---
title: "Selecting a Package"
description: "Understand the difference between Core, Flux, and Atlas tiers and choose the right plan for your needs."
category: "Getting Started"
tags: ["Packages", "Plans", "Beginner"]
readTime: 4
---

Choosing the right package is the most important decision before deploying. Sonata offers three performance tiers — each designed for a different workload profile.

## The Three Tiers

### Core

The entry-level tier. Shared CPU resources on optimized hardware.

**Best for:** Small communities, personal servers, bot hosting, development environments.

### Flux

Dedicated vCPU allocation on high-frequency processors. No resource contention.

**Best for:** Active game servers (20–80 players), production bots, mid-scale applications.

### Atlas

Top-tier bare-metal performance. Designed for maximum throughput and zero compromise.

**Best for:** Large communities, tournament servers, high-traffic APIs, 100+ player servers.

## How to Choose

<Steps>
  <Step number={1} title="Estimate your player count">
    Check your average concurrent players. Under 20? Core is fine. 20–80? Go Flux. Above that, Atlas.
  </Step>
  <Step number={2} title="Check game-specific requirements">
    Some games (e.g. modded Minecraft, ARK) require significantly more RAM than their base version. Always add 2–4 GB buffer above the minimum.
  </Step>
  <Step number={3} title="Consider future growth">
    It's easier to upgrade than to migrate. If you expect growth in 3 months, start one tier higher.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## RAM Reference by Game

| Game | Minimum RAM | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Minecraft (Vanilla) | 2 GB | 4 GB |
| Minecraft (Modded) | 6 GB | 10 GB |
| CS2 | 4 GB | 6 GB |
| ARK: Survival | 8 GB | 12 GB |
| Rust | 8 GB | 16 GB |
| Discord Bot | 512 MB | 1 GB |

<Callout type="info" title="Upgrading is seamless">
You can upgrade your plan at any time from the billing panel. Downtime during upgrades is typically under 2 minutes.
</Callout>

<Callout type="warning" title="Sold out plans">
Some tiers may occasionally show as sold out due to high demand. Enable stock notifications in your account to be alerted when availability opens up.
</Callout>