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Minecraft: Java Edition server requirements

What a Minecraft: Java Edition server needs in CPU, memory, disk and bandwidth, by player count. Change the numbers for your own server; the sources are listed below.

Server software (vanilla, Paper/Spigot plugins, or modded Forge/Fabric)
Assumptions

What it needs

CPU
2 coresSingle-thread heavy: clock speed matters more than core count.
Memory
6.5 GB
NVMe storage
10 GB
Traffic per month
45 GB
Busiest upload
under 1 Mbit/s

On Clouduxe

Room to grow

VDS MicroCore

2 dedicated cores, 8 GB DDR5, 100 GB NVMe, 8 TB traffic

₹4,970$52.49/mo

  • 2 dedicated cores instead of 4 shared vCPU: the game's main thread gets cores no other customer uses.
  • 20 GB more NVMe.
  • Headroom for busy evenings, more players, and the mods and updates you add later.
Deploy MicroCoreAbout MicroCore

By player count. Without server software (vanilla, paper/spigot plugins, or modded forge/fabric); each step up in the calculator adds memory, disk and sometimes a core.

PlayersCPUMemoryNVMeTraffic a monthFits your loadRoom to grow
52 cores5 GB10 GB11 GBVPS StarterVDS MicroCore
102 cores5.5 GB10 GB23 GBVPS StarterVDS MicroCore
202 cores6.5 GB10 GB45 GBVPS GrowthVDS MicroCore
503 cores9.5 GB10 GB113 GBVPS ProVDS FusionCore
1004 cores15 GB10 GB227 GBVPS EliteVDS FusionCore
1505 cores20.5 GB10 GB340 GBVDS OmniCoreVDS PrimeCore
2006 cores25.5 GB10 GB454 GBVDS PrimeCoreVDS TitanCore
3009 cores36.5 GB10 GB680 GBVDS TitanCoreVDS UltraCore

Traffic assumes 35% of the player cap online on average across the month; change it under Assumptions in the calculator.

Where the numbers come from. Published figures first, then how the calculator turns them into a model.

Published requirements

How the model is built

Memory
4 GB plus 110 MB per player. Fit to two vanilla anchors: WiseHosting's 'Vanilla (Small) 2-10 players: 4-5GB' (mid ~6 players, 4.5GB) and the official Minecraft Wiki dedicated-server table's '20+ players: 6GB RAM' (Linux table). baseGB=4 + 110MB/player gives 4.7GB at 6 players and 6.2GB at 20 players, matching both. The mods multiplier scales this up for Paper/Spigot plugins or Forge/Fabric mods.
CPU
2 cores, one more for every 40 players. The official wiki notes the server 'typically uses three cores at most' and single-core speed dominates. Fit to PaperChunk's real-world examples (10 players: 1 fast core, 30-50 players: 2 cores, 80-120 players: 3-4 cores): baseCores=2 covers up to 40 players, then +1 core per 40 players gives 3 cores at 80 and 4 cores at 120, matching.
Disk
2 GB for the server plus 8 GB for saves and backups, on SSD or NVMe. Official wiki dedicated-server table lists 2GB (small) up to 35GB (20+ players) for vanilla; WiseHosting lists 2-10GB for vanilla survival, 10-30GB for modded, 15-40GB for plugin-heavy, and 100-500GB+ for large 100+ player communities. installGB+growthGB (10GB total) covers a small vanilla world; plugins, mods, and world growth over time push well past that, especially for large or long-running servers. SSD is not strictly mandated for tiny vanilla servers but every source recommends it, especially once chunk I/O load rises.
Bandwidth
20 kbit/s of upload per player. GameTeam's networking guide gives 'Vanilla survival: 0.02 Mbps per player' (20 kbps) as sustained upstream usage, based on ~50-100MB per player per hour. This is far lower than generic 'internet connection speed' recommendations quoted by some hosting sites (which describe the host's overall pipe, not actual per-player game traffic). The same source notes modded servers use 2-4x more bandwidth than vanilla, and lowering render/view distance from 10 to 8 chunks cuts traffic about 36%.
Server software (vanilla, Paper/Spigot plugins, or modded Forge/Fabric)
Memory times 1.2 for some and 2.2 for heavy; a heavy load also adds a core.

The official Minecraft Wiki's dedicated-server requirements table is old (hardware listed is pre-2016 era) and understates modern needs, since newer versions (post-1.18 world height, more entities/mobs, etc.) load more. PaperMC's own docs and current hosting guides recommend materially more RAM than that table for anything beyond a bare vanilla server; this page blends both, favoring the official wiki for anchors and modern guides for the working model. Modded server requirements vary enormously by modpack; when a specific modpack lists its own RAM requirement, that should be trusted over this general estimate.

Before you set it up. The ports it listens on and what the guides say drives its load.

Ports

PortProtocolUsed for
25565TCPgame (default server-port in server.properties)

Minecraft Java server hosting: plans by player count, protection and setup.

DDoS protection is on every Clouduxe plan. How Prism protects Minecraft Java servers.

What drives the load

  • Server performance is bound by single-thread speed, not core count; a fast CPU clock helps more than adding cores.
  • RAM use tracks loaded chunks, entity count, and world size (redstone farms, mob grinders, explored area) as much as player count, not just player count alone.
  • Paper/Spigot plugins and especially Forge/Fabric modpacks add real overhead over vanilla; a heavily modded pack with 100+ mods can need 2x or more RAM at the same player count.
  • Lowering render/view distance a couple of chunks cuts both network traffic and CPU load noticeably.

Minecraft: Java Edition server questions

Talk to us
How much RAM does a Minecraft: Java Edition server need?

About 5 GB for 5 players and 36.5 GB for 300, before server software (vanilla, paper/spigot plugins, or modded forge/fabric). Fit to two vanilla anchors: WiseHosting's 'Vanilla (Small) 2-10 players: 4-5GB' (mid ~6 players, 4.5GB) and the official Minecraft Wiki dedicated-server table's '20+ players: 6GB RAM' (Linux table). baseGB=4 + 110MB/player gives 4.7GB at 6 players and 6.2GB at 20 players, matching both. The mods multiplier scales this up for Paper/Spigot plugins or Forge/Fabric mods.

How many CPU cores does a Minecraft: Java Edition server need?

2 for 5 players, 9 for 300. The server is single-thread heavy, so the clock speed of one core matters more than how many cores it has. The official wiki notes the server 'typically uses three cores at most' and single-core speed dominates. Fit to PaperChunk's real-world examples (10 players: 1 fast core, 30-50 players: 2 cores, 80-120 players: 3-4 cores): baseCores=2 covers up to 40 players, then +1 core per 40 players gives 3 cores at 80 and 4 cores at 120, matching.

How much bandwidth does a Minecraft: Java Edition server use?

About 20 kbit/s of upload per connected player, so under 1 Mbit/s with 20 players online and about 45 GB a month if 35% of that cap is online on average. GameTeam's networking guide gives 'Vanilla survival: 0.02 Mbps per player' (20 kbps) as sustained upstream usage, based on ~50-100MB per player per hour. This is far lower than generic 'internet connection speed' recommendations quoted by some hosting sites (which describe the host's overall pipe, not actual per-player game traffic). The same source notes modded servers use 2-4x more bandwidth than vanilla, and lowering render/view distance from 10 to 8 chunks cuts traffic about 36%.

Which Clouduxe plan should I pick for Minecraft: Java Edition?

For 20 players, VPS Growth fits the load and VDS MicroCore leaves room to grow. Every plan includes DDoS protection: 17 Tbps of upstream mitigation plus Clouduxe Prism on the server.

Other games. The same calculator, sized from each game's own documentation.

All calculators

Host Minecraft: Java Edition on VPS Growth.

Sized for 20 players, with DDoS protection included. Or talk to us about a bigger server.

See VPS GrowthSize another server