A Minecraft server for friends
Most servers are this one: a handful of friends, a survival world, and one person who ended up in charge of it. Here is the size that fits, what it costs once the bill is split, and the three settings that keep it a good server for a year rather than a month.
The size for a group of friends
- 5 to 15 players
- Whitelist on
- Always on
- Split the bill
- One admin, a few staff
A group of friends is rarely all online at once. Five to ten people on a vanilla or lightly plugged world sit comfortably on Mini at 4 GB. Add a plugin set for claims, homes and a shop, or a first light modpack, and Starter at 8 GB is the size. A heavy modpack for the same group is Standard at 12 GB.
The rule of thumb behind those numbers is on its own page: two gigabytes for the world and the runtime, then a gigabyte per four or five players on vanilla and per one or two on a modpack.
| Group | Plan | A month | Split five ways |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vanilla, up to 10 | Mini, 4 GB | €7.00 | €1.40 |
| Plugins or a light pack | Starter, 8 GB | €14.00 | €2.80 |
| A heavy modpack | Standard, 12 GB | €21.00 | €4.20 |
How many players a gigabyte carries, for vanilla, plugins and packs
Keeping strangers out
Turn on the whitelist on day one. With it on, only the names you add can join, so the address can be posted in the group chat without worrying about who else sees it. The panel has a switch, and the AI Copilot adds a list of names from one message.
Give one or two friends a staff account so the server does not depend on one person's login. A staff account gets the rights you choose, from restarting the server to read-only, and nobody shares a password. Up to 15 people can have one.
Keeping it a good server for a year
Three things separate the servers that last from the ones that fizzle. A land claim plugin, so a build cannot be griefed by accident. A nightly backup, which is included and keeps 10 copies, so a mistake is restored rather than argued about. And a fixed address like yourname.mc.astroworldmc.com that never changes, so nobody has to ask for the IP again.
The fourth is the one people forget: keep the server on. A server that is stopped to save money saves nothing, because the price is the same, and a world that is always there is the world people come back to.
Splitting the bill
The bill goes to one account, and the group pays that person however groups pay each other. A twenty-four month term brings the price down and has no setup fee, and a server can move up a size later without a reinstall, so start with the size for the group you have rather than the group you hope for.
The three sizes a friend group lands on
Each is always on with a fixed address, a whitelist switch, 15 staff accounts and a nightly backup that costs nothing.
Questions friend groups ask
What size server do I need for 10 friends?
Four gigabytes for a vanilla world, eight with a plugin set or a light modpack, twelve for a heavy pack. Friends are rarely all online at once, so size for a normal evening.
How much does a Minecraft server for friends cost?
From about seven euros a month on a twenty-four month term for the smallest always-on size, which split five ways is less than a coffee each. The exact figures are in the table above and come from the price list.
How do I stop strangers joining?
Turn on the whitelist. Only the names you add can join, and everyone else is refused before they see the world. The panel has a switch and the Copilot adds names from a message.
What happens when the person who set it up is away?
Nothing, if a friend has a staff account. They can restart the server, add a name to the whitelist or restore a backup without the owner's login, and the server keeps running either way.
Can we start small and grow?
Yes. Moving up a size keeps the world, the plugins and the address, and takes a restart rather than a reinstall.
Written and checked by the Astroworld Hosting team. Last reviewed on 6 September 2026.
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.