How Much Does Minecraft Server Hosting Cost?
Short answer: most small Minecraft servers cost $5–15 a month to host. Shared Minecraft hosting is usually priced by RAM, at roughly $1.50–$4 per GB per month, so a 4 GB server for a group of friends typically costs $6–16 a month. Free hosts exist but come with queues, shutdowns when idle and limited resources. A VPS or dedicated server costs more and needs you to run everything yourself.
The options, from cheapest to most expensive
| Option | Typical monthly cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting at home | Free (plus electricity) | Testing, a few friends, technical owners |
| Free Minecraft hosts | $0 | Trying Minecraft multiplayer, very small groups |
| Minecraft Realms | One subscription from Microsoft | Up to 10 friends, no mods or plugins |
| Budget shared hosting | $1–2 per GB | Small vanilla servers on a tight budget |
| Premium shared hosting | $2–4 per GB | Most servers: plugins, modpacks, communities |
| VPS | $5–40 | Owners who want full control and can manage Linux |
| Dedicated server | $50–200+ | Large networks running many servers |
Prices vary by provider and change over time. Check what's included before comparing headline numbers.
What drives the price?
RAM
Most Minecraft hosts price plans by RAM, since it's the easiest resource to compare. Work out how much memory your server actually needs before you buy — see How Much RAM Does a Minecraft Server Need?. Paying for RAM the server won't use is the most common way to overspend.
CPU
Two plans with the same RAM can perform very differently. Minecraft depends heavily on single-thread CPU speed, so a plan on a modern high-clock processor is worth more than one on an older server CPU. Cheap hosts often save money here. See Ryzen vs Xeon for Minecraft Server Hosting.
Storage
NVMe storage loads chunks and saves worlds much faster than SATA SSDs or hard drives. Check the disk size too: large or modded worlds grow quickly.
What's included
Backups, DDoS protection, a control panel, modpack installs, extra databases and support are included by some hosts and sold as add-ons by others.
Introductory pricing
Some hosts advertise a low first-month price and renew at a much higher rate. Always check the renewal price, not just the first payment.
Billing period
Paying quarterly or yearly is usually cheaper per month than paying monthly.
Hidden costs to look out for
- Renewal prices higher than the first payment
- Backups or DDoS protection sold separately
- Setup fees
- Player slot limits that force an upgrade
- Paid support tiers
What does Beacon cost?
At the time of writing (October 2026), every Beacon Minecraft plan costs $2.25 per GB of RAM per month, from $2.25/month for 1 GB to $72/month for 32 GB. Paying quarterly costs 6% less and yearly 11% less than monthly. Weekly billing is available too.
- The listed price is the renewal price. There's no introductory rate that goes up later.
- Included on every plan: NVMe storage, backups, DDoS protection and the RAM and CPU you choose. Player slots are unmetered.
- Hardware: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D processors with DDR5 memory.
- Free trial: 2 days on selected plans.
Current prices for every plan are on the facts page.
How to get the most for your money
- Size RAM to your actual server, not the largest plan you can afford.
- Compare CPUs, not just RAM — it decides how smoothly the server runs.
- Compare renewal prices, not first-month deals.
- Check which extras are included.
- Pay quarterly or yearly once you know the plan suits you.
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