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RustMapCDN

Custom Rust maps: where to find them and how to host them

Updated 19 September 2026

A custom Rust map is a single .map file, built by hand in RustEdit instead of generated from a seed. You can make your own, download free ones, or buy one from a marketplace such as Codefling or Lone.Design. To use a map on your server, host the file at a direct download link and pointserver.levelurl at it.

What a custom map actually is

Rust normally builds a world from a seed and a size. A custom map replaces that with a world someone designed: hand-placed monuments, a particular coastline, roads where the maker wanted them. It arrives as one file. Of the maps hosted here today, the average is 37 MB and the largest is 86 MB, so they are big enough that where you put the file matters.

Your server does not ship the map to players. Everyone who joins downloads it from the link you set, which is why the file needs a home that is fast and always up.

Where to find maps

Free

  • Marketplaces. Codefling and Lone.Design both list free maps alongside paid ones.
  • The RustEdit community. Map makers share work in progress and finished maps, and many are happy for you to run them.
  • Make your own. RustEdit is free. See putting a RustEdit map on your server.

Paid

  • Marketplaces. Codefling and Lone.Design sell maps from established makers, usually with screenshots, a monument list and update history.
  • Commission one. Map makers take private work, which is the route to take if you want something nobody else is running.

What to check before you commit

  • The licence. Anyone with your map link can download the file, because that is how players load it. Most paid maps are licensed for your server, so do not post the link where it is not needed.
  • Size against your player count. Every new player downloads the whole file. A 90 MB map and 300 new players is 27 GB of downloads in a wipe.
  • What the map needs on the server. Maps with custom loot, NPC spawners or wired puzzles need the RustEdit extension for Oxide installed.
  • When it was last updated. Rust changes monthly. A map that has not been touched in a year may be missing newer monuments or prefabs.

How to host the file

Wherever you put it, the link has to serve the file itself. Open it in a browser: the download should start immediately, with no page in between.

OptionHow it goes
RustMapCDNFree and built for this. Maps up to 200 MB, a direct link straight away, and links last 90 days.
Your own web serverWorks well if you already run one. You pay for the bandwidth on wipe day.
DiscordDoes not work. Links expire after about 24 hours: why Discord links break.
Dropbox or Google DriveFragile. Share pages, virus warnings and daily limits: the details.

Putting it on the server

Once the file has a direct link, the rest is one setting. Full steps for Pterodactyl, startup commands and server.cfg are inhow to add a custom map to your Rust server.

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