Minecraft today is one of the most popular games worldwide, with more than 140 million active players monthly in 2022. Therefore, there are more fun times while playing a multiplayer server than in a single-player mode for most players in Minecraft. It allows the players to have full control over the gameplay.
When it comes to Minecraft server hosting, it is possible to use shared or dedicated hosting. They both have their advantages and disadvantages to help one know what can be useful in a given circumstance or is within one’s financial capability.
Shared Minecraft Server Hosting
In the case of Minecraft shared hosting your server is hosted on a server that has other customers’ servers as well. These are divided among the servers hosted on the physical server in terms of CPU, RAM, storage space, and bandwidth.
- Pros:
- Affordable: When it comes to Minecraft hosting, shared hosting proves to be cost-effective. Shared plans cost less than $10 per month for servers that can accommodate 10 or fewer concurrent players.
- Instant hosting: Many shared host service providers install and update the Minecraft server software for you on their servers.
- Scalability: You can scale up the plan provided by the server like CPU and RAM if the server requires it.
- Cons:
- Resource Constraints: When using a shared hosting environment, you are restricted by the amount of resources that your specific plan comes with. The usage rate of other servers on the same computer may affect it.
- Less Control: You depend on the provider to set up the server software and the mods. There are not many options for changing the configuration beyond installing plugins and editing configuration files.
- Multi-Server Instability: Some of the other customers on the physical server can have servers that crash or have a security problem that impacts the stability and security of the server.
Dedicated Minecraft Server Hosting
Dedicated hosting means that your Minecraft server is given an entire machine to itself with no sharing with others. Other customers do not have any access to your server’s hardware. Server hardware such as CPU cores, RAM allotment, storage capacity, etc is committed to you.
Dedicated hosting provides complete control to the user over the software that runs the server, installs and uses mods and plugins, adjusts the performance, and manages backups and administration as desired. Scalacube provides dedicated server hosting at the best market prices with exciting features and reliable support.
Dedicated resources and control are more expensive options. Monthly fees range between $15 and $75, depending on your choice of hardware components.
- Pros:
- Uptime and Speed: Budget servers offer stable, high performance that does not drop even with more than one hundred players connected simultaneously on your server due to the dedicated server resources.
- Customization Control: You fully administer the server and have root access to the server for various administrative, installation of mods, and specific configurations.
- Increased Security: Your server has its own IP address and physical hardware assets hence not affected by any security threat that may affect other servers.
- Scalability: With dedicated hosting, it is easy to scale the hosting specifications such as the speed of the processor, RAM, and storage as the server expands.
- Cons:
- More Costly: The cost of a dedicated Minecraft server is higher compared to other hosting services because all physical server expenses are charged to the service. Costs may begin from $50 for the plan.
- Technical Difficulty: When operating from an entire server as opposed to shared hosting’s control panels, it demands an increased level of technical profundity.
- Over-Provisioning: Depending on your server size, there may be a lot of unused capacity in your dedicated server. Nevertheless, you still have to pay for these idle resources.
Shared Hosting vs. Dedicated Hosting: Which Server is for You?
Several considerations can be helpful when deciding between shared and dedicated Minecraft hosting: the estimated number of people on the server, required performance, readiness to manage technical issues, and the overall cost.
In general:
Shared hosting is suitable when the Minecraft server is fresh, with few players simultaneously online, less than 10. This is the cheapest method with the least amount of administrative work required out of all the methods. But with any growing community, be careful of performance and security issues down the line.
Dedicated hosting should be used if a host has a Minecraft community with 10+ players online at the same time. This means that you are guaranteed of the best performance irrespective of the level of traffic on your server. And you get the maximum control and ability to customize most of the aspects of your website.
While initially costing more, dedicated hosting is a better option if you are planning on growing your server usage in the long term. Click here to try out free Minecraft hosting by Scalacube to get a better idea of where you should start.
Final Thought
Small to medium-sized Minecraft servers that have between 10 and 50 players online concurrently can benefit from shared hosting the most. This additional value is more aligned with the resources that cheaper plans provide. Shared hosting is good at managing the technical aspects effectively for basic servers.
However, if a large and complex 100+ player server is being created and many server mods are to be utilized, a dedicated server becomes preferable. However, the factors of control over customization, performance, scalability, and security make up for the relatively higher cost. Just be prepared to do more administrative work on the servers.
When it comes to shared vs dedicated Minecraft server hosting, you should take into account your budget and your server’s goals and size. Predicting the correct amount of hosting resources for your server is conducive to providing the best Minecraft multiplayer experience to you and your players.
