How Much Does a Minecraft Server Cost in 2026?

A Minecraft server costs anywhere from nothing to a few dollars a day, and the sticker price is the least useful number in that range. What you actually pay depends on three things: how many people play at once, whether you want mods or plugins, and who keeps the machine running. This guide prices the three real options — Realms, a rented server and your own hardware — using official prices and real electricity rates, so you can match the cost to your group instead of to an advert.

The short answer

Realms prices are Mojang's US list prices as shown on minecraft.net in September 2026. The electricity figure is worked out below.

Minecraft Realms: the cheapest way to pay for a server

Realms is Mojang's own subscription server. You do not pick hardware or install anything: you pay monthly, invite people, and the world is online whenever someone wants to play. Three plans exist:

• Realms (Bedrock) — $3.99/month. You plus two players at the same time. Fine for siblings or a pair of friends, tight for anything bigger.
• Realms Plus (Bedrock) — $7.99/month. You plus ten players at once, and the only plan that includes the Marketplace Pass catalogue of maps, skins and add-ons.
• Realms for Java — $7.99/month. You plus ten players at once. No Marketplace content, because Java does not have the Marketplace.

A few details the price table hides. The limit is on players online at the same time, not on invitations — you can invite far more people than can play at once. Every plan gets three world slots and backups. New subscribers get a 30-day free trial that renews at the full monthly price unless you cancel. And a Realm works within one edition only: a Java Realm cannot host Bedrock players, and the reverse.

Where Realms stops being the cheap option

Realms is excellent value for exactly what it is: a vanilla world for a small group. It gets expensive the moment you want something it does not do. Mojang does not offer plugin or mod installation on Java Realms, so Paper plugins, Forge and Fabric modpacks, custom server jars and proxies all mean running a real server. The same applies to Java and Bedrock players sharing one world, and to groups bigger than eleven. At that point the question is no longer "Realms or a server" — it is which kind of server.

Rented server hosting: what you are paying for

A rented server gives you the server process itself — console, files, configuration — running in a data centre. Pricing across the industry is built on a handful of inputs, and knowing them is how you avoid overpaying:

• RAM. The main price lever. Vanilla survival for a handful of players is comfortable at 3–4 GB; plugin-heavy SMPs and mid-sized modpacks want 6 GB; big packs want more. Our RAM calculator gives you a figure for your player count and mods.
• CPU. Each world's tick runs largely on one thread, so a fast core matters more than many slow ones. Cheap plans often skimp here, and it shows as lag long before memory runs out.
• Edition. Bedrock's dedicated server is lighter than Java's, which is why Bedrock plans start lower.
• Billing cycle. Paying quarterly or yearly lowers the monthly figure at most hosts, including ours.

What GGameHost charges

Monthly prices in USD. Every plan includes NVMe storage, DDoS filtering, automatic backups and 24/7 support, with no setup fee and no per-slot charge — the player count is limited by the hardware, not a licence. Crossplay servers (Java and Bedrock on one world) are priced like Java.

Hidden costs to check at any host

• "From" prices at 1 GB. A headline price for 1 GB of RAM tells you little; compare hosts at the RAM you actually need.
• Per-slot pricing. Some hosts charge by player slot. That looks cheap for five players and scales badly as the group grows.
• Paid extras. Backups, a dedicated IP, modpack installs or DDoS protection sold as add-ons can double the real price.
• Renewal price. Check whether a first-month discount carries over to renewals. Ours renew at the price current on the renewal date — see the terms.

Running a server on your own PC: free, with conditions

The server software is free, and if you already own a decent PC the only direct cost is electricity. That cost is real if the world has to be online all the time. The US average residential rate was 18.31 cents per kWh in July 2026 (EIA, preliminary). Assuming a desktop that averages 60–100 W while it hosts, left on around the clock:

• 60 W × 730 hours ≈ 44 kWh ≈ $8 a month
• 100 W × 730 hours ≈ 73 kWh ≈ $13.40 a month

Your machine's real draw may be higher or lower — a gaming PC under load pulls far more than 100 W — and your local rate may differ from the national average, but the order of magnitude holds: a PC left on 24/7 costs about the same as a small rented server. Host only while you are playing yourself and the cost is close to nothing.

The costs that are not on the power bill matter more:

• Port forwarding. Players outside your house need port 25565 forwarded on your router, and some ISPs put customers behind carrier-grade NAT, where forwarding is impossible.
• Your home IP. The address you hand out is your household's connection. Anyone with it can target it, and the Minecraft wiki explicitly recommends a whitelist because people scan the internet for open Minecraft ports.
• Upload bandwidth. Every player streams from your upload, which is usually a fraction of your download speed and is shared with everyone else at home.
• Uptime. The world is only online while your PC is on and awake.
• Your time. Updates, Java versions (26.1 and newer need Java 25), backups and crashes are yours to handle.

If friends cannot connect once you do set it up, our connection error guide walks through the usual port and firewall causes.

Which option should you pick?

• Two or three Bedrock players, vanilla: Realms at $3.99. Nothing beats it on price.
• Up to eleven players, vanilla, one edition: Realms at $7.99, or a Starter server if you want file access, your own world uploads or plugins later.
• Plugins, modpacks or a custom setup: a rented Java server. Size the RAM to the pack, not the player count.
• Java and Bedrock friends together: a crossplay server — Realms cannot do this.
• A quick session tonight: host on your own PC while you play, and stop it afterwards.

Ready to set one up? Our guide to making a Minecraft server for friends covers the whitelist, operator rights and letting Bedrock players in, step by step.

See Minecraft server plans →

Minecraft server cost FAQ