Use case · Gaming
Minecraft server hosting
A Minecraft server is memory-hungry and largely single-threaded, so RAM and strong per-core CPU performance matter most, along with fast storage for the world. Small servers suit a VPS; larger or modded ones need a dedicated server. We provide VPS and dedicated hosting with the RAM and per-core performance Minecraft needs; EU hosting keeps it well-placed and sovereign.
Key points
- A Minecraft server is memory-hungry — RAM is often the resource that matters most.
- It's largely single-threaded, so strong per-core CPU performance matters more than many cores.
- Fast storage helps world loading, and worlds grow over time.
- Performance-focused server software like Paper helps a server run well.
- Small servers suit a VPS; larger, modded, or busy ones need a dedicated server.
What does a Minecraft server need?
A Minecraft server has particular resource characteristics that shape how it should be hosted: it is memory-hungry, largely single-threaded, and benefits from fast storage for its world. Running a Minecraft server means running the game's server software, which coordinates the players, the world, and the game's simulation, and this software wants ample memory, strong performance on individual cores, and quick storage. Understanding these characteristics — the emphasis on RAM and per-core performance rather than many cores — is the key to hosting a Minecraft server well, since they differ from what some other workloads need.
These characteristics mean a Minecraft server is best hosted on infrastructure chosen for RAM and per-core performance, with the amount depending on the players, mods, and world. A small server for a few friends needs modest resources; a large server with many players, mods, and a big world needs considerably more, especially RAM and strong cores. This page focuses on Minecraft specifically, given its distinct needs and popularity; general game server hosting is covered on its own page, while what follows attends to what a Minecraft server needs and how to host it well.
RAM: Minecraft is memory-hungry
Memory is often the resource that matters most for a Minecraft server, because Minecraft holds a great deal in memory — the world around players, entities, and game state — and it wants ample RAM to run well. A Minecraft server keeps the active parts of the world and the game's state in memory, and as more players join, more of the world is active, and as mods and larger worlds add to what must be held, the memory needed grows. A server short of memory struggles, so providing enough RAM is usually the first requirement of hosting a Minecraft server well.
How much memory a Minecraft server needs depends on the players, mods, and world: a small vanilla server needs a few gigabytes, while a busy, heavily-modded server with a large world can need much more. More players mean more of the world active at once; mods add to what is held; and larger worlds and greater view and simulation distances increase the memory used. We provide hosting with the RAM a Minecraft server needs, sized to its players, mods, and world, so that the server has the memory to hold the world and game state it must — since for Minecraft, adequate memory is usually the foundation of a server that runs smoothly rather than struggling.
Single-thread CPU performance
Minecraft servers are largely single-threaded, meaning much of the game's core processing runs on one thread, so strong per-core CPU performance matters more than having many cores. The main loop that runs the game's simulation — the tick that updates the world and everything in it — runs largely on a single thread, so how fast an individual core is bears directly on how well the server keeps up, especially as players, entities, and world activity increase. This makes per-core performance, the speed of a single core, more important for a Minecraft server than a high total core count, which differs from workloads that spread across many cores.
This means hosting a Minecraft server well calls for processors with strong single-core performance — fast cores — rather than simply many cores. A fast core keeps the server's tick running smoothly, so the game stays responsive and does not lag as activity grows; a server on slow cores can lag even with many of them, since the main work is on one. Newer versions and some server software improve threading somewhat, but per-core performance remains central. We provide hosting with strong per-core CPU performance suited to Minecraft servers, so that the game's largely single-threaded processing runs fast, keeping the server smooth — matching the hardware to Minecraft's particular reliance on fast individual cores.
Server software: vanilla, Spigot, and Paper
Minecraft servers can run the official server software or performance-focused alternatives, and the choice affects how well a server runs and what it can do. The official, vanilla server runs the game as released; alternative server software, developed by the community, adds performance improvements and support for plugins — with widely-used options that optimise the server's performance and let plugins extend it. For servers wanting better performance and the ability to add plugins, these performance-focused alternatives are popular, since they help a server run more smoothly and support customisation.
The choice of server software interacts with the hosting, since better-optimised software makes more of the hardware, and plugin support shapes what the server does. Performance-focused server software helps a server handle more players and activity on given hardware by running more efficiently, while plugin support lets the server be customised with added features. The right choice depends on what the server is for — a simple vanilla server, or a customised one with plugins. We host Minecraft servers running whichever server software suits — vanilla or the performance-focused alternatives — on hardware sized for it, so that a server runs well and can be the kind of server its operator wants, from simple to heavily customised.
Mods, plugins, and world size
Mods, plugins, and the size of the world all affect the resources a Minecraft server needs, so a heavily-modded server with a large world needs far more than a simple one. Mods and plugins add functionality but consume additional memory and processing, sometimes considerably; and a large world, or one with many players exploring different areas, means more of the world is active and stored, increasing both memory and storage needs. So the more a server is extended with mods and plugins, and the larger its world grows, the more resources it needs to run well.
This means sizing a Minecraft server's hosting to its mods, plugins, and world, not just its player count. A modded server can need much more memory and stronger cores than a vanilla one with the same players; a large or growing world needs storage capacity, and fast storage helps load parts of the world quickly. Worlds also grow over time as players explore, so storage should allow for growth. We size Minecraft hosting to the server's mods, plugins, and world as well as its players, with the memory, per-core performance, and storage these require, so that a server — however extended or large its world — has the resources to run smoothly rather than struggling under its mods and world.
Player slots and scaling
The number of players a Minecraft server supports — its slots — bears directly on the resources it needs, since more players mean more of the world active and more for the server to process. Each additional player adds to the world that must be kept active, the entities and activity the server processes, and the memory and per-core work required, so a server for many players needs considerably more resources than one for a few. Scaling a Minecraft server to more players therefore means providing more memory and stronger per-core performance to handle the added load.
Because Minecraft's main processing is largely single-threaded, there are limits to how many players one server instance handles smoothly, however much hardware it has, and very large communities sometimes split across multiple servers or use techniques to distribute load. For most servers, providing ample memory and strong cores scales them to their players; for very large ones, distributing across servers may be needed. We provide hosting sized to the players a Minecraft server supports — the memory and per-core performance more players require — and can support larger setups where a community grows beyond one server, so that a Minecraft server has the resources for its player base, scaled to the slots it offers.
VPS or dedicated, and where we fit
The right hosting for a Minecraft server depends on its size: a small server suits a virtual private server, while a large, modded, or busy server needs a dedicated server, and we are honest about which fits. A small server for a few friends runs comfortably on a VPS with enough memory and a strong core, which is economical and sufficient; a large server with many players, heavy mods, and a big world needs the resources and performance of a dedicated server, where it has a whole machine's memory and cores. Matching the hosting to the server's size is how it is hosted economically and well.
We provide both VPS and dedicated hosting for Minecraft servers, with the RAM and per-core performance Minecraft needs, in EU datacenters under European jurisdiction — well-placed for European players and keeping any player data sovereign. We are candid about where we fit: for a small server, our VPS hosting suits; for a large or modded one, our dedicated servers; and for someone who wants a fully managed Minecraft host that handles everything through a simple control panel, a specialised managed Minecraft host may suit better than our self-managed infrastructure, and we will say so. We provide the capable, self-managed VPS and dedicated infrastructure to run a Minecraft server well — and if that fits how you want to run yours, we can host it.
Related use cases
See also
Questions
Minecraft servers, answered plainly
Common questions about hosting for Minecraft servers.
What matters most for a Minecraft server's performance?
Usually RAM and per-core CPU performance. Minecraft holds much of the world and game state in memory, so it's memory-hungry, and its main processing is largely single-threaded, so the speed of individual cores matters more than having many cores. Fast storage helps world loading too. More players, mods, and a larger world all increase what's needed.
Why does single-core performance matter more than many cores?
Because a Minecraft server's main loop — the tick that updates the world and everything in it — runs largely on one thread. So how fast an individual core is bears directly on how well the server keeps up, especially as activity grows. A server on slow cores can lag even with many of them, since the core work is on one. Fast cores keep it smooth.
Do I need a VPS or a dedicated server for Minecraft?
It depends on size. A small server for a few friends runs comfortably on a VPS with enough memory and a strong core. A large, heavily-modded, or busy server with many players and a big world needs a dedicated server's resources and performance. We provide both; for a fully managed Minecraft host with a simple panel, a specialised managed host may suit better.
Planning Minecraft servers infrastructure?
We host dedicated, EU-sovereign infrastructure sized to your workload — and we will tell you plainly when something else fits better. Tell us what you're building.