Best VPS for a Minecraft server
Short answer
For a Minecraft server we look for at least 4 GB RAM and 2 vCPU. 40 providers sell a plan that meets it; the cheapest qualifying plan is HOSTKEY Hourly VPS Basic at $3.60 a month. LikeVPS, netcup and HOSTKEY rank highest once features that matter here are weighed in.
Checked October 14, 2026. How we rank
- providers listed
- 40
- lowest monthly price
- $3.60
- median monthly price
- $17.94
- sell Windows
- 26
Minecraft's server is mostly single-threaded, so clock speed matters more than core count, and RAM decides how many players and mods you can carry. A vanilla server for a group of friends is comfortable on 4 GB; a modpack such as All the Mods needs 8–10 GB. Public servers attract DDoS attacks, so filtering included in the price is worth more than an extra gigabyte.
Checklist
- At least 4 GB RAM (8 GB for modpacks)
- DDoS filtering included, not an add-on
- A location within roughly 40 ms of most players
- High single-core clock (Ryzen or recent EPYC lines)
The list
-
1
LikeVPS
Since 2020, based in United Kingdom; 26 locations in 26 countries, typically $4.25 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Lite++ [FR]
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 60 GB NVMe / unmetered
$17.00/mo
Go to LikeVPS -
2
netcup
Since 2008, based in Germany; 5 locations in 5 countries, typically $2.01 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
VPS 500 G12.5
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 64 GB SSD / unmetered
$8.94/mo
Go to netcup -
3
HOSTKEY
Since 2007, based in Netherlands; 7 locations in 7 countries, typically $1.33 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Hourly VPS Basic
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 50 GB SSD / traffic n/a
$3.60/mo
Go to HOSTKEY -
4
Vultr
Since 2014, based in United States; 32 locations in 19 countries, typically $5.50 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Regular Performance 2 vCPU / 4 GB (vc2-2c-4gb)
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 80 GB SSD / 3 TB
$20.00/mo
Go to Vultr -
5
Contabo
Since 2003, based in Germany; 10 locations in 7 countries, typically $0.70 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Cloud VPS 4
4 vCPU / 8 GB RAM / 100 GB SSD / unmetered
$6.16/mo
Go to Contabo -
6
UltaHost
Since 2018, based in United States; 29 locations in 25 countries, typically $4.71 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
VPS Professional
3 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 75 GB NVMe / unmetered
$15.87/mo
Go to UltaHost -
7
OVHcloud VPS
Since 1999, based in France; 11 locations in 9 countries, typically $1.04 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
VPS-1
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 40 GB NVMe / unmetered
$4.54/mo
Go to OVHcloud -
8
HostHatch
Since 2011, based in United States; 14 locations in 12 countries, typically $1.31 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
NVMe 4 GB
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 20 GB NVMe / 1 TB
$6.00/mo
Go to HostHatch -
9
Evolution Host
Since 2013, based in Ireland; 17 locations in 11 countries, typically $7.40 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Business
4 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 80 GB NVMe / 60 TB
$44.75/mo
Go to Evolution Host -
10
Hetzner Cloud
Since 1997, based in Germany; 6 locations in 4 countries, typically $1.75 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
CX23
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 40 GB NVMe / 20 TB
$6.71/mo
Go to Hetzner -
11
DigitalOcean
Since 2012, based in United States; 13 locations in 8 countries, typically $7.00 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Basic 4 GB (s-2vcpu-4gb)
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 80 GB SSD / 4 TB
$24.00/mo
Go to DigitalOcean -
12
BuyVM
Since 2010, based in United Arab Emirates; 4 locations in 2 countries, typically $5.00 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Ryzen KVM 8GB
2 vCPU / 8 GB RAM / 160 GB NVMe / unmetered
$38.00/mo
Go to BuyVM -
13
Webdock
Since 2019, based in Denmark; 1 location in 1 country, typically $2.19 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
VPS Pro
6 vCPU / 10 GB RAM / 40 GB NVMe / 7 TB
$21.95/mo
Go to Webdock -
14
InterServer
Since 1999, based in United States; 3 locations in 1 country, typically $1.50 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Linux VPS 4 slices
2 vCPU / 8 GB RAM / 120 GB SSD / 8 TB
$12.00/mo
Go to InterServer -
15
Akamai Cloud (Linode)
Since 2003, based in United States; 26 locations in 15 countries, typically $6.00 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Linode 4 GB
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 80 GB SSD / 4 TB
$24.00/mo
Go to Linode -
16
Tencent Cloud Lighthouse
Since 2013, based in CN; 11 locations in 10 countries, typically $2.25 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Starter 2C4G 70GB
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 70 GB SSD / 2 TB
$7.50/mo
Go to Tencent Cloud -
17
Leaseweb VPS
Since 1997, based in Netherlands; 9 locations in 8 countries, typically $0.64 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Leaseweb VPS 1
4 vCPU / 6 GB RAM / 100 GB NVMe / 30 TB
$5.58/mo
Go to Leaseweb -
18
Hostinger VPS
Since 2004, based in Lithuania; 10 locations in 9 countries, typically $1.84 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
KVM 2
2 vCPU / 8 GB RAM / 100 GB NVMe / 8 TB
$14.99/mo
Go to Hostinger -
19
IONOS VPS
Since 1988, based in Germany; 8 locations in 4 countries, typically $3.06 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
VPS Linux M+
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 120 GB NVMe / unmetered
$14.00/mo
Go to IONOS -
20
Alibaba Cloud Simple Application Server
Since 2009, based in CN; 12 locations in 11 countries, typically $4.50 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Linux 2C/4G
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 80 GB SSD / 4 TB
$19.00/mo
Go to Alibaba Cloud -
21
SSD Nodes
Since 2011, based in United States; 15 locations in 10 countries, typically $1.56 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
KVM / Small
2 vCPU / 8 GB RAM / 160 GB SSD / 4 TB
$17.00/mo
Go to SSD Nodes -
22
Time4VPS
Since 2003, based in Lithuania; 1 location in 1 country, typically $3.64 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Linux 4
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 50 GB SSD / 8 TB
$14.55/mo
Go to Time4VPS -
23
UpCloud
Since 2011, based in Finland; 14 locations in 12 countries, typically $4.50 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Starter 2xCPU-4GB
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 30 GB SSD / traffic n/a
$14.00/mo
Go to UpCloud -
24
Amazon Lightsail
Since 2006, based in United States; 19 locations in 17 countries, typically $7.00 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Linux 4 GB
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 80 GB SSD / 4 TB
$24.00/mo
Go to Lightsail -
25
Kamatera
Since 1995, based in United States; 21 locations in 14 countries, typically $11.12 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Pro
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 20 GB NVMe / 5 TB
$39.00/mo
Go to Kamatera -
26
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Compute
Since 1977, based in United States; 25 locations in 21 countries, typically $3.38 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
VM.Standard.E4.Flex 1 OCPU / 8 GB
2 vCPU / 8 GB RAM / 50 GB NVMe / 10 TB
$27.01/mo
Go to Oracle Cloud -
27
Bluehost VPS
Since 2003, based in United States; 9 locations in 8 countries, typically $3.62 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
NVMe 4
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 100 GB NVMe / unmetered
$11.99/mo
Go to Bluehost -
28
HostGator VPS
Since 2002, based in United States; 1 location in 1 country, typically $2.41 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Snappy 2000 - NVMe 4
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 100 GB NVMe / unmetered
$9.35/mo
Go to HostGator -
29
Cloudways
Since 2012, based in MT; 9 locations in 8 countries, typically $11.00 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
DigitalOcean Medium
4 vCPU / 8 GB RAM / 160 GB SSD / 5 TB
$88.00/mo
Go to Cloudways -
30
GreenCloudVPS
Since 2013, based in United States; 19 locations in 9 countries, typically $5.00 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
SSDKVM-3
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 30 GB SSD / 4 TB
$20.00/mo
Go to GreenCloud -
31
RackNerd
Since 2019, based in United States; 12 locations in 5 countries, typically $6.15 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
KVM VPS 4 GB
4 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 130 GB SSD / 3 TB
$24.59/mo
Go to RackNerd -
32
Liquid Web VPS
Since 1997, based in United States; 3 locations in 2 countries, typically $5.61 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Cloud VPS Compute 4GB
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 80 GB SSD / 3 TB
$17.00/mo
Go to Liquid Web -
33
Scaleway
Since 1999, based in France; 4 locations in 4 countries, typically $5.78 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
PLAY2-NANO
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / ? GB / unmetered
$22.51/mo
Go to Scaleway -
34
Exoscale
Since 2011, based in Switzerland; 7 locations in 5 countries, typically $9.58 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Standard Medium
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 10 GB NVMe / 1 TB
$34.06/mo
Go to Exoscale -
35
GoDaddy VPS
Since 1997, based in United States; 3 locations in 3 countries, typically $7.50 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
2 vCPU / 4GB RAM
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 100 GB NVMe / unmetered
$29.99/mo
Go to GoDaddy -
36
Hosting.com
Since 2001, based in United States; 10 locations in 9 countries, typically $5.00 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
VPS XS (4GB Cloud Server)
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 100 GB NVMe / unmetered
$19.99/mo
Go to Hosting.com -
37
DreamHost VPS
Since 1997, based in United States; 1 location in 1 country, typically $6.79 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Stack 4
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 75 GB NVMe / unmetered
$15.99/mo
Go to DreamHost -
38
ScalaHosting
Since 2007, based in United States; 15 locations in 13 countries, typically $8.23 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Config #1
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 50 GB NVMe / unmetered
$24.95/mo
Go to ScalaHosting -
39
Hostwinds
Since 2010, based in United States; 3 locations in 2 countries, typically $4.99 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Unmanaged Linux 3
2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 75 GB SSD / 2 TB
$18.99/mo
Go to Hostwinds -
40
Namecheap VPS
Since 2000, based in United States; 1 location in 1 country, typically $3.15 per GB of RAM.
Smallest plan that fits
Quasar
4 vCPU / 6 GB RAM / 120 GB SSD / 3 TB
$18.88/mo
Go to Namecheap
See these numbers as a table
| # | Provider | Plan | vCPU | RAM | Disk | $/month | $/GB RAM | Locations | Trustpilot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LikeVPS | Lite++ [FR] | 2 | 4 GB | 60 GB | $17.00 | $4.25 | 26 | — |
| 2 | netcup | VPS 500 G12.5 | 2 | 4 GB | 64 GB | $8.94 | $2.23 | 5 | 3.8 |
| 3 | HOSTKEY | Hourly VPS Basic | 2 | 4 GB | 50 GB | $3.60 | $0.90 | 7 | 3.1 |
| 4 | Vultr | Regular Performance 2 vCPU / 4 GB (vc2-2c-4gb) | 2 | 4 GB | 80 GB | $20.00 | $5.00 | 32 | 1.6 |
| 5 | Contabo | Cloud VPS 4 | 4 | 8 GB | 100 GB | $6.16 | $0.77 | 10 | 4.6 |
| 6 | UltaHost | VPS Professional | 3 | 4 GB | 75 GB | $15.87 | $3.97 | 29 | 3.5 |
| 7 | OVHcloud VPS | VPS-1 | 2 | 4 GB | 40 GB | $4.54 | $1.14 | 11 | 3.8 |
| 8 | HostHatch | NVMe 4 GB | 2 | 4 GB | 20 GB | $6.00 | $1.50 | 14 | 2.7 |
| 9 | Evolution Host | Business | 4 | 4 GB | 80 GB | $44.75 | $11.19 | 17 | 4.5 |
| 10 | Hetzner Cloud | CX23 | 2 | 4 GB | 40 GB | $6.71 | $1.68 | 6 | 3.0 |
| 11 | DigitalOcean | Basic 4 GB (s-2vcpu-4gb) | 2 | 4 GB | 80 GB | $24.00 | $6.00 | 13 | 4.5 |
| 12 | BuyVM | Ryzen KVM 8GB | 2 | 8 GB | 160 GB | $38.00 | $4.75 | 4 | 3.8 |
| 13 | Webdock | VPS Pro | 6 | 10 GB | 40 GB | $21.95 | $2.19 | 1 | 4.9 |
| 14 | InterServer | Linux VPS 4 slices | 2 | 8 GB | 120 GB | $12.00 | $1.50 | 3 | 4.3 |
| 15 | Akamai Cloud (Linode) | Linode 4 GB | 2 | 4 GB | 80 GB | $24.00 | $6.00 | 26 | 2.5 |
| 16 | Tencent Cloud Lighthouse | Starter 2C4G 70GB | 2 | 4 GB | 70 GB | $7.50 | $1.88 | 11 | — |
| 17 | Leaseweb VPS | Leaseweb VPS 1 | 4 | 6 GB | 100 GB | $5.58 | $0.93 | 9 | 3.4 |
| 18 | Hostinger VPS | KVM 2 | 2 | 8 GB | 100 GB | $14.99 | $1.87 | 10 | 4.6 |
| 19 | IONOS VPS | VPS Linux M+ | 2 | 4 GB | 120 GB | $14.00 | $3.50 | 8 | 4.6 |
| 20 | Alibaba Cloud Simple Application Server | Linux 2C/4G | 2 | 4 GB | 80 GB | $19.00 | $4.75 | 12 | 1.2 |
| 21 | SSD Nodes | KVM / Small | 2 | 8 GB | 160 GB | $17.00 | $2.12 | 15 | 3.0 |
| 22 | Time4VPS | Linux 4 | 2 | 4 GB | 50 GB | $14.55 | $3.64 | 1 | 4.7 |
| 23 | UpCloud | Starter 2xCPU-4GB | 2 | 4 GB | 30 GB | $14.00 | $3.50 | 14 | 3.0 |
| 24 | Amazon Lightsail | Linux 4 GB | 2 | 4 GB | 80 GB | $24.00 | $6.00 | 19 | 1.3 |
| 25 | Kamatera | Pro | 2 | 4 GB | 20 GB | $39.00 | $9.75 | 21 | 4.3 |
| 26 | Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Compute | VM.Standard.E4.Flex 1 OCPU / 8 GB | 2 | 8 GB | 50 GB | $27.01 | $3.38 | 25 | 1.3 |
| 27 | Bluehost VPS | NVMe 4 | 2 | 4 GB | 100 GB | $11.99 | $3.00 | 9 | 4.5 |
| 28 | HostGator VPS | Snappy 2000 - NVMe 4 | 2 | 4 GB | 100 GB | $9.35 | $2.34 | 1 | 4.6 |
| 29 | Cloudways | DigitalOcean Medium | 4 | 8 GB | 160 GB | $88.00 | $11.00 | 9 | 4.6 |
| 30 | GreenCloudVPS | SSDKVM-3 | 2 | 4 GB | 30 GB | $20.00 | $5.00 | 19 | 3.3 |
| 31 | RackNerd | KVM VPS 4 GB | 4 | 4 GB | 130 GB | $24.59 | $6.15 | 12 | 4.3 |
| 32 | Liquid Web VPS | Cloud VPS Compute 4GB | 2 | 4 GB | 80 GB | $17.00 | $4.25 | 3 | 3.8 |
| 33 | Scaleway | PLAY2-NANO | 2 | 4 GB | — | $22.51 | $5.63 | 4 | 1.5 |
| 34 | Exoscale | Standard Medium | 2 | 4 GB | 10 GB | $34.06 | $8.52 | 7 | 3.5 |
| 35 | GoDaddy VPS | 2 vCPU / 4GB RAM | 2 | 4 GB | 100 GB | $29.99 | $7.50 | 3 | 4.4 |
| 36 | Hosting.com | VPS XS (4GB Cloud Server) | 2 | 4 GB | 100 GB | $19.99 | $5.00 | 10 | 4.8 |
| 37 | DreamHost VPS | Stack 4 | 2 | 4 GB | 75 GB | $15.99 | $4.00 | 1 | 4.6 |
| 38 | ScalaHosting | Config #1 | 2 | 4 GB | 50 GB | $24.95 | $6.24 | 15 | 4.9 |
| 39 | Hostwinds | Unmanaged Linux 3 | 2 | 4 GB | 75 GB | $18.99 | $4.75 | 3 | 2.1 |
| 40 | Namecheap VPS | Quasar | 4 | 6 GB | 120 GB | $18.88 | $3.15 | 1 | 4.2 |
Price check
Questions
How much RAM does a Minecraft VPS need?
4 GB for vanilla with up to about 20 players, 6–8 GB for Paper with plugins, 8–12 GB for large modpacks. Java's garbage collector needs headroom above the -Xmx value, so leave 1 GB for the OS.
Is a VPS better than Minecraft hosting panels?
A VPS gives you root access, any mod loader and several servers on one plan; panel hosts are simpler but cap RAM per server and limit plugins.