How to set up a Minecraft server

No beating around the bush and no hype. This is what I do when I set one up.

9-minute read · Updated September 2026

First things first: your PC or rented?

You can run it on your own computer and pay nothing. It works, and for a one-off evening with two friends it's fine. But it has three catches nobody tells you about until you run into them:

• Your PC has to stay on all the time. Turn it off to sleep and your friends can't play. And if you play on the same machine, the server and the game fight over the CPU.
• You have to open ports on your router. With luck it takes a while; with your ISP's CG-NAT, you simply can't.
• Your upload speed is what it is. You download at 600 Mbps but upload at 40, and upload is what matters for a server. That's why your friends lag even though it runs perfectly for you.

Honest summary: to try things out, your PC. For a world that lasts months with people who don't live with you, rented. And if anyone in your group plays on console, renting is the only option.

Step 1 — Find out how much RAM you need

It's the step almost everyone skips, and then they overpay or fall short. The rule you'll hear everywhere — "1 GB for every 10 players" — is wrong as soon as you install anything.

What really decides it: a 200-mod pack with 5 friends needs more RAM than a vanilla server with 40 people. Mods load into memory whether two people are playing or twenty.

Work out your exact GB here — it takes 20 seconds and also tells you what it costs on each host.

Step 2 — Pick the software (and no, not vanilla)

When you create the server you'll be asked to pick a type. In plain words:

• Paper — what you want 90% of the time. It's normal Minecraft but much better optimised, supports plugins and fixes bugs the official server still has. Players don't need to install anything.
• Vanilla — Mojang's official server. It runs worse on the same RAM and doesn't support plugins. There's no reason to pick it.
• Fabric or NeoForge — only if you're going to play with real mods. Careful: here everyone has to install exactly the same mods to be able to join.

The key difference: plugins (Paper) only you install on the server and nobody else touches anything. Mods (Fabric/Forge) everyone has to install. If your group complains about installing things, Paper and off you go.

Step 3 — Let console and mobile players in (crossplay)

This is the mess that generates the most questions. Minecraft is really two games: Java (PC) and Bedrock (consoles, mobile and Windows 10/11 from the Store). By default they can't see each other.

The fix is two plugins, and it really works:

• Geyser — makes a Java server accept Bedrock players by translating the connection on the fly.
• Floodgate — so they don't also need a Java account to join. Without it, your cousin on Switch would have to buy the game again.

You drop them in the plugins folder, restart, and console players join on port 19132 (Bedrock's), not the same one as PC players. That detail is what makes people give up thinking it doesn't work.

A realistic warning: crossplay works well but isn't perfect. Some interface bits and very visual plugins look odd on Bedrock. For playing together, it's more than enough.

Step 4 — The settings you do need to change

The server.properties file has fifty lines and only four matter:

• view-distance — the biggest RAM eater. It defaults to 10. Drop it to 8 and you gain performance that almost nobody notices. Raising it to 16 can push usage up 35%.
• simulation-distance — how far away things keep happening (mobs, crops, farms). 6 is fine.
• online-mode — leave it on true. On false anyone can join with any name they like, including your admin one.
• difficulty — set it to normal or hard before you start. Changing it once the world is underway throws everyone off.

Step 5 — Plugins: the four worth having

The temptation is to install thirty on day one. Don't: every plugin is one more thing that can break the server when you update. These four cover 90%:

• EssentialsX — basic commands that should come as standard: /home, /tpa, /spawn, /msg.
• LuckPerms — permissions and ranks. As soon as you want someone to be a moderator without giving them access to everything, you need it.
• CoreProtect — your life insurance. It logs who placed and broke every block, and rolls back damage with one command. The day someone burns the base down, this saves the world.
• Chunky — pre-generates the map. Without it, the server stalls every time someone explores new ground.

And one to avoid: any plugin that promises "magic optimisation" and isn't maintained. They usually do more harm than good.

Step 6 — Backups and restarts

This is what separates a server that lasts a year from one that dies in three weeks. Two things, both automatic:

• A daily backup. Any decent host does it in two clicks. A corrupted world with no backup means the whole world in the bin, and it happens more than you think.
• An automatic restart overnight. It clears memory that builds up and stops the server getting a little worse every day. At 5 a.m. it bothers nobody.

The mistakes I see most

• Sizing RAM by players and forgetting the mods. Mistake number one, by far.
• Leaving view distance at 16 "so it looks good". The server crawls and nobody knows why.
• Not installing CoreProtect until something happens. By then it's useless: it only logs from the moment you install it.
• Starting with twenty plugins. When something breaks you have no idea which one it is.
• Paying for a yearly plan without trying it. Take one month first, bring your people in and see how it goes. Then decide.