Background

RAM & Hardware Planner

Estimate how much RAM and what kind of CPU your Minecraft server needs based on players, distances and plugins.

Modded engines (Fabric/Forge) need significantly more memory than plugin-based servers.

20
10
8
15
Recommended RAM4 GBEstimated for 20 players
This is a rough estimate to give you a general idea — not a guaranteed figure. Your real needs could be noticeably higher or lower depending on your specific plugins/mods, world generation, player activity and configuration. Plugin and mod performance varies enormously: a single poorly-optimised plugin can use more RAM and CPU than a dozen well-made ones. Always test and monitor your own server (e.g. with spark) and adjust from there.
2suggested cores
16 GBdisk (NVMe)
21Java version

Single-thread clock is what matters. Any modern high-clock CPU (4.0 GHz+) handles this comfortably.

Use Java 21 (required for Minecraft 1.20.5+). For 1.17–1.20.4 use Java 17.

How this was estimated
Base (paper)2.0 GB
Players (20)0.80 GB
Plugins/mods (15)0.53 GB
View distance (10)0.00 GB
World size×1
  • Plugin performance varies enormously — one poorly-optimised plugin can use more RAM and CPU than a dozen lightweight ones, so your real needs may differ a lot.
  • This is only a general estimate — actual usage could be higher or lower. Monitor your own server with /spark and adjust.

A 4 GB server on Birdflop is roughly ~$5.92/mo after reimbursements (nonprofit pricing).

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