Realms is a server Mojang runs for you, paid for by the month. Your own server runs on a PC in your house. Both are a good way for a family or a group of friends to share a world, they're good at different things. Below are Realms' current prices and limits next to what hosting yourself involves, so you can pick the one that suits you.
Updated October 2026
Realms is the better pick if nobody wants to leave a PC switched on, if friends want to play when you're not around, or if you'd rather not set anything up at all. You buy it inside the game, invite people and it's there day and night. For a handful of players in a vanilla world that's hard to beat.
Your own server is the better pick if you want mods, plugins or a modpack, more than ten friends on at once, a particular Minecraft version, Java and Bedrock players in one world, or no monthly bill. The catch is the PC has to be on whenever people want to play.
| Realms | Your own server | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | $7.99 a month for Realms for Java or Realms Plus, $3.99 for Realms for Bedrock (Mojang's US prices, other countries vary). A 30 day free trial for new subscribers | The app is free (Lite) or £1.99 once (Standard). Port forwarding and the free relay cost nothing. You pay for the PC's electricity |
| Players at once | You and 10 others on Java and Realms Plus, you and 2 others on Realms for Bedrock | As many as your PC and your upload speed can handle. The free relay takes 4, paid relays more |
| Online when you're not | Yes, all day, every day | Only while the PC is on and awake |
| Setting up | Nothing, buy it in the game and invite people | A few minutes in the app. Friends outside the house need port forwarding or a relay |
| Mods and plugins on Java | No | Yes, Forge, Fabric and the other main loaders, Paper for plugins, plus whole modpacks from CurseForge or Modrinth |
| Bedrock content | Marketplace content, with the Marketplace Pass catalogue on Realms Plus | Add-ons and behaviour packs on Mojang's Bedrock Dedicated Server |
| Minecraft version | The current release | Any version you pick, older ones included |
| Java and Bedrock together | No, a Realm is one edition only | Yes, a Java server with Geyser lets Bedrock players in |
| Worlds | Three world slots, one playable at a time. Saved automatically | A folder on your own drive. Copy it, back it up or move it whenever you like |
| Who can join | The people you invite | Anyone with the address, or only the names on the whitelist once you turn it on |
Realms has no setup at all. Mojang runs the server, keeps it online all the time and saves the world automatically. The people you invite don't pay anything, only the owner subscribes. On Bedrock it works the same on consoles, phones and PCs. Realms Plus also comes with the Marketplace Pass catalogue of worlds, skins and texture packs.
If your subscription ends, Mojang says you've got 18 months to download your worlds. Subscribing again within that time gives you the Realm back as you left it.
For a parent, that means no PC left running in the house and nothing of yours facing the internet. You decide who's invited and nobody else can join.
The PC has to be on. That's the big one. Friends can only play while it's running and awake, so either it stays on in the evenings or you agree times. On the Schedule tab, a Java server can be set to sleep when empty. It stops after a while with nobody on and the first player to join wakes it, with about a minute's wait while it starts. That saves the PC working when nobody's playing, it still needs to be switched on.
Getting friends in. Players on your own wifi just join. Players elsewhere need your router to let them in, which the app can do itself with UPnP. If that's not possible (plenty of connections are on CGNAT, which blocks it), the free relay gives the server an address that works on any connection, for you and three friends, with your home IP kept out of it. The friends can't join guide has every case.
Java and Bedrock both. The app runs Java servers from vanilla to modded and Mojang's Bedrock Dedicated Server for consoles and phones. On a Java server, Add Geyser on the Network tab lets Bedrock players join the same world.
Mods and modpacks. Search CurseForge and Modrinth from the app and a whole modpack installs as a new server, with the right loader and the Java it needs.
Backups. One click backs up the whole server, every backup is checked before you rely on it and Standard backs up automatically each time the server stops. Backups can go to another drive, or off the PC with cloud storage.
Keeping it to the people you know. Turn the whitelist on and only the names you add can join (Bedrock calls it the allowlist). The app shows who's online and keeps a history of everyone who has joined, with first seen, last seen and playtime.
Running your own can cost nothing. Lite is free from the Microsoft Store or our website, up to 3 servers in 6 hour sessions with a 2 hour wait between them. Standard is £1.99 once for no session limits, unlimited servers, automatic backups and the web dashboard. Port forwarding is free, so is the relay for up to four players.
If a bigger group needs the relay, Relay Starter is £1.50 a month and Plus is £24 a year or £2.49 a month with no player limit. Both include everything Standard does while they run. The rest is your electricity, which depends on the PC and how long it's on. The full list is on the pricing page.
You don't have to start over. Download the world from your Realm's settings (on Java it comes down as a singleplayer world), then in MC Server Manager make a server on the same Minecraft version and import the world from its zip or folder on the Worlds tab. Everything you built comes with it. If you go back to Realms later you can upload the world to a Realm the same way.
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