Rust Upkeep Calculator
Building blocks
Doors, hatches and windows
High external walls
- Building blocks
- 20
- Upkeep rate
- 11.3%
- of block cost per 24 h
- Group tax
- +0%
- 1 player
- Next block taxed at
- 15%
Upkeep per day
- Metal fragments
- 51
- Stone
- 578
Upkeep per week
- Metal fragments
- 357
- Stone
- 4,046
Build cost
Placing every piece as twig, upgrading it, crafting the doors and windows, plus the tool cupboard (1,000 wood).
- Metal fragments
- 450
- Wood
- 1,855
- Stone
- 5,130
What's in your tool cupboard?
Protected from decay for
3 days 11 h
Stone runs out first. For a full week, the TC needs 4,046 stone, 357 metal fragments.
When the TC runs dry (or there is no TC), the outside pieces start losing HP at once and are gone in: stone 5 h. Then the next layer in starts.
How to use it
- Add a line per kind of building block: piece, tier and how many. Floors, roofs and frames count too.
- Add your doors, hatches and windows, and any high external walls.
- Set how many players are authed on the TC or the code locks.
- Read the upkeep per day and per week, then type what's in your tool cupboard to see how long it lasts. Copy the link to share it.
How Rust upkeep works
The tool cupboard pays for the base every 24 hours with a share of what each piece cost to build at its current tier (only the upgrade cost, not the twig you placed first). It's a tax in brackets: the more building blocks, the higher the share for the extra blocks.
| Building blocks | Upkeep for these blocks |
|---|---|
| 1 to 15 | 10% |
| 16 to 65 | 15% |
| 66 to 190 | 20% |
| 191 and up | 33.3% |
So the rate over the whole base creeps up as it grows:
| 10 blocks | 15 blocks | 30 blocks | 65 blocks | 100 blocks | 190 blocks | 250 blocks | 400 blocks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | 10% | 12.5% | 13.8% | 16% | 17.9% | 21.6% | 26% |
Doors, hatches and windows pay at the same rate on their metal, wood or HQM (not on gears). High external walls and gates pay a flat 20% (since Power Trip, 6 August 2026). A common mistake in upkeep calculators is to use a flat 10% for every base: that's only right up to 15 blocks. Your TC shows the rate it uses when you hover over the cost per 24 hours, so you can check our number against it.
Group tax. Since Breach and Clear (3 September 2026) every player authed on the TC or a code lock in the base, or deauthed in the last 24 hours, counts. The first 4 are free, players 5 to 10 add 2% each, every player after that adds 4%, up to +300%.
| 1 pl. | 4 pl. | 5 pl. | 6 pl. | 8 pl. | 10 pl. | 12 pl. | 20 pl. | 50 pl. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +0% | +0% | +2% | +4% | +8% | +12% | +20% | +52% | +172% |
Sources: Facepunch, Devblog 189: building upkeep (7 Dec 2017); Facepunch, Devblog 191: upkeep changes (21 Dec 2017); Facepunch, Power Trip update: recyclers and high wall upkeep (6 Aug 2026); Facepunch, Breach and Clear update: group upkeep tax (3 Sep 2026); Facepunch Rust wiki: Tool Cupboard, decay and building privilege; Facepunch Rust wiki: server commands (decay.upkeep_period_minutes).
Cost of every building block
Upgrade cost at each tier (placing it as twig first costs the twig column extra). Upkeep per day is 10% to 33.3% of this.
| Piece | Twig | Wood | Stone | Sheet metal | Armored |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foundation | 50 wood | 200 wood | 300 stone | 200 frags | 25 HQM |
| Triangle foundation | 25 wood | 100 wood | 150 stone | 100 frags | 13 HQM |
| Wall | 50 wood | 200 wood | 300 stone | 200 frags | 25 HQM |
| Half wall | 50 wood | 200 wood | 300 stone | 200 frags | 25 HQM |
| Low wall | 25 wood | 100 wood | 150 stone | 100 frags | 13 HQM |
| Doorway | 35 wood | 140 wood | 210 stone | 140 frags | 18 HQM |
| Window | 35 wood | 140 wood | 210 stone | 140 frags | 18 HQM |
| Wall frame | 25 wood | 100 wood | 150 stone | 100 frags | 13 HQM |
| Floor / roof | 25 wood | 100 wood | 150 stone | 100 frags | 13 HQM |
| Triangle floor | 13 wood | 50 wood | 75 stone | 50 frags | 7 HQM |
| Floor frame | 25 wood | 100 wood | 150 stone | 100 frags | 13 HQM |
| Stairs (U or L) | 50 wood | 200 wood | 300 stone | 200 frags | 25 HQM |
| Foundation steps | 25 wood | 100 wood | 150 stone | 100 frags | 13 HQM |
High external walls: 1,333 wood each (wooden) or 1,333 stone plus a third of a sheet metal (stone), crafted three at a time. Gates: 3,000 wood or stone plus gears.
Sources: Rust wiki (Fandom): building costs; RustLabs game data (wiki.rustclash.com): HP, damage per explosive, recipes and recycler output, checked 16 Oct 2026.
Decay timers
How long a piece takes to go from full HP to destroyed once there's no upkeep for its material. Decay works from the outside in: the outer layer goes first, then the next one starts.
| Tier | HP | With a stocked TC | TC empty or missing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Twig | 10 | No decay | 1 hours |
| Wood | 250 | No decay | 3 hours |
| Stone | 500 | No decay | 5 hours |
| Sheet metal | 1,000 | No decay | 8 hours |
| Armored | 2,000 | No decay | 12 hours |
If only one material runs out, only the pieces made of it decay: a stone base with sheet metal doors that runs out of metal fragments loses its doors first. With upkeep back in the TC, damaged pieces slowly repair themselves.
Sources: Facepunch Rust wiki: Tool Cupboard, decay and building privilege; Facepunch, Devblog 189: building upkeep (7 Dec 2017); Facepunch, Devblog 191: upkeep changes (21 Dec 2017).
Planning a new base? Draw it in the Rust base builder to get cost, upkeep and the cheapest raid path in one go, or check a single wall in the raid calculator.
Got Rust skins to spare?
Compare where to sell and trade them on our Rust skin trading sites list, or claim free ones from Rust Twitch drops. Over 18? See our Rust gambling sites.
FAQ
- How is upkeep calculated in Rust?
- Every building block, door and window costs a share of what it took to build at its current tier, every 24 hours. The share grows with the number of building blocks: the first 15 pay 10%, the next 50 pay 15%, the next 125 pay 20% and every block after that 33.3%. Big groups pay a tax on top.
- How much upkeep does a 2x2 stone base cost?
- A 2x2 stone base with 9 walls, 3 doorways, a stone floor on top and 3 sheet metal doors has 20 building blocks and costs about 578 stone and 51 metal fragments a day (11.3% rate).
- How long does it take for a base to decay in Rust?
- Once the tool cupboard runs out, the outside pieces decay first: twig in 1 hour, wood in 3, stone in 5, sheet metal in 8 and armored in 12. Then the next layer in starts, so a thick base lasts longer than one layer of walls.
- Do high external walls cost upkeep?
- Yes. Since the Power Trip update (6 August 2026) high external walls and gates have their own flat upkeep of 20% of their cost per day, as long as they're inside a tool cupboard's range. Older guides that say they're free are out of date.
- Does the number of players change upkeep?
- Since Breach and Clear (3 September 2026), yes. The first 4 players are free, players 5 to 10 add 2% each and every player after that adds 4%, up to 300%. 6 players pay +4%, 12 players +20%.
- What happens when the tool cupboard is destroyed?
- It eats up to 24 hours of upkeep from what's inside as it breaks, so the base doesn't start decaying for another day. Without a tool cupboard at all, decay starts straight away.