Is there free Minecraft server hosting?
Yes, free Minecraft server hosting exists: Aternos, Minehut and Server.pro all give you a Minecraft server without paying. They can do that because they run many servers on hardware they pay for and make sure those servers are not all running at once. Each one does that in its own way, and that way is the price you pay instead of money. They publish their rules on their own sites:
- Aternos puts you in a queue when more people want to start a server than there is room for, and stops your server after a countdown when nobody is online. The countdown disappears while a player is on and starts again when the last one leaves.
- Minehut gives free servers with 10 player slots, and an empty server goes to sleep until someone wakes it up from the Minehut lobby or website.
- Server.pro offers a free 2 GB server as a demo that you renew by hand every hour.
None of those rules is unfair. They all mean the same thing: a free server runs while somebody is at the keyboard, not while nobody is.
Free Minecraft server hosting 24/7
No free Minecraft host keeps a server online 24/7. Every free host stops or sleeps an empty server, or asks you to renew it by hand, because that is how they afford to give it away. A farm that runs overnight, a friend in another time zone who wants to log on alone, a scheduled restart or a Discord bot that shows who is online all need a server that stays on. That is what paid hosting is for; see 24/7 Minecraft server hosting.
Free Minecraft server hosting with mods
Free Minecraft server hosting with mods works for a light mod list and a few players, but not for big modpacks. Mods need memory: by our rule a server with your own mods needs about 8 GB for five players, and a large modpack about 13 GB. Free plans give far less, Minehut's free plan has 1 GB, so a pack like All the Mods 10 will not run well on one. For a modded server, a paid plan with 8 to 16 GB is the honest answer; see modded Minecraft hosting.
Is Aternos free?
Yes, Aternos is free, and for a group that always plays together it can stay the right answer for years. What you give in return is time: when capacity is short you wait in the queue before your server starts, and when the last player leaves the countdown stops it so the capacity goes to someone else. Move to a paid server when that starts to get in the way, when the queue lands on the evening you planned or when a build needs to keep running without you.
Minehut vs Aternos
Minehut is better for a small plugin server that wakes up when someone joins, and Aternos for a group that starts the server together. On Minehut the free plan has 10 player slots and sleeps when empty; its paid plans add slots, memory and, at the top, a server that stays on. On Aternos there is no slot limit to buy around, but you wait in the queue when it is busy and the server stops after the countdown. Neither is a server that is simply there whenever you want it.
Aternos alternatives: the cheapest paid Minecraft hosting
The cheapest alternative to Aternos that stays online is a small paid plan. CheapestMinecraftHosting Mini gives you 2 GB on a Ryzen 9 7950X in Poland for €1.60 a month, and CheapestMinecraftHosting Starter 4 GB for €3.20. These are the cheapest plans of the three hosts we compare, paying month by month:
| Host and plan | Memory | Processor | Location | Per month | Per GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CheapestMinecraftHosting Mini | 2 GB | AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, DDR5 | Poland (Warsaw) | €1.60 | €0.80 |
| CheapestMinecraftHosting Starter | 4 GB | AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, DDR5 | Poland (Warsaw) | €3.20 | €0.80 |
| Lodehost Camp | 2 GB | Shared processor | Germany | €5.95 (€4.95 on 24 mo) | €2.98 |
| CheapestMinecraftHosting Plus | 8 GB | AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, DDR5 | Poland (Warsaw) | €6.40 | €0.80 |
| Astroworld Mini | 4 GB | AMD EPYC | Germany | €7.95 (€6.95 on 24 mo) | €1.99 |
| Astroworld Mini Performance | 4 GB | AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, DDR5 | Poland (Warsaw) | €7.95 (€6.95 on 24 mo) New customers: €3.18 a month for the first 3 months, 60% off | €1.99 |
| Lodehost Mini | 4 GB | Shared processor | Germany | €7.95 (€6.95 on 24 mo) | €1.99 |
| Lodehost Mini | 4 GB | AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, DDR5 | Poland (Warsaw) | €7.95 (€6.95 on 24 mo) New customers: €3.18 for the first month, 60% off | €1.99 |
Split between five friends, even an 8 GB server costs a couple of euros each a month. More plans under a budget are on Minecraft hosting under €5 and cheap Minecraft server hosting.
How to move a world from a free host to a paid server
You can move a world from a free host to a paid server in four steps, and nothing in the world changes:
- Download the world folder from the free host's panel. Aternos, Minehut and Server.pro all let you do this.
- Order a paid server on the same Minecraft version, with the same server software if you use plugins.
- Upload the world through the file manager of the new panel and start the server. Plugins and their config files come along the same way.
- Give your players the new address and turn on the whitelist if the server is private.
Best cheap Minecraft server plans
The best cheap Minecraft server plan for five players on vanilla has 4 GB of RAM and stays online when nobody plays:
For 2 to 5 players with vanilla Minecraft on Java in Poland (Warsaw), the finder recommends Cheapest Minecraft Hosting Starter: 4 GB, AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, DDR5, for €3.20 a month when you pay monthly. The best plans at the other two hosts are Astroworld Mini Performance at €7.95 and Lodehost Mini at €7.95.
| 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 Mini | 4 GB | AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, DDR5 | Poland (Warsaw) | €7.95 (€6.95 on 24 mo) New customers: €3.18 for the first month, 60% off |
| More performance | Astroworld Mini Performance | 4 GB | AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, DDR5 | Poland (Warsaw) | €7.95 (€6.95 on 24 mo) New customers: €3.18 a month for the first 3 months, 60% off |