Getting started

This page takes you from nothing to a server you can join. It takes a few minutes. You need to be 13 or older to make an account. Players who join your server do not need an account.

Server Host is in beta. Rough edges are expected, and the panel has a form to report bugs and ideas.

1. Sign up

1. Open the Server Host website and choose Sign up.
2. Sign up with your email and a password, or with Discord.
3. If you used email, we send you a message with a link. Open it to verify your email. If you signed up with Discord, you are already verified.

You must verify your email before you can create a server. We only ask for an email and a password (or Discord). No real name, no age box, no phone number. Your username comes from your email or Discord, or you can pick one later.

If the email does not arrive, check your spam folder, then choose Send a new link. See Signing up and signing in. Google sign-in comes after launch.

2. Create your server

Creating a server takes four quick steps.

Pick a setup

You choose what your server starts as:

• A blank server. Paper, with nothing added. Good if you know what you want.
• A premade setup. A server that is already built and tuned for one kind of game, such as an economy survival world or a lifesteal server. See Premade setups.

You can change almost everything later, so this choice is not permanent. The setups gallery shows whether each premade setup is free or costs credits.

Name it

Your server name becomes its address: name.serverhost.example.

• 3 to 20 characters: lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens.
• First come, first served.
• A few words are kept back (for example admin, hub, play, staff, status) and rude words are blocked.

You can pick the server's display name and MOTD separately later, in Settings. The address is the part you share with friends.

Choose a region

Pick the region closest to most of your players. Closer means less lag.

• NA (North America)
• EU (Europe)

During the beta we run in NA first. EU opens as a second region when enough people ask for it. Until then, only NA is on offer.

You can also pin the server to its region, so it only ever starts there. See Sleeping and waking.

Accept the EULA and make it

The last step shows what you picked. Tick the box to accept the Minecraft EULA (there is a link to read it); a server cannot start without it. Then press Make server.

If your AI made the server for you, it may not have accepted the EULA yet. The first time you press Start server, the panel asks you to tick the same box, then starts it. Only you or a co-owner can accept it; anyone else on your team is asked to get one of you to start the server once.

3. Join to wake it

Your server is made asleep. The next screen, Join to wake it, shows its address with a Copy button. Open Minecraft Java Edition, choose Multiplayer, Add Server, paste the address and join: the server wakes in about 20 seconds and lets you in.

Want to add plugins or change worlds before anyone joins? Press Start server on the same screen, then Open the panel. It sleeps again when nobody is on, as usual. See Sleeping and waking.

New servers run Paper on a current Minecraft version (examples on these pages use Paper 26.2). Players on older versions, down to 1.8, can join if you turn that on in Versions and software. Bedrock players can join too if you turn on crossplay.

4. Next steps

• Connect your AI. Offered on the Join to wake it screen. It is optional and takes a minute. See Connecting your AI.
• Link your Minecraft account so you are made operator on your own server automatically. See Linking with /claim.
• Make a backup before you change things. See Backups and restores.
• Moving from another host? The import wizard brings your world, plugins and configs across. See Importing a server.

What the free plan gives you

One server, 1 GB of memory, about 5 GB of disk, and the full panel: console, files, SFTP and plugins. There is no player limit and no default world border. It sleeps 5 minutes after the last player leaves. Free servers show a small "hosted free on Server Host" line in the player list footer. If our free space is full, a new free server may wait on a list until there is room. Servers that already exist keep working, and paid servers never wait. See Credits and plans for what paid plans add.