Which server location should I choose?
Short answerPick the location closest to most of your players, because distance is what they feel as lag. You choose it on the order form under "Where it runs"; there are 27 places, Germany (EU) adds nothing to the price, and the others add a surcharge that the form shows next to each one.
Choose your location in three steps
Look at the map on the locations page and find where most of your players are. The named pins are the 9 locations with one flat surcharge; the smaller dots are the 18 where the surcharge depends on the plan.
The map of all 27 server locations marked in red The table under the map says what each location adds to the monthly price and who it suits. Germany (EU) is "Included" and is also what you get if you skip the question.
The table of locations with one flat surcharge marked in red On the order form, pick it under "2 Where it runs". The price in the summary changes with it straight away.
The Where it runs step of the order form marked in red
Where your players are, and a good first choice
| What it says | What it means and what to do |
|---|---|
Mostly Europe | Germany (EU). It is in the middle of the continent, included in the price, and the home of the Performance line. |
Poland and Eastern Europe | Poland (Warsaw) is closer for players east of Germany, and on the Performance line it costs nothing extra. |
North America with some European players | US (East). The American region closest to Europe, so both groups get a playable delay. |
Southeast Asia and Australia | Asia (Singapore), the middle ground between the two. |
Players on two continents
Put the server where the biggest group is, or in between: US (East) is the American region closest to Europe, and Asia (Singapore) is the middle ground between Southeast Asia and Australia.
Not every size runs everywhere
The Performance line runs in Germany (EU) and Poland (Warsaw). On the other locations the order form only shows the sizes that location carries, so if a location is missing for your plan, that size does not run there.
How distance turns into delay
Signals in a fibre cable travel at about two thirds of the speed of light. Each 1000 km between a player and the server adds roughly 10 ms to a round trip before any routing, and real routes are longer than a straight line. Under about 50 ms nobody notices; from about 150 ms players feel hits land late and blocks reappear after breaking them.
Delay is felt per player. A server in Germany plays the same for a player in Amsterdam whether ten or a hundred others are online; only the players far away have a worse time.
Lag or delay: two different things
Delay from distance only affects the player far away. Server lag, when the server cannot keep 20 ticks per second, hits everyone at once, including players next door to it. If a player close by also sees mobs stutter, the location is not the cause; the performance guide helps you find what is.
Questions people also ask
Does the location change my price?
Only by the surcharge shown next to it. Germany (EU) and, on the Performance line, Poland (Warsaw) are included; the locations page lists every other surcharge.
Does the location decide lag on its own?
No. Distance adds delay to every action, but a server that is short on memory or running heavy plugins lags for everyone, wherever it stands. Check both.
Can Bedrock and Java players on another continent play together?
Yes. Crossplay works on every location. Pick the location for where most of them are, the same way you would for Java alone.
How do I find out what my players feel?
Ask them to check their ping in the player list, or with the ping command many servers run. Over a few evenings that tells you more than a map.