When you want to play Minecraft with friends, you have two main paths: Minecraft Realms — Mojang's own hosted service — or a dedicated server from a hosting provider. Both keep your world online without you running anything on your PC. But they're very different products with very different trade-offs.
This guide breaks down every difference — cost, player limits, performance, mod support, and control — so you can decide which is right for your group.
Minecraft Realms is Mojang's official subscription-based server service. You pay a monthly fee and Mojang handles all the hosting infrastructure. It comes in two versions:
A dedicated (or hosted) Minecraft server is a server running on a provider's hardware — not Mojang's. You choose the server software, install plugins or mods, and control every setting. Providers range from free options like FreeGameHost to premium paid hosts charging £3–£30/month.
| Feature | Minecraft Realms | FreeGameHost (Free) | Paid Hosting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | ~£7.99/month | £0/month | £3–£20/month |
| Player limit | 10 simultaneous | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| RAM | Not published (limited) | 4GB | 2–16GB+ |
| Plugins (Paper/Spigot) | Not supported | Full support | Full support |
| Forge/Fabric mods | Not supported | Full support | Full support |
| Custom server software | No | Yes | Yes |
| Server console access | No | Yes | Yes |
| 24/7 uptime | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cross-play Java + Bedrock | No (edition-specific) | Yes (via Geyser) | Yes (via Geyser) |
| Backups | Manual only | Daily automatic | Automatic |
| Custom domain | No | Optional | Yes |
| DDoS protection | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Setup difficulty | Very easy | Easy | Easy–moderate |
Realms is genuinely the easiest way to play Minecraft with friends. Open Minecraft, click "Play on Realm", send invites, done. There's no panel to learn, no files to manage, and nothing to configure. For completely non-technical players who just want to play, Realms removes every barrier.
Realms is built into the Minecraft launcher. No third-party accounts, no separate panel, no confusion for friends when joining. Everything flows through the Minecraft client they already have open.
Realms Plus lets Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, mobile, and Windows players all join the same world without any configuration. If your whole group plays Bedrock on different devices, Realms handles this seamlessly.
Realms charges ~£7.99/month, every month, forever. FreeGameHost is genuinely free with no time limit, no credit card, and no upgrade pressure. Over 12 months, Realms costs ~£96. A free hosted server costs £0.
This is Realms' biggest limitation. You cannot install EssentialsX, LuckPerms, WorldEdit, Dynmap, economy plugins, or any of the tools that make Minecraft servers genuinely great. You cannot run Forge mods, Fabric mods, or any custom server software. You're locked to vanilla Minecraft — exactly as Mojang ships it.
A dedicated server lets you install anything: 25 plugins, a full modpack, a custom game mode like Skyblock or Factions. The difference in what's possible is enormous.
Realms caps you at 10 simultaneous players — not 10 total, but 10 online at the same time. For a small friend group this is probably fine. For a community server, a server for a Discord, or anything that might grow, it's a hard ceiling you'll hit.
Realms gives you no server console. You cannot run commands as the server (only as your own player), cannot view server logs, and cannot diagnose performance issues. On a dedicated host, you get full console access to run any command, view real-time logs, and control the server completely.
Realms Java and Realms Bedrock are separate products — a Java Realms subscription cannot be joined by Bedrock players and vice versa. With a dedicated server running GeyserMC, Java and Bedrock players join the same world from any device. One server, every platform.
You have a small group of 2–4 non-technical friends who want pure vanilla Minecraft with zero setup, you're happy paying ~£8/month, and you specifically play Bedrock on multiple console platforms and need seamless cross-play between them.
You want plugins, mods, or custom game modes — you want full control over your server — you have more than 10 players — you want Java + Bedrock cross-play — or you simply don't want to pay £96 a year for an inferior feature set.
For almost everyone, a free dedicated server on FreeGameHost is the better choice. You get more RAM than Realms, unlimited players, full plugin and mod support, console access, daily backups, and Java + Bedrock cross-play — all for free. The only thing Realms does better is the in-launcher simplicity, which matters mainly to players who are not willing to create a separate account at all.
If you're currently on Realms and want to migrate:
level-name in server.properties (default: world).world/playerdata/ folder and transfers with the world. No progress is lost.
Switch from Realms to a free server — more RAM, unlimited players, full mod support.
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