What does a Minecraft server for friends need?
A Minecraft server for friends needs less than most hosting pages suggest: a group of up to five players on a vanilla server runs fine on 4 GB of RAM. With plugins, or for up to ten players, choose 8 GB. Apart from RAM, three things decide whether your server works well:
- Everyone can join. Often someone in the group plays on a phone, a Switch or an Xbox. Crossplay plans run Geyser, so these players can join the same Java server.
- An easy server address. All three hosts give you an address like ourworld.mc.minecrafthosting.cc instead of an IP address and a port.
- Backups. Friends grief each other as a joke, usually at three in the morning. With daily backups that you can restore yourself, that is a five minute fix.
Best Minecraft server plans for friends
The best Minecraft server plan for friends is a 4 GB Crossplay plan when anyone plays on a phone or a console, and the plans below are for a group of five.
For 2 to 5 players with vanilla Minecraft on Java and Bedrock in Poland (Warsaw), the finder recommends Lodehost Starter Crossplay: 8 GB, AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, DDR5, for €17.95 a month when you pay monthly. As a new customer you pay €7.18 for the first month, 60% off. The best plans at the other two hosts are Astroworld Starter Crossplay Performance at €17.95 and CheapestMinecraftHosting Starter at €3.20.
| If you want | Host and plan | Memory | Processor | Location | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | CheapestMinecraftHosting Starter | 4 GB | AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, DDR5 | Poland (Warsaw) | €3.20 |
| Balanced | Lodehost Starter Crossplay | 8 GB | AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, DDR5 | Poland (Warsaw) | €17.95 (€15.95 on 24 mo) New customers: €7.18 for the first month, 60% off |
| More performance | Astroworld Starter Crossplay Performance | 8 GB | AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, DDR5 | Poland (Warsaw) | €17.95 (€15.95 on 24 mo) New customers: €7.18 a month for the first 3 months, 60% off |
If your whole group plays Java, switch the edition in the finder. Lodehost Mini gives you 4 GB on reserved Ryzen 9 threads in Poland with daily backups for €7.95 a month, and the budget option is CheapestMinecraftHosting Starter at €3.20.
How to split the cost of a Minecraft server
Split between friends, a Minecraft server costs about as much as one coffee per person per month. If everyone is committed, pay for a longer term: at Astroworld Hosting and Lodehost, a 24 month term has the lowest monthly price. Cheapest Minecraft Hosting charges the same price on every term, so paying monthly makes the most sense there. Let one person own the account and add the others as staff in the panel, so nobody has to share a password.
How to make your Minecraft server private
Turn on the whitelist from day one and add your friends by name. Give the person who builds the most operator rights and give everyone else normal player rights. It may sound formal for a group of friends, but it is often the reason a world survives the first month.
Minecraft Realms or your own server?
Minecraft Realms is enough for a small group that only plays vanilla on one edition, and your own server is the better choice for everything else. Realms is the official way to play with friends, and for some groups it is all they need. A Realm is easy to start, it stays online and it holds the owner plus ten friends at the same time. The limits show up later: you cannot install plugins or mods, and Java and Bedrock players cannot share one Realm.
Your own server lets your group choose. A Crossplay plan puts friends on phones and consoles in the same world as the Java players, you can add plugins or a modpack when the group wants something new, and you can download the world whenever you like. If you only want to play vanilla with a few friends on the same edition, a Realm is fine. For anything more, your own server is the better choice, and our guide to a Minecraft server for five players shows what it costs.
How your friends join your Minecraft server
Your friends join your Minecraft server with the address from your panel, and how they add it depends on what they play on:
- Java players open Multiplayer, click Add Server and paste the server address.
- Bedrock players on Windows, phones and tablets open the Servers tab, choose Add Server and enter the address with the Bedrock port from your server panel. This works on a Crossplay plan.
- Players on Xbox, PlayStation and Switch cannot add a server directly. Our page on Bedrock server hosting explains how they can still join.
Add everyone to the whitelist before the first evening, so nobody is turned away when they try to join.