all packages are up to date.

Download and Run Installer Script

bash <(curl -s https://pterodactyl-installer.se)

The community script by Vilhelm Prytz interactively asks you for all settings. Alternatively, you can use the official script from pterodactyl-installer on GitHub.

Answer Installer Questions

The installer asks you for various settings:

Wait for Installation

The installer automatically sets up: Nginx, PHP 8.1, MariaDB, Redis, Composer, and the panel itself. This takes 5-10 minutes. At the end, you'll see: "Panel installation completed!"

Important: Note down the admin password! You can only reset it later, not retrieve it.

Step 2: Install Wings (Node)

Wings is the "worker" that runs the actual game servers in Docker containers. On a single VPS, you install Wings on the same server as the panel.

Install Docker

curl -sSL https://get.docker.com/ | CHANNEL=stable bash

Auto-start Docker

sudo systemctl enable --now docker

Download Wings

sudo mkdir -p /etc/pterodactyl
curl -L -o /usr/local/bin/wings "https://github.com/pterodactyl/wings/releases/latest/download/wings_linux_$([[ "$(uname -m)" == "x86_64" ]] && echo "amd64" || echo "arm64")"
sudo chmod u+x /usr/local/bin/wings

Create Node in Panel

Open your panel (https://panel.yourdomain.com) and log in as admin:

1. Go to Admin → Locations → Create New
2. Name: "Home" or "Hetzner DE" (your choice)
3. Go to Admin → Nodes → Create New
4. Name: "Node 1"
5. FQDN: panel.yourdomain.com (or separate subdomain)
6. Memory: Your RAM in MB (e.g., 3500 for 4GB VPS, leave some buffer)
7. Disk: Your storage in MB
8. Save

Configure Wings

In panel: Nodes → Your Node → Configuration Tab. Copy the content and save it:

sudo nano /etc/pterodactyl/config.yml
# Paste the copied content, save with Ctrl+X, Y, Enter

Set Up Wings as Service

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/wings.service

Paste the following content:

[Unit]
Description=Pterodactyl Wings Daemon
After=docker.service
Requires=docker.service
PartOf=docker.service

[Service]
User=root
WorkingDirectory=/etc/pterodactyl
LimitNOFILE=4096
PIDFile=/var/run/wings/daemon.pid
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/wings
Restart=on-failure
StartLimitInterval=180
StartLimitBurst=30
RestartSec=5s

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Start Wings

sudo systemctl enable --now wings

Check status:

sudo systemctl status wings

Status should show "active (running)".

Step 3: Configure Firewall

For players to connect, the correct ports must be open.

sudo ufw allow 80      # HTTP (for Let's Encrypt)
sudo ufw allow 443     # HTTPS (Panel)
sudo ufw allow 8080    # Wings API
sudo ufw allow 2022    # Wings SFTP
sudo ufw allow 25565:25580/tcp  # Minecraft Ports (range for multiple servers)
sudo ufw enable        # Enable firewall

Important: Don't forget to keep port 22 (SSH) open, or you'll lock yourself out!

Step 4: Create Minecraft Server

Now comes the fun part: Creating your first Minecraft server.

Create Allocation

In panel: Admin → Nodes → Your Node → Allocations

IP: 0.0.0.0, Ports: 25565-25570 (or more)

Create Server

Admin → Servers → Create New

Configure Server

After creating: Open server page → Startup Tab

Start Server

Console Tab → Click Start Button

On first start, Paper/Forge downloads the required files. This takes 1-2 minutes.

Your server is now accessible at your-server-ip:25565!

Bonus: Aikar Flags for Better Performance

Pterodactyl doesn't use optimized Java flags by default. Here's how to enable Aikar Flags:

1. In panel: Admin → Servers → Your Server → Startup
2. Find "Startup Command" or "Java Flags"
3. Replace the flags with Aikar Flags

-Xms4G -Xmx4G -XX:+UseG1GC -XX:+ParallelRefProcEnabled -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=200 -XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions -XX:+DisableExplicitGC -XX:+AlwaysPreTouch -XX:G1NewSizePercent=30 -XX:G1MaxNewSizePercent=40 -XX:G1HeapRegionSize=8M -XX:G1ReservePercent=20 -XX:G1HeapWastePercent=5 -XX:G1MixedGCCountTarget=4 -XX:InitiatingHeapOccupancyPercent=15 -XX:G1MixedGCLiveThresholdPercent=90 -XX:G1RSetUpdatingPauseTimePercent=5 -XX:SurvivorRatio=32 -XX:+PerfDisableSharedMem -XX:MaxTenuringThreshold=1

Learn more in our Minecraft Server Optimization Guide.

Troubleshooting: Common Problems

Wings Won't Connect to Panel

• Check if port 8080 is open: sudo ufw status
• Check Wings logs: sudo journalctl -u wings -f
• Does the FQDN in Wings config match the panel?

Docker Won't Start

• Do you have OpenVZ instead of KVM? Docker needs KVM!
• Check: sudo systemctl status docker
• Reinstall: sudo apt remove docker docker-engine docker.io containerd runc && curl -sSL https://get.docker.com/ | bash

Server Starts, But I Can't Connect

• Firewall: sudo ufw allow 25565/tcp
• Check server logs in panel for errors
• Is the IP correct? For Hetzner Cloud: Use Public IPv4

EULA Not Accepted

• In panel: Files Tab → Open eula.txt
• Change eula=false to eula=true
• Restart server

Out of Memory

• Did you allocate enough RAM?
• Pterodactyl + Wings need ~500MB for themselves
• With 4GB VPS: Max 3GB for Minecraft

Multiple Minecraft Servers on One VPS

A big advantage of Pterodactyl: You can run multiple servers in parallel.

Example with Netcup RS 1000 G11 (8GB RAM):

This leaves ~2GB for system + Pterodactyl.

Tip: With Velocity or BungeeCord, you can connect the servers into a network. Players then switch between worlds with /server creative.

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