Is free Minecraft server hosting really free?

Yes, for 72 hours. Connect Hosting’s trial is a real Minecraft server on the same hardware as paid plans — 4 GB or 8 GB, NVMe disk, the full panel — with nothing throttled, and we never ask for a card, so there is nothing to charge when it ends. One trial per person. If you want to keep going afterwards you buy a plan through the normal checkout; nothing happens automatically.

Do I need a credit card to start the trial?

No. Starting the trial asks for nothing payment-related at all — you sign in with Discord and the server is created. A card is only needed if you decide to buy afterwards, and that is an ordinary checkout, not an automatic charge.

Can Bedrock players on console and phone join the trial server?

Yes, on Paper. One toggle in the panel installs Geyser and Floodgate, and friends on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, phone or Windows Bedrock join on the same address as Java players. Geyser publishes no build for Vanilla or Forge, so on those the panel offers the one-click switch to Paper instead. Player slots are unlimited on every plan, the trial included.

What happens to my world when the trial ends?

The server stops, and we try to archive your world, mods and configs right away. When that succeeds, it is saved for 60 days and buying any plan brings it back. If we cannot package it automatically, we tell you and you have 14 days to open a ticket so we can move it across by hand.

Can I keep the server after the trial?

Yes — buy the same plan after the trial ends and your world, mods and settings come back. The trial server itself is deleted when the trial ends, so buying provisions a new server and loads your saved world onto it; it may get a new address. Buying while the trial is still running starts a fresh, empty server instead.

72 hours is enough to install your pack, invite the whole group in and see real performance under load, while keeping a trial slot moving for the next person waiting on one.

Which regions can I trial in?

Trials currently run in London, United Kingdom, Virginia, US East and 4 more. We pre-select the one nearest to you and show the ping for each. Paid plans open in every Minecraft region, and if your group is spread out you can ask support to move a paid server later.

What if my modpack does not install?

Open a ticket from the dashboard. If the install failed because of something on our end, support will get it running or put your trial back so you get the full window again. The clock only starts once the server is online, so a slow download never costs you trial time.

Free trial · No card3,000+ modpacks, one click

Free Minecraft Server,
Try Your Modpack Before You Buy

Connect Hosting gives you a real Minecraft server from the paid node pool, free for 72 hours: your modpack installed, Java and Bedrock together on Paper, the full panel — and no card, so nothing can be charged when it ends.

4 GB or 8 GB · London, United Kingdom, Virginia, US East and 4 more · unlimited slots · one per person

No card, no auto-chargeOnline in about a minute99% uptime targetDDoS protected

Or see the paid plans

a limited timeNo card

Paper

Free Minecraft trial

Checking eligibility…

72 hours
Clock starts when the server is online, not when you click
4 GB or 8 GB RAM
30–60 GB NVMe · 3 backup slots · the rung is sized to your pack
3,000+ packs
CurseForge and Modrinth, installed in one click
0 cards
Nothing to enter, nothing to charge

19,000+servers deployed3,000+online right now9regions worldwideunder 10 minutessupport first response

Trial terms and specs read live from our plan catalogue · platform figures checked 2026-10-26

Not a demo

Same Server as the Paid Plan, Your Pack Installed

The trial runs on the paid node pool with the paid plan’s RAM, disk and CPU share. Nothing is throttled or hidden, so what the pack does in the first hour is what it would do every month.

The Cobblemon Pokédex screen open inside a Minecraft world

Your modpack, installed for you

Pick any pack from the CurseForge or Modrinth catalogues in the start flow and the server installs the right loader, Java runtime, mods and configs itself. The trial exists to answer one question — does this pack run here, with your friends on it — so the install is the real one, not a demo world.

A lantern-lit Minecraft library build from the All the Mods 11 gallery

The whole panel, nothing capped

Live console, file manager, SFTP, server.properties as a form, scheduled restarts, off-server backups and the mod installer — the same dashboard a paying customer gets, on the same hardware. If the pack stutters here it would stutter after you paid, which is the point of trying first.

Mossy stone pillars rising out of a lake in a Minecraft world

Java and Bedrock together

On Paper, one toggle installs Geyser and Floodgate so console, phone and Windows Bedrock friends join the same world on the same address as Java players. Unlimited player slots on every plan, the trial included — invite the whole Discord, not ten of them.

An armoured player overlooking a lava-lit Nether landscape in the DawnCraft modpack

THREE SCREENS · NO CARD

Your 72-hour Server: Three Steps to the Address

1

Pick a region

We pre-select the region nearest to you and show the ping for each. Switch it with a tap; paid plans open in every Minecraft region.

2

Choose Paper, Vanilla or a modpack

Paper is pre-selected for a plugin or crossplay server. Switch to Vanilla, or search the CurseForge and Modrinth catalogues and pick a pack — the rung is sized to it.

3

Continue with Discord

One trial per person, and Discord is how we check that. The same button signs you in and creates the server. No card, no form, nothing to charge.

The server boots and its address appears in the panel. A modpack install takes longer than a Paper boot, and the clock only starts once the server is online.

Sized before you start

Which Modpacks Fit the Free Trial?

The trial’s largest rung is 8 GB of RAM. The start flow sizes the rung to the pack you pick and refuses one that needs more, using the same server-side RAM floors our checkout enforces. Of the 21 packs we host most often, 17 fit the trial and 4 need a paid plan.

Fits the 8 GB trial

17 PACKS

Needs a paid plan

4 PACKS

Modpack	Loader	RAM floor	Smallest paid rung
All the Mods 10	NeoForge	10 GB min	12 GB plan
All the Mods 10 Aeronautics	NeoForge	10 GB min	12 GB plan
All the Mons	NeoForge	10 GB min	12 GB plan
DawnCraft — Echoes of Legends	Forge	10 GB min	12 GB plan

RAM floors are the pack authors’ own server-side minimums, or our bench measurements where authors publish none. Packs not listed are sized by their loader when you pick them. Every plan has unlimited player slots; RAM is what a pack needs, not the player count.

A real test, not idle time

What to Do in 72 hours

A pack install, a full group online and a backup is a normal first weekend. Here is how to spend the trial so you know what the server is like with everyone on it, not just you.

Day 1
Install the pack, get everyone in
Start on Paper or pick the modpack you actually want to play. Share the address, set a whitelist from the console, and watch the panel while the whole group loads in at once — chunk generation with ten people exploring is the real performance test.
- Pack installed and server booted
- Whitelist on, friends joined
- TPS watched during first exploration
Day 2
Crossplay, plugins and settings
On Paper, flip the Bedrock crossplay toggle and have a console or phone player join. Drop a plugin .jar in via the file manager, change gamemode, difficulty and view distance in the server.properties form, and restart from the panel to apply.
- A Bedrock player joined via Geyser
- A plugin installed from the file manager
- Settings changed and applied on restart
Day 3
Back up, then decide
Take a manual backup from the Backups tab and check it is listed. Then decide: if the group wants to keep going, buy any plan after the trial ends and this world loads onto the new server. If not, nothing to cancel — no card was taken.
- A manual backup taken and listed
- The rung you would buy chosen from the fit table
- Decision made before the clock runs out

The control panel

Your Whole Server,
One Dashboard

Console, power, versions and settings — everything lives in one clean web panel. No SSH, no FTP spelunking.

Live console

Logs, player joins and commands in real time — run /whitelist or /op straight from the browser.

One-click power

Start, stop or restart the server — and watch it come back — in one click.

server.properties as a form

Gamemode, difficulty, whitelist, view distance and MOTD as simple fields — no config files.

panel.connecthosting.gg/minecraft

Online

Connect Hosting control panel running a Minecraft server

A lantern-lit wooden hall with machines on the floor, from the All the Mods 10 gallery

THE DEADLINENO AUTO-CHARGE

TRIAL LENGTH

72 hours

The clock starts once the server finishes installing and boots — a slow modpack download never eats into your trial.

Stated up front

What Happens in 72 hours

The server stops.
At the deadline the server is shut down and removed from the node. You get reminders before it happens.
Your world is kept for 60 days, and we tell you if we cannot package it.
We archive the world, mods and configs as the trial ends. When that succeeds it is held for 60 days; if it cannot be packaged automatically, you have 14 days to open a ticket so we can move it by hand.
Buy any time to bring it back.
Choose any plan afterwards and the saved world loads onto the new server. No card was taken, so nothing renews on its own.

The honest answer

Is Minecraft Server Hosting Free?

Connect Hosting offers a free Minecraft server trial: 72 hours on a real 4 GB or 8 GB server in London, United Kingdom, Virginia, US East and 4 more, with one-click modpacks, Java and Bedrock crossplay on Paper, no credit card, one trial per person, and the world kept for 60 days afterwards when it can be archived.

The software: free

The server software is free. Mojang publishes the Java Edition server jar at no cost, Paper, Fabric and NeoForge are free open-source projects, and you can run any of them on a PC you already own. What costs money is somewhere to run it around the clock: a machine that stays on while you sleep, a connection that can carry a modpack’s traffic, open ports, an up-to-date Java runtime, and backups that actually exist.

The hosting: try it free, then from $3.99/mo

Free-forever hosts exist, and they pay for themselves with queues, sleeping servers, small RAM allowances and ads — fine for a vanilla weekend, rarely enough for a modpack. Connect Hosting’s free trial is the other route: a real server from the paid node pool, with the paid plan’s RAM, disk and panel, for a fixed window with no card and no automatic charge. If it fits, paid Minecraft hosting starts at the price below and your trial world comes with you.

See every Minecraft plan

Three ways to run a Minecraft server without paying

Most large paid hosts offer no trial at all, only a refund window of a few days after you pay. The genuinely free routes are these three, and they differ on the things that decide whether a modpack weekend works.

	Connect Hosting free trial	Free-forever hosts	Hosting it on your own PC
Card required	No	No	No
RAM	4 GB or 8 GB, sized to the pack	Typically 1–4 GB	Whatever your PC can spare
Stays online	Around the clock for the trial window	Often sleeps when empty; queues to wake	Only while your PC is on
Modpacks	One-click from CurseForge and Modrinth	Limited or manual	Manual install, your Java runtime
Backups	Panel backups, stored off the host	Rarely	Your own
Ends with	Nothing charged; world kept 60 days when archived	Nothing, but it stays small	Nothing

The facts behind the answer, from the sources

The Java Edition server software is free.
“Mojang Studios distributes the server software free of charge.”
Minecraft Wiki, “Setting up a Java Edition server”
Current Java releases need Java 25.
“Java Edition 26.1 and later require Java 25; 1.20.5 to 1.21.x require Java 21.”
Minecraft Wiki, Java Edition 26.3 release notes
Paper recommends more RAM than most people expect.
“We recommend using at least 6–10GB, no matter how few players you have.”
PaperMC docs, “Aikar’s flags”
Bedrock crossplay is free, open-source software.
“Geyser is completely free and open-source, licensed under the MIT license.”
GeyserMC FAQ

Sources checked 2026-10-26

Before you start

Free Minecraft Server Questions

Yes. The start flow lets you pick Paper, Vanilla, or any pack from the CurseForge and Modrinth catalogues (3,000+ of them), and installs it for you with the right loader and Java runtime. The rung is sized to the pack: a pack whose server-side RAM floor is above 8 GB cannot be trialled, and the flow tells you which paid plan runs it instead. 17 of the 21 packs we host most often fit — see the table above.

Yes. Mojang distributes the Java Edition server free of charge, and Paper, Fabric and NeoForge are free open-source projects, so you can run a server on a PC you already own. What hosting pays for is a machine that stays on around the clock, a connection that can carry a modpack, open ports, the right Java runtime (Java 25 for current releases) and backups. This trial is the no-cost way to see the hosted version before deciding which route suits your group.

Start Free. Keep It
If Your Pack Runs.

72 hours on a real server, your modpack installed, no card. Afterwards, Minecraft server hosting from $3.99/mo with your trial world loaded.

JavaBedrock via GeyserPaper · Vanilla · Modpacks

No card · 72 hours · one per person