Minecraft guides
How much does a Minecraft server cost?
Renting a Minecraft server costs from £2 a month for a small world with a few friends, around £6 to £15 for a light modpack, and £9.50 to £20.50 for a heavy one. The price depends mostly on how much memory the server needs.
What a server costs, by what it runs
Monthly prices from AwakeNode's plans today: the lower figure is a Budget plan with the smaller amount of memory, the higher one a Performance plan with the larger.
| What you're running | Players | Memory | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vanilla or Bedrock with a few friends | 1 to 5 | 2 to 4 GB | £2 to £8 |
| Vanilla with a bigger group | 5 to 15 | 4 to 6 GB | £4 to £11.50 |
| Paper or Purpur with plugins | 10 to 30 | 6 to 8 GB | £6 to £15 |
| A light modpack (up to about 100 mods) | Up to 10 | 6 to 8 GB | £6 to £15 |
| A heavy modpack (All the Mods, 200+ mods) | Up to 10 | 10 to 12 GB | £9.50 to £20.50 |
| A heavy modpack with more players, or a busy public server | 10 or more | 12 to 16 GB | £11 to £26 |
What changes the price
- Memory. The biggest factor. Modpacks need far more than vanilla. How much memory you need.
- Hardware and location. Budget plans run in the EU on DDR4 and SSD storage; Performance plans run in the UK on Ryzen 7 7700X processors, DDR5 memory and NVMe storage, for a higher price.
- Paying yearly. A year costs less than twelve months paid monthly.
- Nothing else. No per-player charges, no setup fee, and DDoS protection is included.
Start small
Most groups start with less than they think. Plans start at £2 a month, and you can move to a bigger plan whenever you need to without losing anything. See the plans.
Questions
Is there a free way to run a Minecraft server?
Yes, two. Free hosts exist, but they usually have queues, little memory, and servers that stop when nobody's online. You can also run a server on your own computer for free, but it has to stay switched on and your home connection has to be opened up for friends to join.
Do I pay per player?
No. Every plan has unlimited player slots. How many players a server handles comfortably depends on its memory and what it runs.
Are there any extra costs?
No setup fee and no contract. Storage starts at 10 GB under a fair-use policy, and more is available if your world needs it.
Can I change plan later?
Yes. Move up to a bigger plan any time from your client area and pay only the difference for the rest of your billing period. Your world and files come with you.
More on running a Minecraft server