Start your own Minecraft server

You can be online in about 20 minutes. Here's what we'd actually do.

1. Pick where it runs

On your own PC is free and fine for you and a few mates. You'll need to port forward 25565 on your router, and the server's only up while your PC is on.

A Minecraft host is the normal way for anything public. You pay monthly and get a control panel, backups and a connection that stays up. For UK players pick a host with a London or Western Europe location, it makes a big difference to ping.

Rough RAM guide: 2 GB for a small vanilla SMP, 4 to 6 GB with plugins and 20 or so players, 8 GB and up for modpacks.

2. Pick the software

• Paper for most servers. Fast, runs Bukkit/Spigot plugins.
• Velocity in front of several Paper servers if you want a network with a hub.
• Geyser + Floodgate if you want Bedrock players (phones, consoles) to join a Java server.
• Fabric or NeoForge for modded.

3. Essential plugins

• A permissions plugin (LuckPerms) so you can set up ranks.
• Anti-grief or claims (GriefPrevention, or CoreProtect for rollbacks).
• NuVotifier so votes on pogmc give players rewards in-game.

4. Get players

Have a Discord ready before you advertise. Write a description that says what makes your server different, not just "best survival server". Then list it here. It's free to list.