Minecraft Server Hosting (2021)
Last updated: May 8, 2021
Jason Lawrence
To date I have tested 71 different providers to see who can really deliver the best Minecraft Server Hosting.
There must be well over 1,000 game hosting brands that have launched since the start of the online-gaming boom at the beginning of this millennium. Fighting your way through the sheer mass of competition can be a daunting task just to find a home for your Minecraft world.
I have put together this simple website to show my findings when I compared the major Minecraft server hosting providers after finding myself in a tricky spot after being let down by 3 companies myself.
Annoyed and driven to do something about this led me down this route to the website you are reading now…
How do you find your ideal Minecraft host?
Everybody is different when it comes to Minecraft, we all seem to play the game slightly differently from the next person.
Luckily, choosing a server isn’t as unique to each situation and I can show you how to pick what’s right for you in this guide. We start off by looking at the important factors to check, then go through the major providers to see how they compare against each other.
It’s not just about the price, although you do usually get what you pay for in this world though and budget will come into how I rate each company.
One of the most important factors for Minecraft server hosting is to make sure you get the right platform version. You can get the standard version for the Windows version, mobile for mobile (obviously) and then the newer Bedrock offering by Microsoft to go cross-platform.
You can read more about how to choose your ideal Minecraft server hosting company in this supporting article I have written.
What are the most important factors I look for?
- The total cost per month
- The ease of setting it up
- Performance of your server under load
- Adding mods to your server
- The support-ticket waiting time
- Extra features in control panel
Best 10 Minecraft Hosting Companies Compared
Check out my top 10 Minecraft hosts that I have listed below based on the important factors in the checklist with the green icons above.
I break down each provider so you can see how they match up against the others.
LOW.MS - The Best Budget MC Host
Ranks #1 out of 10 Minecraft hosts
The Positives
Team made up of experienced members who had left a different provider
A large catalogue of niche games
Competitively priced
The Negatives
A fairly new company
Control Panel
Video Tour Image SlideshowLOW.MS is a newer game hosting company that was set up in 2015, roughly the same time as Host Havoc further up the list. The company is made up of experienced founders who had previously worked or ran game hosting companies.
The support times were quick and the friendly staff couldn’t do enough for me when pinged with issues surrounding my test Minecraft server.
Price-wise LOW.MS is on the more expensive end of the list but I really appreciated their support so would recommend them to serious Minecraft gamers.
You are able to pay with a multitude of methods, including my personal favorite PayPal.
For locations, you can find a good coverage of most of the world with servers available in all regions for great pings, or a low MS latency as their name suggests!
Annoyingly though they use the TCAdmin control panel for Minecraft server hosting so if you aren’t familiar with that platform you may find yourselves a little lost.
GameServers.com - The Best Established MC Host
Ranks #2 out of 10 Minecraft hosts
The Positives
Back by a huge data-center company
Host lots of different games
Provide hosting directly to game companies
Possibly the oldest game hosting company
Servers in every region
They don't pay for their Truspilot account
The Negatives
High price compared to others
Outdated website
Control Panel
Video Tour Image SlideshowThe oldest game hosting company on the list (and possible in existence!) that providers Minecraft servers for you to rent. These guys are owned by a huge data-center owner who also provides website/email hosting so aren’t in any rush to close down.
As well as Minecraft they offer servers for almost every popular game that allows private dedicated servers.
The pricing structure that GameServers.com offers is on the more expensive end of the scale, though you do have to pay a premium for the stability they offer.
The outdated website did put me off towards the start but it became obvious they have worked hard to ensure that the ordering system is robust. Getting into the custom control panel they have clearly invested a lot of money into you can find what you need quickly (or revert to the guides to find the answer).
Once you have picked your server size and plan you will need to choose a location for your server to be based. The options presented by GameServers.com is amazing, they seem to have servers everywhere. The other great thing is that you can easily transfer your Minecraft world from one server to another in their network for free.
It’s true these guys aren’t the cheapest but do offer a brilliant platform backed by years of experience in the industry. If they could update the website a bit i’m sure they could land more clients!
Host Havoc - The Best All Round Host
Ranks #3 out of 10 Minecraft hosts
The Positives
Dynamic and friendly team
Focus on providing an amazing service for a few games
Value for money feature-ful game hosting
The Negatives
Relatively new provider compared to others on list
Less locations worldwide
Control Panel
Video Tour Image SlideshowFormed in the summer of 2015, Host Havoc has been slowly adding more games to their catalog but only after perfecting the last addition. They go by the mantra of providing a high-quality service for each game and don’t rush to expand their offering.
Utilizing the most common Minecraft hosting control panel Multicraft, Host Havoc provides a back-end system where you can be quickly set up your server after paying and ready to be gaming in minutes.
Once you have paid for your game server (using either a credit/debit card or PayPal – I recommend PayPal so that you can easily cancel if the worst happens) you then be able to start setting things up in your world in 30 seconds.
In terms of setting things up, Host Havoc has made it pretty easy. Using the Multicraft control panel you can automatically install popular mod-packs like FTB and Pixelmon. The control panel can also keep your mods up to date to ensure you have less down-time and waste less time maintaining and more time playing.
The DDOS they use is designed for the harshest conditions and game servers are popular targets so this will come in handy. You are protected from the worst attacks as standard without having to pay any extra fees.
You have the choice of 10 locations worldwide, split across the USA and Europe with 1 location also now available in Australia. The support staff I encountered were English-speaking so that may be why they are focusing on those territories.
Host Havoc are also starting to make a name for themselves in the web hosting world too, with people talking online about the amazing service they provide for that sector too. So if you need a place to keep your Minecraft community website as well as host a world these guys could make that easier to manage.
Survival Servers - The Best Modded MC Host
Ranks #4 out of 10 Minecraft hosts
The Positives
Experts in mods for all games
Custom built control panel
Stay very up to date with server tech
The Negatives
Premium pricing
Only EU and USA locations
Survival Servers are almost a decade old and started offering Minecraft packages in 2018. When I spoke to them they made it clear that they ensure they know a game inside and out before offering server hosting for it. Their control panel is custom made so they need to ensure they have deep knowledge of a title before adding it.
Support was quick and they proved themselves to be knowledgeable when approached with Minecraft-related issues. They keep a wiki on-site full of the popular issues so you can easily find an answer swiftly.
The server locations aren’t as vast as the other providers but cover the key EU and USA areas that are popular in the English-speaking world.
If you are looking for a high-quality Minecraft server hosting provider who supports more than the vanilla version of the game then Survival Servers are a good choice. The support team may be smaller but are experienced in online-gaming and modding.
Apex Hosting - The Best Bargain MC Focused Host
Ranks #5 out of 10 Minecraft hosts
The Positives
Minecraft focused
Small entry-sized server
Global locations
The Negatives
Slower support than others tested
My testing with Apex Hosting went well, the platform was great and the pricing was very inviting.
The only letdown I experienced was the support times being slower than most of the others. This could have been due to a bad period for the company and was not exactly bad enough for me not to recommend them. In a perfect world, we would not need to harass the support team with our issues but sometimes it just happens that we come across an issue we cant fix.
If you like to “try before you buy” then you are in luck, Apex Hosting has a load of test servers all over the world for you to sink your teeth into. Find a server location near to you and fire up your Minecraft game and connect using the domain names provided in your IP address server-finder from the following list (or on their website here).
In terms of payment, they support all of the usual ways including PayPal which is the safest method in my opinion.
Nitrous Networks - The Best USA MC Host
Ranks #6 out of 10 Minecraft hosts
The Positives
Backed by a large gaming brand
Easy to use modern website
The Negatives
Less locations to choose from
NitrousNetworks appear to be part of a large company of server hosting-related businesses owned by Hydra Communications. The friendly custom graphics on their site make you feel like its a professional provider – with low prices as a bonus.
These guys offer server locations in the USA and EU but fall down when it comes to other territories. This is usually a sign of an English only speaking support team, a pro for those who speak English but a con for those who don’t.
If you are looking to install a mod-pack from the start then NitrousNetworks has this covered with their one-click install system. You can have a FeedTheBeast server ready to go in minutes in almost any flavor you need – depending on how you enjoy playing your Minecraft.
GTX Gaming - The Best Budget MC Host
Ranks #7 out of 10 Minecraft hosts
The Positives
Experienced UK based team
Cover almost every game
Loads of server locations
The Negatives
Some regions require additional fee
Control Panel
Image SlideshowA UK-based game hosting company, GTX Gaming has been providing its services since 2007. They boast an impressive catalog of games, adding pretty much any title that offers private game servers to their offering.
The support team appeared to be knowledgeable and answered tickets promptly. The branded control panel system was easy to use but wasn’t built specifically for Minecraft.
GTX Gaming had optimized the flow from buying to setting up a Minecraft server perfectly, it’s a breeze to get playing as quickly as possible.
The payment was processed by PayPal like almost every game hosting company tested.
These guys offer a range of real-world regions that you can choose to host your Minecraft worlds. The support is based in the UK but they still responded during unsociable UK hours when I fired them some simple requests.
The Australian and Brazilian locations do command an extra fee though increasing the overall monthly cost which may make the upgrade not worth it for most.
Streamline Servers - The Best Global MC Host
Ranks #8 out of 10 Minecraft hosts
The Positives
Passionate about server performance
The Negatives
Usually pretty expensive
Non-Minecraft focused control panel
The first thing I noticed when trying out Streamline Servers is the vast amount of possible server locations listed on their home page. Check out the map below (they may have added more since this screenshot was taken):
The other impressive point that caught my eye was the catalog of games they provide game hosting for, they host all sorts of titles and not just Minecraft.
Unfortunately, when I tested their Minecraft servers they used the generic game server management platform TCAdmin which lacks the specialist MC features we know and love. It also takes a little longer to get around TCAdmin than Multicraft for example.
Price-wise they trump above the rest smashing the competition for small and even larger servers.
For support, Streamline Servers were fairly quick and paired up with mid-range pricing and high-performance servers they came out quite well. They only really got let down by the use of TCAdmin for their control panel choice.
Ping Perfect - The Best UK MC Host
Ranks #9 out of 10 Minecraft hosts
The Positives
Support a community of Twitchers
Wide range of games
Lots of global locations
The Negatives
Support was a little slow
Non-Minecraft focused control panel
While testing out the Minecraft hosting from PingPerfect I had the chance to test out the MCMyAdmin control panel. This panel is a bit clunkier than Multicraft and I would have hoped not to have had to set up my server with this panel if I’m honest.
The support from the PingPerfect guys wasn’t as fast as the other hosts I have tested on this page. The billing panel was WHMCS based like pretty much every hosting company I encounter who haven’t taken the expensive step of building their own billing system – it seems to be something you don’t try to save money on as it’s pretty important!
PingPerfect does a very cheap starter server for around $3 to get you started if you want to try them out or have very low requirements.
Bisect Hosting - The Best MC Only Host
Ranks #10 out of 10 Minecraft hosts
The Positives
Cheap
Minecraft focused
Bisect Hosting is almost a Minecraft exclusive game hosting company, the only other game they cater for is Terraria (a side on Minecraft-like game).
For Minecraft world hosting they are priced in the mid-range between cheap and premium and offer 2 different ways of paying: you can pay for additional recourse’s to speed your game up and can also upgrade the support level if you need it.
The company offers their Minecraft hosting with the Multicraft control panel which is my personal favorite. With Multicraft you can easily add and maintain mods as well as moderate players with ease from a web browser.
Important Minecraft Hosting Features
Before settling with a company from the list above you may want to check to make sure that they have these important Minecraft hosting features.
For a full list of features and factors to check when choosing a provider check out my in-depth guide.
Modding Support
Almost nobody anymore plays Minecraft with just the vanilla base maps and rules.
Mods open up the game to so much more, bringing new items and rules to keep things fresh and fun.
Many Minecraft server hosting providers have web-based control panels that make it easy to instantly switch mods and mod-packs on/off.
Ready To Go Maps & Mini-Games
A new popular addition to a lot of Minecraft-focused hosting companies is the ability to add mini-games to your server.
Keep your players entertained with complex maps/rules to make sure that their time with you is as fun as it can be.
Backups
Any type of game server that enables its player to invest time and effort requires a backup system.
The popular Minecraft control panels have a backup and restore system built in so you can take a snapshot, download it then re-upload it in the case of emergency.
Control Panels
Another important feature to check is the control panel that the provider uses to allow you to manage your server.
The popular Minecraft-focused control panels (MyMCAdmin and Multicraft) are so much easier to use than the traditional TCAdmin built for generic game servers.
Summing Up
With plenty of Minecraft server hosting companies on this list you are bound to find the one that’s ideal for you and your situation. If you have a limited budget then you have a few options, if you are looking for high-quality stable hosting then you are sorted in that way too.
Remember to stay safe and do your own research on what I have advised here, this is just the research that I hope will help others.
Also, once you have purchased your Minecraft server check out my guide on setting it up using Multicraft.
Then, when you need additional players for your awesome new world be sure to read my article on promoting your Minecraft server.
My Hosting Review Process:
1. Find 71 popular Minecraft Server Hosting providers
2. Buy a basic package and set it up
3. Run speed tests on server
4. Compare the features vs. cost
My Choices For Minecraft Hosting
