Minecraft server RAM calculator
Tell it what you run and how many people play at once. You get an honest estimate of the memory your server needs — and which plan covers it.
Survival · 4 GB RAM · €7.49 / month
Order this planHow we got this number
- Base for paper: 1.25 GB
- 10 × 0.1 GB per player = 1.0 GB
- plugins: +0.25 GB
- view distance 10: × 1.00
What actually uses the memory
A Minecraft server keeps loaded chunks, entities, players and every plugin or mod in memory. The software you choose sets the base: Paper and Purpur are optimised and need the least, Vanilla a little more, Fabric with mods more again, and Forge modpacks the most.
Each player online loads the chunks around them, so memory grows with players and with view distance. Plugins add a little each; mods add a lot, because they add new blocks, entities and world generation.
How to use the result
- Count players online at the same time, not total members.
- For modpacks, use the size of the pack: 150+ mods is a heavy pack.
- Lower view distance to 8 and simulation distance to 6 if you need to save memory — the difference is big.
- Pre-generate your world (for example with Chunky) so the server does not generate chunks while people play.
More RAM is not always faster
Giving Java far more memory than it needs makes garbage collection pauses longer. Pick enough, with some room to grow, and use good JVM flags (Aikar's flags). If your server lags with free memory left, the bottleneck is usually CPU — too many entities, redstone or a heavy plugin — not RAM. A profiler such as spark shows what is slow.