How much RAM does a Minecraft server need?

For a small server, two to ten players, no mods and no heavy plugins, 1 GB is enough, and that is what NimBlock gives you. Past ten concurrent players, or with a lot of running machinery, budget 2 to 4 GB. What eats memory is not the player count but the number of world chunks loaded at once: ten players exploring in ten directions cost more than twenty players standing together.

Can you host a Minecraft server for free?

Yes. At home, you pay for electricity and keep a machine reachable while you play. Free hosts have limits that depend on their offer. On NimBlock, hosting is free during the beta: the server stops after 15 consecutive minutes without players, your world is kept, and you restart from the panel when capacity is available.

Do my players need to install anything?

No. Paper is a server, not a mod: the official Minecraft Java client connects to it as is. Your players type the address and port, and that is all. This is the difference with a Forge or Fabric modded server, where every player must install exactly the same mods as the server.

Can Bedrock players (console, mobile, Windows 10) join?

No. NimBlock hosts Minecraft Java servers, and a Bedrock client cannot connect to one. That is a limit of the game, not of the host: the two editions do not speak the same network protocol.

Can I install mods, or plugins downloaded elsewhere?

No, and that is a deliberate choice. NimBlock runs the plugins you compose in its studio, described by a public grammar, not arbitrary .jar files from the internet. A server that accepts any .jar also accepts any code next to its neighbours. If what you need is a modpack or a stack of existing plugins, a regular Minecraft host is the right tool, and this page would rather tell you plainly.

What happens to my world if I stop using NimBlock?

You take it with you. One button in the panel builds an archive of your world and hands it to you: it is an ordinary Minecraft world, which opens in the game or drops onto any other server. Nothing keeps you here.

How to host a Minecraft server

A Minecraft server is a program that needs to run on a machine reachable over the Internet while you play. The machine you choose depends on your budget, your needs and what you want to manage yourself. Here are the four options and the limits of NimBlock hosting.

The four ways to host, and their real price

Nobody ever puts the four side by side, because every page that discusses them is selling one. Here they are, with the expensive part of each.

Option	What you pay	What you do yourself
At home	Electricity and a machine kept on while you play.	Java, port forwarding on your router, a public IP that changes, backups, and the security of your home network.
A VPS	5 to 20 € a month depending on memory.	Everything: Linux, the firewall, installing Paper, a service that restarts, backups. This is systems administration.
A Minecraft host	3 to 15 € a month, usually per gigabyte of RAM.	Almost nothing to get started. Plugins, though, are still yours to find, configure and maintain, and that is where the time goes.
NimBlock	Free during the beta. Stops after 15 minutes without players; restart depends on available capacity.	Create and start the server from the panel, then build plugins from blocks in your browser.

The surprising row is the second one. A VPS is often presented as the cheap option, and it is, as long as your own time counts for nothing. If you have never opened a terminal, it is not the front door.

What you need, whichever route you take

Memory. 1 GB for a server between friends, 2 to 4 GB past a dozen concurrent players. What consumes it is the number of loaded world chunks, so players exploring in every direction more than players gathered in one place.
An address and a port. A Minecraft server listens on port 25565 by default. If yours is elsewhere, your players type address:port, which works exactly the same.
Mojang's EULA, accepted. No Minecraft server starts until eula.txt is accepted, and that acceptance binds the operator of the server, which is you.
A machine reachable while you play. If it shuts down or loses its connection, players cannot connect. On NimBlock, you restart a stopped server from the panel when capacity is available.

What NimBlock hosts, exactly

A Paper 26.1.2 server, in its own container, on its own network. Paper is the most widespread build of Minecraft Java on the server side: faster than the official server, and above all able to load plugins. Your players connect with their usual client and install nothing.

One server per account, with 1 GB of memory and 5 GB of disk.
Start, stop, restart from the page, and the console live.
You can answer in the console: what you type reaches the server as an operator command.
The world is yours. One button builds the archive and hands it to you, at any time.
And the part that exists nowhere else: plugins are composed from blocks, installed without stopping the server, and need no Java at all.

During the beta, your server stops automatically after 15 consecutive minutes with no players connected. This inactivity stop never happens during the first 10 minutes after the server actually comes online. Those 10 minutes are not added to the 15 minutes. The panel shows the time left during the final minute and lets you add 60 seconds once per period without players. A connected player, even an idle one, prevents this stop. Stopping the server deletes neither your world nor your plugins; the service's storage and retention limits still apply. You restart it from the panel when resources are available. A player connecting does not start a stopped server.

What NimBlock does not do

Better said here than discovered after signing up.

No mods, no modpacks. Paper is neither Forge nor Fabric. If your project is a modpack, you need a host that supports them.
No .jar plugin downloaded elsewhere. NimBlock runs the plugins composed in its studio, described by a public grammar. That is also what lets servers sit next to each other on one machine safely.
No Bedrock. Minecraft Java only, the two editions do not speak the same protocol.
No custom domain name. Your server has an address and a port on nimblock.com.
Shared resources. Creating a server depends on available storage; starting one also depends on available memory. The panel may refuse a start when resources are unavailable. You can try again, with no guaranteed waiting time. A stopped server keeps its world and still uses storage.

What it costs

Hosting is free during the beta, with no card required and no automatic subscription. Stopping a server after a period without players helps share resources. It introduces no paid offering and deletes neither the world nor the plugins.

The day something becomes paid, it will be announced beforehand, and your world will still be one button away.

Frequently asked questions

How much RAM does a Minecraft server need?: For a small server, two to ten players, no mods and no heavy plugins, 1 GB is enough, and that is what NimBlock gives you. Past ten concurrent players, or with a lot of running machinery, budget 2 to 4 GB. What eats memory is not the player count but the number of world chunks loaded at once: ten players exploring in ten directions cost more than twenty players standing together.
Can you host a Minecraft server for free?: Yes. At home, you pay for electricity and keep a machine reachable while you play. Free hosts have limits that depend on their offer. On NimBlock, hosting is free during the beta: the server stops after 15 consecutive minutes without players, your world is kept, and you restart from the panel when capacity is available.
Do my players need to install anything?: No. Paper is a server, not a mod: the official Minecraft Java client connects to it as is. Your players type the address and port, and that is all. This is the difference with a Forge or Fabric modded server, where every player must install exactly the same mods as the server.
Can Bedrock players (console, mobile, Windows 10) join?: No. NimBlock hosts Minecraft Java servers, and a Bedrock client cannot connect to one. That is a limit of the game, not of the host: the two editions do not speak the same network protocol.
Can I install mods, or plugins downloaded elsewhere?: No, and that is a deliberate choice. NimBlock runs the plugins you compose in its studio, described by a public grammar, not arbitrary .jar files from the internet. A server that accepts any .jar also accepts any code next to its neighbours. If what you need is a modpack or a stack of existing plugins, a regular Minecraft host is the right tool, and this page would rather tell you plainly.
What happens to my world if I stop using NimBlock?: You take it with you. One button in the panel builds an archive of your world and hands it to you: it is an ordinary Minecraft world, which opens in the game or drops onto any other server. Nothing keeps you here.
When does the server stop automatically?: During the beta, your server stops automatically after 15 consecutive minutes with no players connected. This inactivity stop never happens during the first 10 minutes after the server actually comes online. Those 10 minutes are not added to the 15 minutes. The panel shows the time left during the final minute and lets you add 60 seconds once per period without players. A connected player, even an idle one, prevents this stop. Stopping the server deletes neither your world nor your plugins; the service's storage and retention limits still apply. You restart it from the panel when resources are available. A player connecting does not start a stopped server.

Build your plugin in the studio, then install it on your server when it is online.

Create my account Plugin grammar

Free hosting during the beta. The server stops after 15 minutes with no players connected. Stopping it does not delete your world. Restart it from the panel when capacity is available. One 1 GB server per account.