Minecraft Bedrock server hosting: the complete guide
Bedrock is the console, mobile and Windows edition — and it is a different game from Java Edition, with its own network protocol. A Java player and a Bedrock player do not meet on the same server without a bridge. That is the first thing to settle before you create anything.
1. Bedrock or Java? Settle this first
| Your group plays on… | You need |
|---|---|
| Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, phone, Windows (Microsoft Store) | Bedrock |
| PC with the Minecraft "Java Edition" launcher | Java |
| Both, mixed | A Java server plus a bridge (Geyser), which we do not provide |
The two editions look alike, but their worlds and their servers are not interchangeable. Pick the edition most of your group actually plays.
2. Create the server
Pick Minecraft Bedrock, the RAM and the performance level. The server starts on its own and shows its address in your dashboard.
Two settings are made at creation and cannot be changed afterwards: the world type (normal or flat) and the seed.
3. Joining: the part that catches everyone out
On Windows, Android and iOS: in game, Servers tab → Add Server, then the address and port (19132) shown in your dashboard. It works straight away.
On Xbox, PlayStation and Switch it is a different story: those clients offer no field to type an address into. The Servers tab lists only Mojang's partner servers, and there is no "Add" button. That is not a limitation on our side — it is the console client.
Workarounds exist and are widely documented by the community: pointing the console's DNS at a connector service (BedrockConnect), using a mobile app that broadcasts the server as a LAN game (BedrockTogether), or a local relay (Phantom). We neither provide nor support any of those tools — but it is better to know the detour exists before you buy than to find out with a controller in your hands.
You have no ports to open: the game port (19132, UDP) is already in place.
4. There is no password — there is a guest list
This is a real difference from the other games in the catalogue: a Bedrock server has no password. Mojang does not provide one.
Access control goes through the allow list ("invite-only server"): you turn it on, then add the authorised Microsoft accounts from the "players" screen of your dashboard. While it is off, anyone who knows the address can walk in — and an address always ends up circulating. Turn it on from the first session if your server is private.
From the dashboard you also get the usual moderation commands: make a player an operator, or kick them.
5. The settings, and the one that cannot be undone
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Game mode | Survival | Survival, Creative or Adventure, for arriving players. |
| Difficulty | Normal | From Peaceful to Hard. |
| Invite-only server | off | The allow list from §4. |
| In-game commands | off | Needed to type commands from inside the game. |
| Idle player timeout | 30 minutes | Disconnects a player who stops moving. Set 0 to never kick. |
| View distance | 32 | Chunks rendered. Lower it if the server struggles. |
| Simulation distance | 4 | Chunks where the world keeps running (farms, mobs, redstone). |
⚠️ Allowing in-game commands permanently disables achievements for that world. That is Mojang's rule, not ours, and turning the setting back off does not undo it: the world is flagged. If achievements matter to your group, leave it off.
6. How much RAM?
The Bedrock server is written in C++ and is noticeably lighter than its Java counterpart — no virtual machine, no heap to size.
| Your game | What we suggest |
|---|---|
| A family, a few friends, fresh world | 4 GB, eco tier |
| Larger group, well-explored world | 8 GB, eco tier |
| Busy server, big automated farms | 8 GB on dedicated CPU |
The server takes 10 players by default, up to 30. The price follows the RAM and the performance level, never the game: at equal size, Bedrock costs exactly what Java costs.
Two settings matter more than RAM for smoothness: the simulation distance (every simulated chunk costs CPU) and how many automated farms run non-stop.
7. Your world is kept between sessions
The world is saved on shutdown and restored on the next start, at no cost. A timestamped backup is taken regularly while the server runs, and the most recent one is kept; the backup option keeps several, staggered over several days back.
Want to bring an existing world over — including a single-player world played on a console or a phone?
- Get the
worlds/<YourWorld>/folder, the one holdinglevel.datand adbfolder. From the game, Edit → Export World gives you a.mcworldfile: that is a zip, rename it to.zip. - Zip that folder, or just its contents — we put it back in place.
- Upload the archive when you create the server. One world per server.
8. Shut down when you're done
Server off = €0. Auto-shutdown kicks in on its own once nobody is connected, and the world is saved at that moment.
That is what changes everything for a family server: hosts almost never separate Java from Bedrock in their price list, and bill the same monthly plan either way — including the holiday weeks when nobody logs in.
Create your Minecraft Bedrock server · What it costs, exactly