Cheap Minecraft hosting, from $3.50 a month

All 8 plans

CPU is shown as a percentage: 100% is one thread of an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X, 200% is up to two threads at once, and so on. The hardware page explains what that means for Minecraft.

What you get, even on the smallest plan

A low price doesn't mean a stripped-down setup. Shard, our $3.50 plan, has the same features as Shard Max. Only the amount of RAM, CPU, storage and backup slots changes.

• AMD Ryzen 9 9950X CPU. Minecraft does most of its work on one main thread, so single-core speed matters a lot. Every plan runs on the same chip.
• DDR5 RAM and NVMe storage.
• DDoS filtering on incoming traffic, so attack traffic is filtered before it reaches your server. No filtering can stop every attack.
• Pterodactyl panel to start and stop your server, edit files, read the console and make backups in your browser.
• Full file access, so you can upload your own world, plugins and mods.
• 5 backup slots on the four smaller plans, 10 on the four larger ones.
• Free file migration from your old host.
• Automatic setup. Your server is created automatically after payment.

The smallest plan, with 4 GB of RAM, is aimed at friend groups, vanilla worlds and smaller SMPs. If you want plugins or a light modpack, Shard+ with 8 GB is a more comfortable starting point.

Picking a plan

The cheapest plan is only a good deal if it actually runs your server. RAM is usually what decides it, and it depends on your Minecraft version, whether you use plugins or mods, how many people play at once and your view distance.

Our RAM calculator asks about those things and suggests a RAM size and the plan that fits. It's an estimate, so check the memory graph in your panel after a week and adjust if you need to.

A rough way to think about it:

• Vanilla with a few friends: start small.
• Paper or Purpur with plugins: you'll want more headroom.
• Modpacks: check the pack's own server requirements, or use the calculator's modpack option.

Billing: monthly, in USD, through Stripe

There's no long contract. You pay monthly in US dollars, and payments are handled by Stripe. Your subscription renews each month until you cancel it.

To cancel, email [email protected] or open a Discord ticket with your account email and your service or invoice number. Cancelling stops future renewals, and your service normally stays active until the end of the period you've paid for. Refunds follow our Refund & Cancellation Policy.

Moving up a plan

Servers grow. If your world gets bigger, you add plugins or more friends join, ask us in a Discord ticket to move to a bigger plan.

The signs it's time to move up are usually clear in the panel: memory sitting near your limit most of the time, or CPU stuck at your plan's limit while players notice lag. Our lag guide helps you check whether the problem is resources or something you can fix in your settings first.

What cheap doesn't include

We'd rather you know this up front:

• No uptime guarantee. We work to keep things running, but we don't offer an uptime guarantee, service credits or compensation for interruptions. You can check the current state at status.shardhosting.net.
• No round-the-clock support. You can reach us by email at [email protected] or by Discord ticket, and we reply as soon as we can, but we can't promise a response time.
• Shared hardware. Your server runs on a shared node alongside other customers' servers. Your plan's RAM, CPU and storage are limits set for your server.
• Backups aren't a replacement for your own copies. Your plan includes backup slots, but keep your own copy of anything important.
• Minecraft only, for now. Website and Discord bot hosting are coming soon.

Get started

If that sounds like what you need, have a look at the plans, or work out your size first with the RAM calculator. Your server is created automatically after payment.