How to Change Tick Speed in Minecraft (Java 26.x and Bedrock)

You want crops, saplings or sugar cane to grow faster, or a farm tutorial told you to "turn up the tick speed". In Minecraft that means the random tick speed game rule, which sets how often blocks such as crops, leaves and grass get a chance to change. Its name depends on your version and its default on the edition. This guide covers Java Edition 26.3, the current release since 15 September 2026, older Java versions and Bedrock.

Quick answer: To change tick speed in Minecraft Java 1.21.11 and newer, including 26.3, type /gamerule random_tick_speed 6; the default is 3. On Java 1.21.10 and older the rule is randomTickSpeed, and on Bedrock it is /gamerule randomtickspeed 6, with a default of 1 and a maximum of 4096. In Java the number is how many blocks in each 16 by 16 by 16 chunk section get a random tick every game tick, so 6 makes crops grow about twice as fast and 30 about ten times. Higher values cost server time: raise it in steps and watch MSPT. To speed up the whole game instead, Java has /tick rate.

The Tick Speed Command for Each Version

Java 1.21.11, released on 9 December 2025, moved all game rules into a registry and renamed them from camel case to snake case (Java Edition 1.21.11), the same change that turned keepInventory into keep_inventory, as our keep inventory guide explains. The 26.x drops kept the new name. Java rule names are case sensitive, so the old name fails on 1.21.11 and newer and the new one fails on older versions. Bedrock accepts any capitalisation (gamerule command).

Leave the number off to see the current value: /gamerule random_tick_speed prints it. To go back to normal, set the default again: 3 on Java, 1 on Bedrock.

Since 1.21.11, Java accepts 0 or higher; older versions also took negative numbers, which switched random ticks off like 0 does (Game rule). Bedrock takes 0 to 4096 (Microsoft's /gamerule reference, Create New World). Java accepts far larger numbers, but the wiki notes that above 4096, plant growth and leaf decay already happen immediately.

Where to Type It

Java single player. Commands need cheats: the "Allow Commands" switch when you create the world. The Game Rules menu on the Create New World screen works even with commands off (Create New World). Since 26.1 you can change it in a running world without typing: game menu, World Options, then Edit Game Rules, where random tick speed sits under World Updates or turns up when you search for "random". That screen only works with commands allowed, and since 26.2 the Allow Commands switch is on the same World Options screen (World Options, Java Edition 26.2, Game rule).

Java server. /gamerule needs permission level 2, so you have to be an operator; op-permission-level in server.properties gives operators level 4 by default (Permission level, server.properties). In the server console, leave out the slash (Commands):

gamerule random_tick_speed 6

Java Realms. The owner and other operators have permission level 2: enough for /gamerule, not for /tick, which needs level 3. Our OP commands guide explains the levels.

Bedrock. Random tick speed is in the Cheats section of the world settings, a number box from 0 to 4096 with a reset button, and the command also needs cheats on (Game rule, Create New World). Turning cheats on permanently stops players from earning achievements in that world, even if you switch them off later. On a Bedrock Dedicated Server, commands typed into the console run whether cheats are on or not (Commands):

gamerule randomtickspeed 6

What Random Tick Speed Changes

A chunk is split into sections of 16 by 16 by 16 blocks, 4,096 blocks each. In Java, on every game tick the server picks random_tick_speed random positions in each section and gives those blocks a random tick, and the same block can be picked twice (Tick). Sections with nothing that reacts are skipped. In Bedrock the number is a relative speed rather than an exact count. Most blocks ignore a random tick; these react:

• crops, sugar cane, cactus, bamboo, kelp, cocoa, sweet berry bushes, nether wart and chorus flowers, which grow
• saplings, which grow into trees, and leaves away from logs, which decay
• grass blocks, mycelium and vines, which spread
• ice and snow layers near light, which melt
• budding amethyst, unwaxed copper, turtle eggs, pointed dripstone and dried ghasts
• Nether portal blocks in the Overworld, which can spawn zombified piglins

Since Java 1.20.2 the rule also sets how fast snow piles up, water freezes in cold biomes and rain fills cauldrons (Java Edition 1.20.2). Java fire spread does not use it: fire runs on scheduled ticks and follows the fire_spread_radius_around_player rule. It does not affect coral dying or frogspawn and sniffer eggs hatching either (Game rule), and natural mob spawning is a separate step. In Bedrock, fire does burn out and spread on random ticks, so a high value there spreads fires faster.

Random ticks only happen in chunks the server is ticking: within the simulation distance of a player (10 chunks by default on a Java server) or kept loaded in other ways. A farm on the far side of the map does not grow while nobody is near it.

Setting it to 0 switches all of this off: crops and saplings stop growing, leaves stay, grass stops spreading, and ice and snow neither melt nor, since 1.20.2, form. That suits a lobby, an adventure map or a build world that has to stay exactly as built.

How Much Faster Crops Grow at Each Value

At the default of 3, a block gets a random tick every 68.27 seconds on average in Java, and every 204.8 seconds at Bedrock's default of 1 (Random tick, Crop farming). In Java the average gap is 204.8 seconds divided by the value. Wheat on hydrated farmland, in single rows with farmland or another crop between them and light level 9 or more, has a 1 in 3 chance to grow a stage per random tick and needs 7 steps, so about 21 random ticks. Sugar cane adds a block after its top block has had 16 random ticks, up to 3 blocks tall (Sugar Cane). Worked out from those numbers:

Single plants vary a lot: at the default, a block can get its next random tick within a second or wait over five minutes. Bedrock counts differently, so the table is for Java only.

What High Values Do to Farms and MSPT

Everything in the list above speeds up at once, across the whole server:

• Crop, sugar cane, cactus, bamboo and kelp farms produce more per hour, which gives hoppers and dropped items more to handle.
• Tree farms lose their leaves sooner after you cut the logs.
• Portals spawn more zombified piglins. Each random tick on an Overworld portal block has a 1 in 2,000 chance on Easy, 1 in 1,000 on Normal and 3 in 2,000 on Hard to spawn one, outside the mob cap (Zombified Piglin). Ten times the random ticks means about ten times the piglins at every Overworld portal, wanted or not.
• Dripstone farms fill cauldrons with water or lava sooner, since a stalactite only drips on a random tick (Pointed Dripstone).
• Builds change faster: unwaxed copper oxidizes and grass spreads over bare dirt sooner.

The server cost scales the same way. To hold 20 ticks per second a tick may take at most 50 milliseconds, and the Minecraft Wiki names a random tick speed set too high as a cause of unusually high MSPT (Tick). At 30 the server does ten times the default random tick work in every ticked section with something to react, and every player exploring a different area adds a full simulation distance of chunks. The cost depends on your players and world, so the safe value is the one where MSPT stays healthy; our MSPT guide explains the numbers.

Do not try huge values on a live server. When one tick takes longer than max-tick-time (60000 milliseconds by default), the watchdog shuts the server down (server.properties); the watchdog guide covers that crash.

How to Change Tick Speed Safely on a Server

1. Measure first, at a busy moment. /tick query on vanilla 1.20.3 and newer shows the average time per tick and percentiles (tick command). Paper's /mspt shows average, minimum and maximum over the last 5 seconds, 10 seconds and 1 minute: green below 40 ms, yellow from 40 ms, red from 50 ms (PaperMC source).
2. Raise the value in small steps, for example from 3 to 6 and later to 10.
3. Measure again with players online. If the average reaches 40 ms, yellow in /mspt, go back a step.
4. Tell your players: the rule changes every farm and build on the server.

On a vanilla server the game rules belong to the whole world save (Overworld, Nether and End together), so one command covers all three. On Paper, Spigot and Purpur each dimension is its own world with its own game rules: a Spigot report about this was closed with "You must set the gamerule in each world" (SPIGOT-4971), and Paper 26.1 kept per-world game rules (PaperMC 26.1). Nether wart and chorus flowers need random ticks too, so on those servers set all three from the console:

gamerule random_tick_speed 6
execute in minecraft:the_nether run gamerule random_tick_speed 6
execute in minecraft:the_end run gamerule random_tick_speed 6

The value is saved in the world, since 26.1 in data/minecraft/game_rules.dat and before that in level.dat (Java Edition level format), so it survives restarts and a new world starts at the default. On a Space-Node Minecraft server, every plan runs on the Pterodactyl panel, whose live console runs these lines without you joining the game.

Random Tick Speed vs the /tick Command

The /tick command, added in Java 1.20.3, changes the clock of the whole game instead of one kind of block update. It is Java only, needs permission level 3 and cannot run from a command block (tick command).

• /tick query shows the target rate and how long ticks take.
• /tick rate 40 sets the target rate, from 1 to 10000. Players are not sped up above the default of 20. A tick then gets 1000 divided by the rate in milliseconds: 25 ms at 40, for twice the work per second.
• /tick freeze stops everything except players and what they ride, /tick step 100 runs 100 ticks while frozen, and /tick unfreeze resumes.
• /tick sprint 1d runs one in-game day, 24,000 ticks, as fast as the server can, then returns to the previous rate and prints how long the ticks took (Argument types).

For shorter days and nights only, Java 26.1 added /time rate: /time rate 2 makes the day cycle pass twice as fast while the rest of the game runs at normal speed (time command).

FAQ

What is the tick speed command in Minecraft? /gamerule random_tick_speed <number> on Java 1.21.11 and newer, /gamerule randomTickSpeed <number> on Java 1.21.10 and older, and /gamerule randomtickspeed <number> on Bedrock. You need operator rights or cheats.

What is the default tick speed in Minecraft? The random tick speed is 3 on Java and 1 on Bedrock. The game itself runs at 20 ticks per second, which /tick rate 20 restores on Java.

What is a good tick speed for crops? There is no official best value. 6 doubles growth, 10 makes it a bit more than three times as fast and 30 about ten times. On a server, use the lowest value that does the job and check MSPT afterwards.

Does a high tick speed cause lag? It can. Every point adds random ticks in every ticked chunk section, and the Minecraft Wiki lists a too high value as a cause of high MSPT. Measure before and after, because the cost depends on your players and world.

Why does /gamerule randomTickSpeed not work? On Java 1.21.11 and newer the rule is random_tick_speed, and Java rule names are case sensitive. Otherwise you are not an operator, cheats are off, or, on Paper, you changed the rule in a different world from the one you are in.

How do I set tick speed in Minecraft back to normal? Type /gamerule random_tick_speed 3 on Java 1.21.11 and newer, /gamerule randomTickSpeed 3 on older Java, or /gamerule randomtickspeed 1 on Bedrock. If you used /tick, also run /tick rate 20 and /tick unfreeze.

Sources

All opened on 1 November 2026:

• Minecraft Wiki: Game rule, gamerule command, Tick, Random tick, tick command, time command, Argument types, Commands, Permission level, server.properties, World Options, Create New World, Java Edition level format
• Minecraft Wiki, blocks and farming: Crop farming, Sugar Cane, Zombified Piglin, Pointed Dripstone
• Minecraft Wiki, versions: Java Edition 1.20.2, Java Edition 1.20.3, Java Edition 1.21.11, Java Edition 26.1, Java Edition 26.2, Java Edition 26.3
• Mojang: Java version manifest
• Microsoft Learn: /gamerule for Bedrock
• SpigotMC: SPIGOT-4971
• PaperMC: Paper 26.1 release notes, /mspt command source