Free and paid hosting
Compare an old PC, free hosts, Oracle Cloud, shared hosting, VPS and dedicated servers.
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When not to self-hostFree Minecraft hostsOracle Cloud Free TierHosting typesQuestions before payingMoving laterWhen not to self-host#
Paying or using a managed free host can make more sense when you have no spare computer, weak upload speed, unreliable electricity, CGNAT you do not want to tunnel through, geographically distant players or no desire to maintain an operating system.
Free Minecraft hosts#
Services such as Aternos ↗ and Minehut ↗ can be excellent for testing, occasional play or people who do not want infrastructure work. Free plans may sleep when empty, use queues, limit files/plugins/mods or provide shared performance. Those tradeoffs are reasonable when the alternative is no server.
Check current plan limits directly. Do not build a long-term plan around a feature a free provider does not promise.
Oracle Cloud Free Tier#
Oracle’s official documentation, updated June 29, 2026, still describes Always Free compute resources. It currently lists up to two small AMD E2 micro instances and a monthly Ampere A1 ARM allowance equivalent for an Always Free tenancy to 2 OCPUs and 12 GB RAM when used for a full month.
Important limits:
- Resources must be created in the tenancy’s home region.
- Free shapes can show “out of host capacity”; availability is not guaranteed.
- Sign-up normally requires identity/phone and a payment card for verification.
- Ampere A1 is ARM, so every server component and native mod/library must support ARM64.
- You manage SSH, Java, firewall/security lists, storage, updates and backups.
- “Always Free” is a current offer, not a promise that policy can never change.
Official source: Oracle Free Tier documentation ↗
Hosting types#
| Type | Difficulty | Cost | Control | Maintenance | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minecraft shared hosting | Easy | Low–medium | Panel/files/plugins | Provider handles OS/network | Most players who want convenience |
| VPS | Medium–advanced | Medium | Full virtual server | You handle OS and Minecraft | Administrators who want control |
| Dedicated server | Advanced | High | Full physical machine | You handle nearly everything | Large or many workloads |
| Cloud VM | Advanced | Variable | Flexible | You handle OS, firewall and cost | Elastic or specialized infrastructure |
| Old PC | Medium | Hardware + power | Full local control | You handle all layers | Learning and home friend groups |
Questions before paying#
- 1Which CPU model or performance tier is actually provided?
- 2Is storage SSD/NVMe and are backups included or extra?
- 3Which regions are available near the players?
- 4Is DDoS protection included for Minecraft traffic?
- 5Can you download the whole world and configuration at any time?
- 6Are modpacks, custom jars, databases and ports supported?
- 7What happens at renewal, overage or cancellation?
Moving later#
A host should not own your only world copy. Regularly download the world, configs, permissions data and a list of exact software versions. That turns a provider change into a planned restore instead of a crisis.