Looking to play Minecraft online? Find Minecraft servers with our Minecraft server list. All the servers on our list are categorized by game modes and we also provide detailed information on each server.

What are the best Minecraft servers?

Finding the best Minecraft servers can be a bit of a daunting task. There are so many to choose from, and each one has its own unique features and gameplay. So, how do you know which server is right for you?

Well, that depends on what you're looking for in a server. Are you looking for a Minecraft survival server with a ton of coolest custom features to keep you entertained, or are you looking for one with a unique theme? We know how tough finding the right server can be, so we've compiled all of our hard work into this list of the largest server networks and best Minecraft servers currently out there. The best servers are usually the ones that have a lot of players online, an active community, and incredibly high-quality gamemodes. They're also the safest and most fun ones to play on unless you're an experienced player in which case you might wanna check out some a bit more exotic servers and game modes.

What are Minecraft servers?

They make the world go round, or at least that can be said for Minecraft worlds. By now most if not every gamer at least heard of Minecraft, but the beauty of it is that after all those years Minecraft is still a fun, engaging, and even competitive game, loved by many Minecrafters around the world.

Minecraft servers are probably the best evidence of this and they keep prospering and evolving along with the players. For many Minecraft servers are the architectural artist’s paradise, for others sort of online electronic legos, a great creative outlet for all the players who enjoy building and creating just about anything. While Minecraft on its own already works as a standalone server, online servers allow players to team up, create groups, participate in fun projects and even organize their own contests and the interesting part is, they can do all that without knowing a single line of code.

Every Minecraft server has its own self-contained Multiplayer world (with its own server IP) and different Minecraft servers tend to set their own rules, game modes, gameplay styles, and communities. Not every server is appropriate for every player but luckily there are enough servers out there for everyone to find their favorite. Depending on what kind of gameplay and game modes you prefer it's essential to choose the right server for it, for example, you don't want to build a beautiful village on the Factions server, just to find out later on it got raided. It's probably also not a good idea to try to play Survival server, when you're interested in Minecraft Skyblock servers and so on. But maybe you're not sure? If that's the case it's probably best to check out a few servers before committing to one.

How to join a Minecraft server?

To join a Minecraft server you find have to pick one and copy its IP address or hostname, sometimes called just server IP address. After that, you fire up Minecraft and click on "Multiplayer" button, then click on "Add a server" and paste or type in the server IP address. Optionally you can also set a custom server name if you're playing on multiple Minecraft servers. After that just click "Done" and head back to your Minecraft server list which will now contain the newly added server along with all the servers that were there before. Now you're ready to go, hit the "Join Server" button and there you are, within seconds you will be connected to a server! Once you add server IP to your client it will stay there until you delete it.

Why can't I join a specific server?

There are many possible reasons for this, but in most cases, you're probably not using the right Minecraft version. While some Minecraft servers support different versions of Minecraft you still have to use one of those supported versions - usually, latest Minecraft version is a good start. If you get "Outdated server" or "Outdated client" error when trying to join a server, just head back to your Minecraft launcher and try to change your Minecraft version so that it will match with the one server is using. If you're getting "Invalid session" error you're probably trying to join Premium server with Cracked client which unfortunately won't work (you can only join a cracked Minecraft server). If you are using Premium launcher and your session expired, just try closing Minecraft and relaunching it again. The third option, the server you're trying to connect to many simply be offline in which case there's really nothing much you can do but wait, of course, you can use our Minecraft Server List to check the uptime of a specific server, which will help you figure out if the server is actually offline or if it's your internet that is not working properly.

Which are the best Minecraft servers?

As time goes on new servers will always come and old servers will go, server popularity heavily depends on how the server is being run, updated and it could even depend on Youtubers that are promoting the specific server, or just playing there for fun. We list top servers ordered by the number of votes they receive, which generally means the most popular servers will always be on top, aside from constantly updating our serverlist, we're also pinging servers and removing offline servers to prevent players from trying to connect to servers that don't exist anymore. Usually, bigger servers tend to stay around longer but there are also plenty of small servers that were around for years, but the most important thing is that you find the best Minecraft server for you.

Different Minecraft game modes

While there are many popular game modes like Survival server, Factions server, Skyblock server, Creative server to name a few there are also a bit more exotic game modes like SlimeFun, Skygrid, AcidIsland, Bed Wars, Sky Wars, Survival Games, and so on. If you're looking for a Minecraft survival server (also known as SMP server) just to have fun on you should probably at least try out the top servers on our list. But if you're looking for specific game modes you really wanna play, you can find most of them listed as categories. It's worth mentioning some game modes like Tekkit, Modpack, etc, ... require a specific launcher or client-side mod, which can usually be found on the server's website, also, be sure to check the server version before joining as said before. If a server is running multi-version support, you're probably best off trying to match the native version of a specific server to avoid bugs and glitches, for example, if a server has 1.8 to 1.17 support, but the actual game server is running Minecraft 1.8, you will likely have the best experience using Minecraft 1.8 client.

Can I start my own Minecraft server?

To keep singleplayer and multiplayer gameplay constant every Minecraft client already has builtin full server functionality. You can simply turn your singleplayer world into a Minecraft Survival server via in-game menu, but you want to create a big server with many game modes or just use plugins you should probably look into Bukkit or Spigot software, which is a bit more efficient and easier to manage. With Vanilla Minecraft client you can only create Survival servers. To allow players to connect to your Minecraft world you will have to configure port forwarding for your server IP and that's about it. Most of the servers also use the Votifier plugin to track and reward players for voting and you're welcome to add your new server to our Minecraft server list.

Is there an official Minecraft multiplayer server?

There is not such a thing as an official Minecraft server. Mojang AB has partnered with a few servers such as Mineplex, but those servers are partnered servers, not official servers. Mojang also hosts Minecraft Realms servers. These servers, however, have limited gameplay features and we don't recommend them. Community-hosted servers usually have more options, better performance and are some of the best Minecraft servers.

What information should I have before joining a server?

Each server has its own rules that you must learn and follow.

- Each Minecraft server has its own server IP address.
- Cracked Minecraft server may not authenticate players.
- Hacking is usually prohibited depending on the server.
- Be careful not to use swear words.
- It's always a good idea to use the chat to be kind and considerate of others.
- Respect the staff team and volunteers who help keep the server running.
- It costs money to run a server. Consider donating if you enjoy it.