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Minecraft Server Hosting Calculator

Tell us how you play and we'll tell you exactly how much RAM, CPU and storage your server needs — plus which hosts fit the spec. No more guessing or overpaying.

Recommended spec
2 GB RAM
vCPU
2 cores
Storage
7 GB
Est. cost
£3–8/mo

For a Vanilla server with up to 10 players. Modded servers lean on single-thread speed, so pick a host with high clock speed over raw core count.

Hosts that fit this spec
Hostinger ↗
Cheapest solid entry — great for vanilla & small SMPs.
Shockbyte ↗
Popular budget host, one-click modpacks — use code LAUNCH for 25% off your first month.

GamerKit may earn a commission from links on this page — at no extra cost to you. We only list gear we'd actually recommend for the spec.

Great-value Minecraft hosting — vanilla & small SMP servers, live in minutes.Start your server →

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Minecraft server RAM, explained

How much RAM does a Minecraft server need?

A vanilla server for a few friends runs fine on 1–2 GB. Plugin servers want 2–4 GB. Modded servers need 4–8 GB, and large modpacks 8 GB or more. RAM scales with both your mod count and how many players are online at once.

Does more RAM make my Minecraft server faster?

Only up to a point. Past what your server actually uses, extra RAM does nothing for lag. Modded Minecraft is mostly single-thread bound, so a host with a high CPU clock speed matters more than piling on RAM or cores.

How many players can 4GB of RAM handle?

Roughly 15–20 players on a vanilla or Paper server, or around 8–12 on a lightly modded one. Heavy modpacks with 4 GB struggle past a handful of players.