What Is TPS in Minecraft? Server Performance Guide

TPS stands for Ticks Per Second. It is the main measure of how well a Minecraft server is performing. If your players complain about lag, block delays, or mobs freezing, TPS is the first thing to check.

What a tick is

Minecraft runs its world simulation in ticks. Each tick processes mob AI, block updates, redstone, weather, player actions, and more. The server targets 20 ticks per second, meaning one tick every 50 milliseconds.

When TPS drops below 20, the game slows down. At 15 TPS, gameplay feels sluggish. At 10 TPS, it is noticeably broken. At 5 TPS, the server is effectively unplayable.

How to check TPS

On Paper or Spigot servers, use the Spark profiler plugin:

• Install spark from Modrinth.
• Run /spark tps in game or console.
• You will see the current TPS and recent averages.

You can also use /mspt on Paper to see milliseconds per tick. If MSPT is above 50ms, TPS will drop below 20.

What causes low TPS

The most common causes:

• Too many entities (mobs, items on the ground, villagers).
• Large redstone contraptions running every tick.
• Chunk generation while players explore.
• Poorly optimized plugins or mods.
• Not enough CPU single-thread performance.
• View distance set too high for the hardware.

How to fix low TPS

1. Reduce view distance to 8-10 and simulation distance to 4-6.
2. Kill excess entities: /kill @e[type=!player] removes all non-player entities.
3. Pre-generate chunks with Chunky so exploration does not cause generation lag.
4. Use Spark profiler to identify which plugin or mod is consuming the most tick time.
5. Switch to Paper or Purpur if you are on vanilla or Spigot, as they include many TPS optimizations.
6. Upgrade to faster hardware. TPS depends heavily on single-thread CPU speed.

TPS vs FPS

TPS is server-side performance. FPS is client-side (your PC's rendering speed). A server can have 20 TPS while a player has 30 FPS, or vice versa. They are independent.

The short answer

TPS is ticks per second. 20 is perfect, below 15 is laggy. Check it with Spark, fix it by reducing entities, pre-generating chunks, and using optimized server software.

Space-Node runs Minecraft on high-clock Ryzen 9 CPUs for maximum TPS. See our Minecraft hosting plans.