Rust upkeep calculator
Count the pieces in your base and pick how many people play on it. You get what the Tool Cupboard wants every 24 hours and every week, with the block brackets and the group tax already applied.
How upkeep is worked out
The Tool Cupboard charges a share of each building block's build cost per day. A stone wall costs 300 stone to build, so at a 10% rate it costs 30 stone a day to keep. Doorways and window frames are cheaper pieces and cost less to keep; floors, roofs and triangle foundations cheaper still. Doors are charged the same way on their main material: a sheet metal door is 150 frags to build and sits on the same rate as the blocks around it.
The rate is not flat. The first 15 blocks on a TC pay 10% of their cost per day, the next 50 pay 15%, the next 125 pay 20% and everything beyond 190 blocks pays a third. The calculator applies each bracket to the right slice of your base and shows the blended "block rate", which is the number the TC itself shows you when you hover the upkeep line. A 40-block starter sits around 13%; a 300-block compound is well over 20%.
Group tax and high external walls
Two newer rules push the bill up. Since the Power Trip update in August 2026, high external walls and gates pay a flat 20% of their cost per day no matter how big the rest of the base is, which makes a ring of them the most expensive part of many compounds. And since the Breach and Clear update in September 2026, bases with more than four people on them pay a group tax: 2% extra for each of players five to ten, 4% for every player after that, capped at 300%. Everyone authed on the TC counts, and so does everyone on a code lock, including the friend you gave the door code to for one night.
Keeping the bill down
Fewer blocks beat cheaper blocks. Every honeycomb layer and every airlock wall you add moves more of the base into the higher brackets, so a compact design with good door placement is cheaper to run than a sprawling one of the same tier. Mixed tiers help too: stone on the outside and sheet metal only on the core costs much less than metal everywhere, and HQM upkeep is brutal per piece even though the numbers look small.
Stock the TC for the week rather than the day. The "Per 7 days" column is what you need to leave in the cupboard before you log off for a few days, and the upkeep guide explains what rots first when it runs dry. If you are deciding whether to upgrade before a raid, the raid calculator shows what each tier costs an attacker, which is the other half of the trade-off.
Numbers checked against Rust Labs on , current for the Livestock update.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my upkeep percentage climb as I build?
Because upkeep is charged in brackets. The first 15 blocks pay 10% a day, the next 50 pay 15%, the next 125 pay 20% and everything past 190 blocks pays 33.3%. The rate on the TC is the average across all your blocks, so it rises as the base grows.
Do more players on the TC raise the upkeep?
Yes, since the September 2026 Breach and Clear update. Up to four players pay nothing extra. Players five to ten add 2% each and every player after that adds 4%, up to +300%. Anyone authed on the TC or on a code lock counts.
How much do high external walls cost per day?
A flat 20% of their build cost per 24 hours since the August 2026 Power Trip update: 267 stone for a high external stone wall, 600 for the gate, and the same numbers in wood for the wooden versions. They ignore the block brackets.
What happens when the TC runs out?
The base starts to decay from the outside in. Twig goes in about an hour, wood in about three, stone in five, sheet metal in eight and armored in twelve. Doors decay on their own timers alongside the blocks.
Does twig cost upkeep?
Yes, in wood, and very little of it, because a twig piece costs so little to place. It is also the first thing to rot: about an hour after the wood runs out, a twig block is gone. Anything you plan to keep should be wood or better.
Related guides
- Gameplay Rust Base Upkeep Guide: Decay, Brackets and the Group Tax How Rust base upkeep works in 2026: what the Tool Cupboard charges per block, the four brackets, the group tax, decay timers and how to cut the bill.
- Gameplay Rust Raid Costs Explained: Sulfur per Explosive and Target What a raid costs in Rust in 2026: sulfur per C4, rocket, satchel and explosive round, which is cheapest on each wall and door, and a worked raid budget.