Introduction
Server Hosting for Minecraft Players
Creating a Minecraft server can be complicated. When you set up a Minecraft server on your own, only you can play with the localhost IP. To let your friends join, you need to port forward. This is why many players opt for a Minecraft hosting provider to make things easier. Paid Minecraft hosting providers often offer better performance and reliability than free ones, which can be hit or miss. Finding a reliable free Minecraft hosting provider is rare. That’s why we’re here to help you find some of the best Minecraft hosting providers for your SMP (Survival Multiplayer) needs.
Criteria for Selection:
Key Aspects to Consider
Choosing a good server hosting provider has many key factors and aspects. Here are some of the factors you should maintain before selecting the right hosting provider:
- Performance: A Minecraft server hosting should have a good CPU, RAM, and storage. Performance is all about the plan you have. Whether it’s a free or paid plan, a paid plan will be better than a free one. A good CPU with 4 cores and 6 GB of RAM will provide optimal performance. Usually, hosting providers give 1 core CPU for free and 2 GB of RAM or 3 GB. 1 core could be better and enough for a server with ten players. It’s only suitable for 3–4 players.
- Reliability: Minecraft paid server hostings are reliable with a 99.9% Uptime 24/7 guarantee. But free server hostings sometimes discontinue and stop working or even get so many downtimes for their new updates. This is bad for players who want to make a good Minecraft server 24/7 online.
- Security: Minecraft server hosting providers, like web hosting providers, have DDoS protection. DDoS Protection is used to encrypt server hosting data and keep it safe. And if your server gets DDoS attacks, the hosting is unsafe. DDoS Protection is a must for a good server hosting provider.
Top 4 Paid Server Hosting Providers:
Wither Hosting:
Features and Limitations of Wither Hosting
Wither Hosting is a popular Minecraft hosting provider offering some of the best paid hosting solutions available. As a well-regarded Minecraft hosting provider, they have garnered over 100 Trustpilot reviews, showcasing their reliability and positive feedback from users. Known for their affordable plans, Wither Hosting offers various features at a lower price, making it an excellent choice for budget-conscious gamers. Whether you’re looking to start a new Minecraft server or switch from another provider, this Minecraft hosting provider stands out for its combination of low cost and feature-rich plans. Below, we’ll explore some of the standout features that make Wither Hosting a top choice in the Minecraft hosting world.
- World Wide or all locations: Wither Hosting gives all locations for premium hosting, as it supports Asia. To help people create servers from anywhere, this feature is beneficial and needed for all hosting.
- DDoS Protection: This DDoS protection helps all the players secure their data and put their servers in a safe place. This DDoS protection is also needed on free servers. Encrypting all players’s server data to a safe place and preventing malicious attacks and unauthorized server access attempts.
- Reliability: Wither Hosting has a 24/7 uptime of 99.9% with zero downtime. This allows customers to use their servers 24/7 with a good experience. Because of its popularity right now, Wither Hosting will not be discontinued.
- Pricing and Performance: Wither Hosting has the best server performance. It offers Free DDoS Protection and Enterprise CPU’s XEON CPUs with 2V and 4V Cores. It costs $1 monthly per GB; look how cheap it is.
- User feedback and experiences: Wither Hosting has a lot of user feedback and experience. Here are some of them:
- TortuguitaSMP: We are eternally grateful to decent60 for saving our sanity. The server even went out of its way (multiple times) to teach us helpful information about running a server (we don’t know how flags work). We are so sorry for all the trouble we caused you at weird hours. TSMP’s favorite (along with Vijay, of course).
- ArchiePlayz: A Wither Hosting Company staff member helped fix an issue where the player account would not exceed a specific number. The issue was resolved within two hours, and the response time was also good. Love you, Meng.
Apex Hosting:
Features and Limitations
ApexHosting is a well-known Minecraft hosting provider with many features only designed to enhance your gaming experience. As a leading Minecraft hosting provider, ApexHosting offers many options to meet different needs and preferences. Their features include high-performance servers, easy-to-use control panels, and excellent customer support. Whether you’re new to Minecraft or have been playing for years, this Minecraft hosting provider has something to offer. In the following sections, we’ll dive into the details of these features and how they can benefit your Minecraft server setup.
- Performance: ApexHosting’s performance is just incredible. They have a Ryzen 9 5900X just for servers. Also, they have so much storage space and RAM of 4 GB monthly, which is 11$ cheaper than possible, the lowest price they can add.
- Affordability: They have the lowest price, from $2.50 to $71.99. It’s a bit more expensive than Wither Hosting, but the features they offer are unique. They also provide DDoS protection, which is needed for security for all server owners.
- Uptime: The uptime is superb: 99.9% of the 24/7 guarantee. There are no downtimes, and there is no chance that their hosting will discontinue. The best hosting service for this is 5.99 dollars.
- Security: They have DDoS Protection and Distribution Denial of Service for security. Their servers and data centers are compelling and can prevent malicious attacks, DDoS attacks, and unauthorized access attempts on servers.
- User reviews and comparisons with other free hosting options: ApexHosting is another popular hosting with many Trustpilot reviews and an excellent reputation. Here are some reviews of Apex Hosting:
- Mr. Jake: Apex Hosting is fantastic! They offer exceptional service; this is my first time encountering an issue. Their customer support is impressive. They are a bit pricey, but it’s worth it!
- Bat Tech: It was fast and easy to talk to support about a refund for my server. I’d 100% consider buying another server from Apex if I need one!
- Mark Tardiff: There has never been an interruption to service, and live chat has always been there to help when I need it! I would always recommend Apex for any server hosting!
Shockbyte:
A Brief Overview of Shockbyte
Shockbyte is a well-known Minecraft hosting provider with thousands of satisfied users. With over 9,300 reviews on Trustpilot, Shockbyte stands out as a leading Minecraft hosting provider, offering a service that’s often considered seven times better than other paid hosting options we’ve discussed. It’s not only affordable, with prices ranging from $2.50 to $40 cheaper than Apex Hosting, but also provides solid performance and reliability. Whether you’re starting a new Minecraft server or looking to switch from another provider, Shockbyte’s combination of low cost and high quality makes it a top choice for any Minecraft hosting provider needs.
Features of Shockbyte.
Shockbyte has all the features of a paid plan and the best performance. Here are some of the features it has:
- Security: DDoS Protection. They have DDoS Protection to encrypt server and user data and keep it safe, preventing malicious attacks, cyber-attacks, and unauthorized access attempts to servers.
- Performance: They have good CPU, RAM, and storage for better performance. They have nearby data centers for low latency and ping. Shockbyte’s performance is 10/10. They have powerful hardware to ensure optimal server performance and satisfy their customers.
- Server Management: They created an easily accessible cPanel for ease of use. The design and construction of the panel are unique. I am also amazed at how they prioritize their customers.
- Customer Support 24/7: They have 24/7 customer support, 24/7 assistance, and instant replying. They resolve customers’ issues and guide them. They also have FAQs to answer customers’ questions without answering all tickets and providing support.
Sparked Hosting:
About Sparked Hosting
Sparked Hosting is another well-known Minecraft hosting provider with over 10,000 users and 1,200+ positive reviews on Trustpilot. This Minecraft hosting provider is incredibly affordable, offering decent quality for a low price. You won’t believe how cheap it is until you check out their page. While Sparked Hosting only offers paid plans—no free options—it provides great value for money. Here’s a look at its features:
- Security: Sparked hosting has DDoS protection for its users. It keeps their users safe and it encrypts server and user data. And prevents malicious attacks, DDoS attacks, and lastly blocks unauthorized access to all of its servers.
- Performace: Their performance is decent because of their optimal server performance. They also have closest data centers for their users to get the lowest latency possible.
- Server Management: They have an intuitive easy-to-access cPanel for its users. And it’s also a good thing about how they prioritize their customers.
- Custom Support: They have 24/7 customer assistance with instant replies. They solve their customers issues and politely guide their users according to the problem.
Pricing
Their Minecraft hosting provider plans start at just $1.50. They offer a range of plans, including Asteroid, Pluto, Triton, Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Earth, Neptune, Saturn, Jupiter, Sun, Milky Way, Supernova, and Black Hole. For those starting a Minecraft SMP, the Triton plan might be the best choice. The pricing for their Minecraft hosting provider services is quite reasonable, and they support a variety of locations such as Australia, France, Texas, Utah, Germany, India, Singapore, Miami, New York, Florida, and more. With such a broad range of locations, this Minecraft hosting provider is great for users looking for flexibility and reliability.
Conclusion:
In this blog, we’ve found that while many Minecraft hosting providers have their strengths, some have issues that need improvement to enhance user experience. Shockbyte and Wither Hosting stand out as Minecraft hosting providers without significant problems. This doesn’t mean other providers are bad; they’re good too, but Shockbyte and Wither Hosting are the top choices among them. When comparing all the Minecraft hosting providers, these two are the best of the bunch. They also have numerous positive user reviews. Based on my experience, I recommend Wither Hosting and Shockbyte for their reliability and performance.
When choosing the right hosting provider, finding one that meets your needs and budget takes time. So here are some things you should consider before choosing the right hosting provider:
- Server Requirements: Server requirements are based on the server’s number of players. How much CPU will it need for that many players, and will the server be an RPG or a modded server? For 5-110 players, you will need a 4GB RAM server with 2 vcores of CPU. For 10-220 players, you need a 8GB RAM server with 3V cores; for 20-550, you will need a 12GB RAM server with 3.5V cores. And for 50-1100, you will need a 16GB RAM server with 6v Cores. And modding takes so much RAM and CPU.
- Performance, Stability, and Uptime: Ensure the hosting provider has no stability, donation, or performance issues. Instead of a free plan, choose a paid plan with 4GB RAM from either Wither Hosting or Shockbyte; it will be a good choice. Both have a 99.9% uptime guarantee, so all paid server hosting providers have it. But they are certified because we also bought from them.
- Customer Support and Security: Consider that the server hosting has 24/7 assistance support, with complete guidance or tutorials and FAQs. For security, a hosting server needs DDoS protection. It’s a must for hosting providers because you need DDoS to avoid DDoS attacks, malicious attacks, and unauthorized access attempts.
So, from these considerations, you will be able to choose the right decision that matches your needs, does not have any downtime, and has a 24/7 99.9% Uptime Guarantee.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What factors should I consider when choosing a Minecraft hosting provider?
When choosing a Minecraft hosting provider, consider factors such as server performance, uptime reliability, customer support, ease of use, and pricing. You should also look for features like mod support, automatic backups, and scalability options to ensure that the hosting service meets your needs.
Why should I opt for paid hosting over free hosting services for Minecraft?
Paid hosting services typically offer better performance, reliability, and support compared to free hosting. With paid hosting, you get access to dedicated resources, faster servers, and customer support, which are crucial for maintaining a smooth and lag-free gaming experience, especially if you plan to host a large number of players or use mods.
What are the advantages of using a dedicated server for Minecraft hosting?
A dedicated server provides you with exclusive access to all server resources, resulting in better performance and stability. It also offers more control over server settings, customizations, and security. Dedicated servers are ideal for large communities, modded servers, or users who need consistent high performance without sharing resources with other users.
How easy is it to set up a Minecraft server with these paid hosting providers?
Most paid Minecraft hosting providers offer user-friendly control panels that make setting up a server quick and easy, even for beginners. These control panels typically include one-click installation options, mod management tools, and easy access to server settings, allowing you to get your server up and running without needing advanced technical knowledge.
Can I switch between different hosting plans if my server's needs change?
Yes, most paid hosting providers allow you to upgrade or downgrade your hosting plan based on your server’s needs. If your player base grows or you need more resources for mods, you can easily switch to a higher plan. Conversely, if you no longer need as many resources, you can opt for a lower plan to save costs.
