Best Cheap Minecraft Server Hosting Under $5 a Month (2026)

You don’t need to spend much to run a private Minecraft server for a small group of friends. Several hosts sell plans for under $5 a month, and some charge as little as $1 per GB of RAM. This guide compares the cheapest Minecraft server hosting plans available right now, with their specs, locations, and refund terms.

All prices are in US dollars, billed monthly, and were checked on September 30, 2026. Hosts change their prices often, so check the order page before you pay.

Cheap Minecraft server hosting comparison

PebbleHost and Sparked Host give you the most RAM for $5. On either one, $4 a month gets you a 4 GB server.

1. PebbleHost Budget: $1 per GB

PebbleHost’s Budget line starts at $1 per GB of RAM, so a 1 GB server costs $1 a month and a 4 GB server costs $4.

The Budget plans are aimed at private servers and small community servers. Asia locations, including India and Singapore, are only available on PebbleHost’s Premium plans, which cost more. Every PebbleHost service has a 72-hour money-back policy.

2. Sparked Host Budget: $1 per GB with Asia locations

Sparked Host’s Budget tier also works out to about $1 per GB. The 2 GB plan costs $2 a month and the 4 GB plan costs $4, and both allow unlimited player slots.

The Budget servers run on dual Intel Xeon E5-2698v4 processors. That hardware is older than the Ryzen chips on Sparked’s Enterprise and Extreme tiers. According to Sparked Host’s budget Minecraft plans page, the Budget tier is available in 11 locations:

The Mumbai and Singapore options give lower ping to players in India and Southeast Asia than servers in Europe or the US. Sparked’s refund policy covers the first 24 hours if its support team can’t fix a problem, and the site also mentions a 48-hour guarantee.

3. Shockbyte Dirt: $2.79 for 1 GB

Shockbyte’s cheapest plan is Dirt, with 1 GB of RAM for $2.79 a month. The next plan up, Sand (2 GB), costs $5.59, which is just over the $5 budget.

Shockbyte includes instant setup, DDoS protection, automatic backups, and a one-click installer for more than 3,000 modpacks. It lists a 99.9% uptime guarantee and a 72-hour self-serve refund.

A 1 GB server is enough for a few players on vanilla Minecraft. It is not enough for most modpacks.

4. GGServers Stone: $3 for 1 GB

GGServers charges $3 per GB on its Standard plans. The Stone plan has 1 GB of RAM for $3 a month, and Premium versions of each plan cost twice as much.

GGServers supports both Java and Bedrock Edition. It has one-click modpack and plugin installs, FTP and MySQL access, and 80 Gbps DDoS protection. Its server locations are Montreal, Oregon, Virginia, London, Frankfurt, Finland, Roubaix, Singapore, and Australia.

5. Minecraft Realms: $3.99 for Bedrock players

Minecraft Realms is Mojang’s own server service. It isn’t a hosting company, but it is one of the cheapest ways for Bedrock players to share a world.

Realms includes three world slots and automatic backups, and invited friends don’t pay anything. It doesn’t support plugins, and Java Realms can’t run modpacks from CurseForge or Modrinth.

Free option: Aternos

Aternos is free and says it will stay free. It supports Java (Vanilla, Paper, Forge, Fabric, and modpacks) and Bedrock Edition, with unlimited player slots.

Free servers work differently from paid ones. On Aternos, you have to start the server from the website before anyone can join, and it shuts down when nobody is online. You may also have to wait in a queue at busy times.

How much RAM do you need?

The amount of RAM decides how many players and mods your server can handle. These figures are common starting points, not guarantees:

At $1 per GB, PebbleHost and Sparked Host are the only hosts in this list that give you 4 GB for under $5.