Minecraft server costs range from free to over $50/month depending on your needs. The price depends on RAM, CPU quality, storage type, player count, and whether you run mods. Here is what each tier actually costs and what you get.
Free hosting (€0/month)
Services like Aternos and Minehut offer free Minecraft servers. What you get:
- Limited RAM (1-2 GB).
- Server shuts down when no players are online.
- Queue times to start your server.
- No custom plugins or mods on some free tiers.
- Ads and limitations.
Free hosting works for testing and small friend groups who do not need 24/7 uptime.
Budget hosting (€0.90 - €5/month)
Budget hosting gives you a 24/7 server with real hardware:
- 3-6 GB RAM.
- Shared CPU on decent hardware.
- NVMe or SSD storage.
- Plugin and light modpack support.
- Control panel access.
This tier covers vanilla servers, Paper with plugins, and light modpacks for 5-15 players. Space-Node's budget tier starts at €0.90/GB on AMD Ryzen 9 hardware.
Mid-range hosting (€5 - €15/month)
Mid-range gets you enough resources for popular modpacks and growing communities:
- 8-16 GB RAM.
- Higher CPU priority or dedicated threads.
- 45-85 GB NVMe storage.
- Full modpack support (ATM10, Better MC, Cobblemon).
- DDoS protection on premium tiers.
This is where most serious communities land. You can run ATM10 with 10-20 players comfortably.
Premium hosting (€15 - €60/month)
Premium plans are for large networks and mega modpacks:
- 16-32 GB RAM with DDR5.
- Dedicated CPU threads on Ryzen 9 7950X3D.
- 80-165 GB enterprise NVMe.
- Enterprise DDoS protection.
- Custom JVM arguments and full configuration control.
These plans handle 30-100 player servers, heavy modpacks, and multi-server networks.
Self-hosting costs
Running a Minecraft server on your own hardware costs:
- Electricity: $10-25/month for a PC running 24/7.
- Internet: must keep your PC online and port-forwarded.
- Hardware wear and no DDoS protection.
Self-hosting seems free but costs more than budget hosting when you factor in electricity and reliability.
The short answer
Free for testing, €2-5/month for small communities, €7-15/month for modpacks, €15-60/month for large networks. Budget hosting on quality hardware beats self-hosting on cost and reliability.
Space-Node plans start at €0.90/GB with 24/7 uptime, NVMe storage, and Ryzen 9 CPUs. See the Minecraft hosting page.