Best Cheap Minecraft Server Hosting Under $5 a Month

Running a private Minecraft server for friends doesn't require a large budget. Several hosting providers offer plans under $5 per month, with some charging as little as $1 per gigabyte of RAM.

PebbleHost and Sparked Host lead the budget market. Both providers charge $1 per GB, meaning a 4 GB server costs $4 monthly. PebbleHost's Budget plans target private and small community servers and include a 72-hour money-back policy. Asia locations are limited to their Premium tier, which costs more. Sparked Host's Budget tier runs on dual Intel Xeon E5-2698v4 processors and is available in 11 locations, including Mumbai and Singapore for lower ping in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Sparked offers a 24-hour refund guarantee if support cannot resolve issues, plus a 48-hour guarantee option.

Shockbyte's Dirt plan provides 1 GB for $2.79 monthly, with instant setup, DDoS protection, automatic backups, and a one-click installer for over 3,000 modpacks. The plan includes a 99.9% uptime guarantee and 72-hour self-serve refund. A 1 GB server suits a few vanilla players but lacks capacity for most modpacks.

GGServers charges $3 per GB on Standard plans. The Stone tier offers 1 GB for $3 monthly and supports both Java and Bedrock editions. Features include one-click modpack and plugin installs, FTP and MySQL access, and 80 Gbps DDoS protection. Server locations span Montreal, Oregon, Virginia, London, Frankfurt, Finland, Roubaix, Singapore, and Australia.

Minecraft Realms, Mojang's official service, costs $3.99 monthly for Bedrock players. It includes three world slots, automatic backups, and invited friends play free. The service doesn't support plugins, and Java Realms cannot run modpacks from CurseForge or Modrinth.

Aternos offers a free alternative that remains permanently free. It supports Java with Vanilla, Paper, Forge, and Fabric, plus Bedrock Edition, with unlimited player slots. Free servers require manual startup from the website and shut down when empty. Queue times may occur during peak hours.

Server RAM requirements vary by use case. At $1 per GB, PebbleHost and Sparked Host remain the only hosts on this list delivering 4 GB under $5 monthly. Prices checked on September 30, 2026, are subject to change.