Technologies

Best Minecraft Server Hosting Service of 2023

Choose the best Minecraft server host to suit your gaming needs. We’ve broken down pricing, features, performance and support to make the choice easier for you.

With millions of players around the world, Minecraft is one of the most popular games ever. And while outsiders might think it’s a casual game for kids, there’s plenty of depth for hardcore gamers. One of Minecraft’s best aspects is playing with your friends and building a world. And if you want to keep that world living on for as long as you want it to, you’ll need the best Minecraft server hosting service of 2023.

Using a dedicated server hosting provider for Minecraft is like using a web host. You pay a monthly fee to use a vendor’s servers, which can provide you with improved security, performance and the ability to apply modpacks for customized multiplayer experiences.

But with so many Minecraft hosting server options on the market, some better than others, you may want assistance in determining which is the best Minecraft server hosting option for you.

Which Minecraft hosting service will best optimize your Minecraft gameplay? There is Minecraft Realms, Mojang’s official server subscription service (available for Java and Bedrock editions). If you want more back-end control over your server — or modpacks and maps that aren’t available in Realms — you’ll need a modded Minecraft server. In that case, you may opt for a third-party server host that can provide sufficient bandwidth and control over your Minecraft world seed’s configuration and settings.

Below, we’ve reviewed some of the best Minecraft server hosting vendors, including Hostinger, Shockbyte and GGServers. We focused on service providers that offer 24/7 support and a variety of plan options.

CNET is in the process of updating our assessments of the best web hosting services. We periodically update this story to maintain accurate prices, but our overall rankings may change after we’ve been able to re-evaluate these services.

Read more: Best Web Hosting for 2023

How we chose the best third-party Minecraft server hosts

It’s important to note that we didn’t explicitly «test» the Minecraft hosting provider options on this list. Instead, we compiled a competitive overview based on a variety of factors, including third-party ratings and features offered by each hosting company. We’ve also weighted the rankings of these businesses by the Better Business Bureau and TrustPilot. With that data in hand, we split them into two tiers:

Best Minecraft hosting providers (top tier): These Minecraft host vendors all have a rating of A or higher from the nonprofit Better Business Bureau (except in cases when the companies are based outside of North America and not included in the BBB ranking system) and a rating of 4.0 or higher out of 5 from TrustPilot, a Danish consumer review site. All of the TrustPilot rankings are based on at least 1,000 user reviews. All of the vendors listed in our top picks also say they offer 24/7 support and modpack support.

Other Minecraft hosting options to consider (second tier): All of these Minecraft host vendors have TrustPilot ratings of 4.0 or above; however, those ratings are based on fewer than 1,000 user reviews. One — Nodecraft — has a D+ rating from the BBB. The others have either As or higher, or no BBB page due to location.

Important caveats: The Better Business Bureau is not affiliated with any government agency and does not rate companies outside of North America. To be BBB Accredited, companies pay a fee to the organization. TrustPilot, meanwhile, also offers a paid tier that provides companies more interaction with their user ratings. It also removed 2.2 million fake reviews in 2020.

A note on pricing: We’ve made every effort to verify that the prices listed here were accurate at the time of last publication. However, prices in this category are subject to frequent fluctuations and are also consistently subject to special offers and limited deals. Furthermore, many of the prices listed here reflect the monthly rates if you prepay for 12 months of service — or are limited-time introductory prices. Please check the vendors in question to verify pricing at any given time.

Best Minecraft server hosting services

Other unofficial Minecraft hosting options to consider

The following Minecraft server hosts have slightly lower or fewer TrustPilot and/or BBB ratings than the ones above.

Hostwinds

Another of our top web hosting site picks, Hostwinds also offers Minecraft server hosting starting at $5 a month. It has an A+ rating from the BBB and is BBB Accredited, and its TrustPilot rating is 4.2 out of 5, though it has fewer than 1,000 reviews.

See all Hostwinds plans

BisectHosting

BisectHosting offers 20 different plans, each with an option for a budget or premium package. Budget packages start at $3 a month for 1,024MB RAM, unlimited NVMe SSD and up to 12 slots, and go up to $95.68 a month for 32,768MB RAM and 160 slots. Premium plans range from $8 a month to $159.68 a month, with the same amounts of RAM as their budget counterparts but with more locations, and free daily backups, modpack updates, sponge installation, dedicated IP address and unlimited slots. BisectHosting has a F rating from the BBB. However, it also has a TrustPilot rating of 4.5 out of 5 with more than 5,000 reviews.

See all BisectHosting plans

Apex Hosting

Apex Hosting offers Minecraft Java and Bedrock Edition servers starting at $7.49 a month. It also includes a seven-day money-back guarantee. Apex Minecraft Hosting has an A+ rating from the BBB, and its TrustPilot Rating is 4.8 out of 5, though it has fewer than 600 reviews.

See all Apex Hosting plans

Nodecraft

Nodecraft also offers Minecraft Java and Bedrock Edition server hosting, starting at $6.49 a month. Nodecraft has a B- rating from the BBB but a 4.3 out of 5 TrustPilot rating, with more than 1,000 reviews.

See all Nodecraft plans

Sparked Host

Sparked Host offers game and cloud hosting, with 13 different Minecraft server hosting plan options, starting at $1.50 a month. Though it’s based in the US, Sparked Host does not appear to have a BBB page. It does have a TrustPilot rating of 4.8 out of 5 with more than 1,000 reviews.

See all Sparked Host plans

PebbleHost

PebbleHost is home to both Minecraft and other gaming and dedicated servers. It offers budget, premium or extreme plans depending on your needs, starting at $1 per GB a month. PebbleHost is based in the UK and does not have a BBB page, but it has a TrustPilot rating of 4.8 out of 5 with more than 2,000 reviews.

See all PebbleHost plans

RAMShard

RAMShard offers nine Minecraft server hosting plans, starting at $3 a month. It has an A+ BBB rating, and has a TrustPilot rating of 4.2 out of 5, though with fewer than 500 reviews.

See all RAMShard plans

Former CNET editor Dawnthea Price Lisco contributed to this report.

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Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for June 8, #728

Here are some hints and the answers for Connections for June 8, #728.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle could be tricky. The purple category is one of those «sounds like» groups, that can be really tough to figure out. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group, to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Keep at it.

Green group hint: Think Wall Street animals.

Blue group hint: Online encyclopedia subheads.

Purple group hint: $$$.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Persist.

Green group: Animal metaphors in economics.

Blue group: Sidebar info on a person’s Wikipedia page.

Purple group: Homophones of slang for money.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is persist. The four answers are hold, last, stand and stay.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is animal metaphors in economics. The four answers are bear, bull, dove and hawk.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is sidebar info on a person’s Wikipedia page. The four answers are born, education, occupation and spouse.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is homophones of slang for money. The four answers are bred, cache, doe and lute.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for June 8, #1450

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle No. 1,450 for June 8.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle isn’t too tough, especially if your first guesses are heavy on vowels. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has one repeated letter.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

There are two vowels in today’s Wordle answer, but one is the repeated letter, so you’ll see it twice.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with L.

Wordle hint No. 4: Ending

Today’s Wordle answer ends with a vowel.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer refers to a contract where someone is given the right to use something for a specific time and payment.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is LEASE.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, June 7, No. 1449 was REUSE.

Recent Wordle answers

June 3, No. 1445: ADMIN

June 4, No. 1446: CEASE

June 5, No. 1447: DATUM

June 6, No. 1448: EDIFY

Technologies

Resident Evil Requiem Revealed, but Where’s Leon Kennedy?

The Resident Evil 9 trailer showed off a new character, but not the much-rumored return of Leon.

After a fake-out earlier in Summer Game Fest on Friday, Resident Evil Requiem, or Resident Evil 9, was shown for the first time.

The new title is the first mainline entry since Capcom released Resident Evil Village in 2021, and is rumored to feature series stalwart Leon Kennedy. In the trailer, the only person we saw was a character named Grace Ashcroft, who works for the FBI and appears to have ties to Raccoon City.

For the most hardcore Resident Evil fans, the name Ashcroft will ring a bell. Alyssa Ashcroft was one of the survivors of the online-only title, Resident Evil Outbreak for the PS2. Alyssa was a journalist who was trapped in Raccoon City during the events of Resident Evil 2, and she, along with other survivors, had to escape the city before it was destroyed.

Grace is Alyssa’s daughter, and in the trailer, she is going to visit the Remwood Hotel, where Alyssa was murdered. Later in the trailer, images from what appears to be the remnants of a destroyed Raccoon City are shown — including the police department from RE2 — so it appears Resident Evil 9 will return to where the series started.

Leon’s (rumored) return is a big deal for the series, which has made some of its best games with him in the starring role. He first showed up as a rookie cop in Resident Evil 2, which built on the original game’s success with more story and improved monsters and level design.

He showed up again in Resident Evil 4, which took the series in a new direction by introducing an over-the-shoulder perspective, instead of the usual static camera angles and tank controls. Leon was also one of several playable protagonists in Resident Evil 6, a game that seemed to forget about its survival horror roots. We mostly don’t talk about that one.

But the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2 was an excellent return to form, bringing RE4’s gameplay and much better graphics to a fan-favorite entry. The RE4 remake was a similar success.

Resident Evil Requiem is set to drop Feb. 27, 2026, for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series consoles, but we’re hoping to get our hands on it this weekend. If you want to catch up on older Resident Evil games, Capcom is having a sale that includes basically all the games, including Village and the three remakes.