Guides and explainers
Everything we have written down about running a Minecraft server, in the order you tend to need it.
Getting a server running
The order most people go in: pick an edition, get the server up, then put things on it.
Making a serverFrom an empty panel to a world your friends can join, including the port and the first restart.
Java or BedrockWhich edition your players actually own, and what that decides about mods, plugins and the port.- Setting up crossplayGeyser and Floodgate, the second port they need, and the config that breaks on the next update.
How much RAM you needMemory per player and per pack, with the number each modpack asks for instead of a round guess.
Putting things on it
Plugins, packs, permissions and your own world, each with the step where it usually goes wrong.
- Installing pluginsWhere a jar goes, which server software accepts it, and why a plugin sometimes loads and does nothing.
Installing modpacksThe server pack against the client pack, the launcher version, and the memory the pack itself asks for.- Setting up permissionsGroups, inheritance and the handful of nodes that decide who can break what.
Upload your own worldGetting a singleplayer save onto the server without losing the nether and the end.
When it runs slowly
Four pages about the same question from four sides: what is actually holding the tick up.
- Reducing lagPre-generating chunks, view distance, entity limits, and measuring with Spark afterwards.
- TPS and MSPTTwenty ticks a second is the whole budget, and each one has fifty milliseconds. How to read both numbers.
- Dedicated CPU or shared vCPUWhat a vCPU is on either line, and why more of them on a slower core answers a question nobody asked.
NVMe or SSDWhich of the two your world actually waits on, and when the extra room is worth more than the speed.
Straight answers
The questions people type into a search box before they buy anything, each answered on its own page.
- Realms or server hostingTen players on a world Mojang runs, or a server you control. Where the line runs and how to move a Realm over.
- Players per GB of RAMTwo gigabytes go to the world before anyone joins. The rule per gigabyte for vanilla, plugins and packs, with a table by player count.
- A server 24/7 without your own PCWhat a desktop left on all month costs in electricity, and what a hosted server costs instead, with the ten minute setup.
- A server for a school or classroomWhitelist, teacher accounts, a schedule that switches it off after the lesson, and where Education Edition fits.
- Hosting for modpacksMemory first, one fast core second, a one-click installer third. What ATM10, RLCraft, Pixelmon and Create need.
- A server for friendsThe size for five to fifteen friends, the bill split five ways, and the three settings that keep it a good server for a year.
- Is a free server worth it?What Aternos, Minehut and Server.pro give and hold back, who they are right for, and what a paid server costs each once split.
Looking something up
The pages you come back to once the server runs, rather than read from top to bottom.
- Every server settingEvery line of server.properties, what it does, and what happens if you get it wrong.
- The plugin listThe plugins we see most, what each one is for, and which server software runs it.
- Your play addressThe subdomain you hand out, why it does not change, and how to point your own domain at it.
- Changing version or typeSwitching between Paper, Fabric, Forge and vanilla, and which of those keeps your world.
- Staff permissionsWho on your team gets which button in the panel, without handing out the whole account.
Delivery: most servers are handed over instantly and run within seconds of payment, the rest follow within 60 minutes during the day and within 12 hours at night.