Astroworld vs Aternos
Aternos is where almost everyone starts, and for a lot of servers it is the right answer for years. Here is what the free model asks of you in return, in their own words, and what changes when a server is running for you alone.
Side by Side
| What differs | Astroworld | Aternos |
|---|---|---|
| Price it starts at | €6.99/mo on 24 months, €8.49 on one | Free |
| What you are buying | Fixed plan, 7 tiers | Free, on shared capacity |
| Control panel | Pterodactyl | Their own web panel |
| Support | Ticket and email | Help centre and community board |
Right-hand column: what that host publishes. It changes without telling us. Middle column: read from our own price list.
The queue and the stop countdown are the price
Aternos does not hide either of these, and neither will we. Their own help centre explains that when more people want to start a server than there is room for, you wait in a queue with a position and an estimated wait, and that leaving the queue loses your place. The second one is the stop countdown: when nobody is on your server a timer runs, and at the end of it the server is stopped so the capacity goes to someone else. The timer disappears the moment a player is online and comes back after the last one leaves. Read together, those two describe a server that exists while you are playing on it. That is a perfectly good deal and for a group that always logs on together it costs nothing at all. It stops working the day somebody wants to log in on their own on a Tuesday afternoon, or the day a farm needs to keep ticking while nobody watches, or the day you hand the address to twenty people who will not all arrive at once. What we sell against that is dull by comparison: 4 GB in Mini that is yours, on at four in the morning, with no queue in front of it, from €6.99 a month.
The memory guide has those rows in full.
Questions people ask before switching
Can I bring my Aternos world with me?
Yes. A Minecraft world is a folder, so you download it from their panel and upload it in ours through the file manager. Plugins and their config files come along the same way as long as the server software matches, and the version you pick at checkout decides that.
Is there ever a queue here?
No. Your server runs on capacity that is reserved for it, so there is nothing to wait behind. That is the difference you are paying for, not the panel and not the specs.
Does my server stop when nobody is online?
Only if you stop it. It stays running, which is what makes a farm, a timer or a plugin that does something on a schedule work at all. You can stop it yourself from the panel whenever you want.
Why would I pay when free exists?
For most people starting out, you should not, and we would rather say so. The honest moment to switch is when the free model gets in the way of playing: waiting to start, stopping when empty, or wanting a server that is simply there.
Summary
If your server is a thing you and your friends switch on together, Aternos is free and we are not, and that is the whole comparison. Move when the switching on starts to hurt: when the queue lands on the evening you had planned, when a redstone build needs to run unattended, or when you want an address that answers whether or not you are awake.
Plans you would be comparing against Aternos
Mini
Starter
StandardSee all 21 plans across three editionsAnswer four questions and get the size
Our side of every table on this page is read from the price list at build time.