Customizations are way better. You can edit what appears in loot drops. You can edit max level. I think the server I play on is max player level 300 now, and wild Dino’s appear at max of 500, and tek gear shows up in red drops
If you plan to host one and keep it going, I recommend waiting 25 days to start it. Right now roughly 60%(totally made that up lol) of rented servers are 30 day rentals with zero players that will vanish in 25 days. Waiting to rent until then will dramatically reduce your competition for players.