How to Make a Minecraft Server in 2026 (Step-by-Step)

Starting a Minecraft server is the best way to play exactly how you want — your rules, your mods, your friends. This guide walks through every option, from a free world you host at home to a managed server that's online 24/7.

Two ways to run a Minecraft server

There are really only two paths:

• Self-host at home. Free, but your PC has to stay on, your home internet handles the traffic, and you'll be port-forwarding and troubleshooting lag yourself at 2am.
• Rent a hosted server. A few pounds a month for hardware that stays online, a control panel anyone can use, and one-click mod installs. This is what most communities end up doing once more than a couple of friends join.

Step-by-step: getting online

1. Pick your edition. Java (PC only, huge mod ecosystem) or Bedrock (cross-play with console and mobile). Most modded servers are Java.
2. Choose a version. Match the version your players and mods use — 1.21.x is the current stable line.
3. Pick a server software. Vanilla for pure survival, Paper for performance and plugins, or Forge/Fabric for mods.
4. Set your RAM. 4 GB is fine for vanilla with a few friends; modpacks want 8 GB+.
5. Whitelist your friends and share the IP.

The settings that keep TPS high

Performance in Minecraft is about the server keeping up 20 ticks per second. A few wins:

• Lower view-distance to 8–10 and simulation-distance to 6–8.
• Run Paper instead of vanilla — its async chunk loading is a huge win.
• Keep the world on NVMe storage, not a slow disk — chunk loads and saves are disk-bound.
• Don't over-allocate RAM; give the JVM room but not the whole box.

Adding mods and modpacks

On a good panel you can install a CurseForge or Modrinth modpack in one click, then upload your own configs over SFTP. Plugin servers (Paper) drop `.jar` files straight into `/plugins`.

Want to skip the setup entirely? Our Minecraft hosting runs Paper, Forge and Fabric with one-click modpack installs and NVMe storage, so your server is online in minutes.