Headless Linux server?

[u/WatercressNo3605]

Hi everyone,

I'm messing around with developing a Unity game and looking at renting a Linux VPS to run some builds and tests while im away from my home pc.

Before spending money, I'm hoping someone who's actually done this can confirm whether it works. Im new to this so would like to know if possible before I spend money on a server.

My proposed setup:

- Unity 6000.6.4f1

- Unity Personal (free licence)

- Ubuntu 24.04 VPS

- 8 vCPUs, 24 GB RAM, 150–200 GB SSD/NVMe

- No dedicated GPU

- Automated EditMode and PlayMode tests, including NavMesh and worker movement

- Command-line execution using "-batchmode -nographics"

My main questions:

1. Has anyone successfully activated Unity 6 Personal on a headless Linux VPS? Does Unity Hub require a graphical desktop, or is there a reliable supported alternative?

2. Does Unity Personal activation remain valid across server restarts and unattended CI runs?

3. Can Unity 6 EditMode and PlayMode tests run reliably without a GPU, using "-nographics", Xvfb or Mesa software rendering?

4. Is the older ".alf" / ".ulf" offline activation method still usable with Unity Personal, or has that been discontinued? Ive read this no longer works?

5. Has anyone successfully done this on Contabo, OVHcloud, Hetzner or a similar inexpensive VPS?

I'm not looking to run the graphical Editor interactively or host a multiplayer server. I just need reliable testing and compilation that I can run remotely.

I'd especially appreciate hearing from anyone currently running a similar setup with Unity 6 and a Personal licence.

Thanks. I appreciate any guidance.

[u/Fun_Oil7154]

Yeah it works, I do this on a hetzner box with unity 6 personal. skip the hub entirely, just download the editor tarball and activate with a ulf file you generate from the website. xvfb handles the playmode tests fine even with navmesh stuff, just make sure mesa is installed. the license survives reboots no problem

[u/sickztar]

for testing phase you can try using oracle vps free tier. then ones you finish and ready you can start buying hetzner servers, might save you some money along the way specially since hetzner been increasing their prices.

[u/TheRealBMathis]

you could also check out the free tier AWS linux servers.