by theygamesWhat are the best Minecraft servers? Multiplayer servers make the world go round. Or, at least, the worlds of Minecraft. It is no secret that the PC community boasts the most ambitious players in the world, and there is no better evidence of this in action than our best Minecraft server list. The architectural artist’s paradise, Minecraft has been a great creative outlet for players who can build to their heart’s content, all without knowing a single line of code.
Their works and ideas are immortalised in the best Minecraft servers. Every server is its own self-contained multiplayer world, with its own rules, gameplay style, and communities. We’ve had a hunt around to find the very best, featuring anything from breathtaking constructions and vistas to worlds with whole new rules and game modes.
One thing to keep in mind is that different servers can sometimes use older versions of Minecraft. Plenty of servers have updated to the current 1.19 patch, but many other popular servers are sticking to older versions of the game for now. Make sure you check each server before jumping in to ensure you know what to expect and how to get it all running as intended.
Here is a list of the best Minecraft servers:
Mineplex
IP: eu.mineplex.com or us.mineplex.com
Server: Minecraft minigame server
Mineplex is an enormous Minecraft server platform, containing multiple arenas and zones for a hefty number of game types. Mineplex is populated by thousands of players at any time across a plethora of minigames and experiences.
Â
From the usual survival games fare – inspired by the battle royale genre – to more unique experiences such as Cake Wars, where you must defend your cake from the hungry foes on the enemy team, all while trying to scoff their cake at the same time. There’s also MineStrike, which is a Minecraft take on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive; one team tries to plant the bomb on one of two designated sites, while the other team defends them.
Mineplex has something for everyone, including a slightly stripped back Bedrock version of the server if you’re not playing on Java.
Brawl
IP: brawl.com
Server: Minecraft battle royale server
If you are a Minecraft player that misses the shooty-bang-bang thrills of Call of Duty, Brawl is one of the best Minecraft servers for you. Think of your favourite FPS modes and there is a good chance that it is featured: from Capture the Flag to Last Man Standing, Brawl is hours of action-packed fun. In fact, battle royale games like Fortnite and PUBG can partly trace their heritage back to the last man standing Minecraft servers, so you can repeatedly die with the feeling that you are going back to where everything started.
Grand Theft Minecart
IP: mc-gtm.net
Server: Minecraft survival server
Grand Theft Minecart brings two of the biggest games on PC together: Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto. Not old enough to walk into a brick and mortar branch of GAME to let loose on Los Santos with Trevor and chums? With houses to own, weapons to shoot, and pesky policemen to evade, you can have a fantastic recreation of the GTA experience here – making this one of the best Minecraft servers out there.
Minescape
IP:Â minescape.me
Server: Minecraft RPG server
RuneScape fans can now experience leveling their skills to 99 in Minecraft on this meticulously built Minecraft RPG server, designed to look and feel just like one of the best free MMOs. Two years of tremendous effort have culminated in a very faithful reproduction of all the locations, mobs, and skills in RuneScape – Minescape has taken inspiration from both OSRS and RS3, so players of both should feel right at home.
The original Minescape.net can be found here and is still being updated, but the two servers differ quite a bit now, so we advise reading up on both to see which is right for you.
Minewind
IP: server.minewind.com
Server: Minecraft survival server
Do not expect a particularly pleasant experience on the Minewind server. Instead, you get the ultimate playground for griefers, player-killing, and deception. Your goal is simple: try to survive for as long as possible – this is still Minecraft, after all – but you will also be up against endless Minecraft mobs, double-crossers, and killers.
PixelmonCraft
IP: server.pixelmoncraft.com or safari.pixelmoncraft.com
Server: Minecraft RPG server
This, one of the best Minecraft servers, takes the popular Pokémon-themed Pixelmon mod and makes it multiplayer. Split over two servers, PixelmonCraft is based on the Kanto and Johto regions from the famous Nintendo games. Not only have the geniuses behind PixelmonCraft recreated the areas and towns of those games faithfully, but they have also replicated as much of the gameplay as possible. Animals in Minecraft are replaced with Pokémon and they can be caught and used in battle. As you would expect, there are gym leaders to fight, Pokémarts to shop in, and long grass to avoid.
This server proves Minecraft’s blocky beauty is the perfect home for the Pokémon games and it feels like the Pokémon game for PC you always wanted.
Among Us Performium
IP:Â http://mc.performium.net/
Server: Minecraft Among Us server
Minecraft and Among Us are two of the most popular games in the world right now, and since Minecraft has a wealth of creative possibilities – and Among Us has such an ingeniously simple formula – it was only a matter of time before the social deduction game found its way over to Minecraft.
Though there are Among Us Minecraft maps available to play with your friends, if you’d rather hop on a public server and play with the unsuspecting public, RGA Minecraft’s Among Us Server is open to all and requires no mods or texture packs to play, although it might look extra lovely with some Minecraft shaders.
The Among Us gameplay is cleverly recreated, with a boss health bar at the top showing your task progress, and tasks themselves performed as faithfully as possible – you’ll plot courses and destroy debris inside chests, for example – and you’re even provided with a compass to help you find your outstanding tasks.
Zero.Minr
IP: zero.minr.org
Server: Minecraft parkour server
Demonstrating Minecraft’s ever-versatile nature, Zero.Minr is a parkour server – yes, seriously. Filled with a great variety of challenging maps, crafting and killing are thrown aside in favour of running and climbing an ever more intricate web of towers and paths. The overly-dramatic trailer above shows off some of the more challenging routes, spiralling skyward with jumps sure to send many players flailing to their doom.
While frustrating to start with, Minecraft parkour is a skill to work on, but with a little practice can become one of the game’s great pleasures. Zero.Minr is certainly one of the best servers to free-run.
PirateCraft
IP: mc.piratemc.com
Server: Minecraft RPG server
Sail, build, and plunder in PirateCraft, a server dedicated to the golden age of scurvy and theft. PirateCraft is one of the most ambitious servers we’ve played on and even has a fully-functioning ship-to-ship combat mechanic. As with all Minecraft ideas of such magnitude, it’s a little clunky, but it works. Ships can be built and sailed across the seas, cannons can be mounted to the hull, and then used to fire at enemy vessels.
On land, a simple but functional economy replicates the trade and booty of the period, and players can create their own Minecraft houses and Minecraft builds on ‘safe zones’ in order to bunk and store treasures. Safe Zones are protected from griefers, meaning you can build as much as you like without fear of others trashing your masterpieces.
Piratecraft’s salty setting makes it one of the best Minecraft roleplay servers. Of course, if you’re roleplaying a pirate there’s going to be some grief involved, and provided the owner is in a Safe Zone, other players can siege them. Attackers can destroy ‘soft’ blocks, and generally make a nuisance of themselves until they either walk away or the defender surrenders. Similarly, ships can be stolen, provided the owner is not on board at the time. So if you’re looking for a PvP Minecraft server with a twist, this could be the buried treasure you seek.
Hypixel
IP: mc.hypixel.net
Server: Minecraft Skyblock server
The Hypixel Minecraft server is full to bursting with some great minigames including Cops and Crims, Duels, and a Murder Mystery.
Their SkyWars game mode is a precarious PvP take on the classic Minecraft Skyblock server. There’s a dazzling variety here, making the Hypixel Minecraft server a great place to have a laugh with your blocky pals.
Minecraft Middle earth
IP: build.mcmiddleearth.com
Server: Minecraft RPG server
If ever there were a classic world that would inevitably end up immortalised in textured blocks, it was Tolkien’s Middle-earth. This as yet incomplete project is primarily based on Peter Jackson’s cinematic vision of Middle-earth. You can help push forward with the building of the world of men, elves, and creatures of shorter stature, so long as you follow the rules.
Ranch n Craft
IP: mc.ranchncraft.com
Server: Minecraft RPG server
Line dancing, horse taming, and farming: Ranch n Craft is one of the best Minecraft servers if you want to drop the shootouts and saloon brawls of other Wild West-themed servers and stick to the simplicities of country life. With tons of equestrian-based features unique to the server, it is ideal for Minecrafters who feel most at home in the saddle.
Users can claim land and start their own ranches, breed horses, and farm crops to their heart’s content. What’s more, Ranch n Craft is one of the most peaceful servers out there with its mostly griefer-free community and an army of helpful moderators.
WesterosCraft
IP: mc.westeroscraft.com
Server: Minecraft RPG server
If Middle-earth is our classic fantasy Minecraft server then WesterosCraft is our modern great. From the Wall to The Red Keep at King’s Landing, WesterosCraft is a vast server with many of Game of Thrones’ landmarks recreated in astonishing detail. Most areas are built from the TV show designs, making much of this server like a trip inside HBO’s vision of the fantasy world. Kings Landing is especially awe-inspiring.
Like Minecraft Middle-earth, it is still a work-in-progress, with work currently being done to the Lannister bastion of Casterly Rock. Should you know your Winterfell from your Dreadfort, you can join in and help prop up the next house of death and tyranny.
The Mining Dead
IP: mc.havocmc.net
Server: Minecraft survival server
PvP and PvE combine in this server-wide recreation of AMC’s The Walking Dead. Fight, craft, and survive on the enormous map, fighting off walkers and other players alike. Much of the action plays out like a Minecraft version of DayZ, with players doing whatever it takes to make it out alive – a Minecraft survival server on a whole new scale. The Mining Dead also features key locations from the TV series like The Prison, Woodbury, and Alexandria.
HiveMC
IP: play.hivemc.com
Server: Minecraft minigames server
As one of the largest and best Minecraft servers around, there will always be something fun for you to do in HiveMC. From hide and seek to survival games, HiveMC covers all sorts of genres. What’s more, this highly engaged community are coming up with new minigames – and maps to house them – all the time. To stay up to date with all the latest updates, check out their website.
The Archon
IP: play.thearchon.net
Server: Minecraft Skyblock and faction servers
The Archon has a monumental population of players enjoying regularly updated Minecraft game modes – it’s one of the most popular Minecraft factions servers and Minecraft Skyblock servers, and also offers robbery, prison, and outlands game modes.
ManacubeÂ
IP: play.manacube.net
Server: Minecraft Skyblock, faction, parkour, creative, and survival servers
Manacube is one of the only large Minecraft factions servers with minimal ‘pay to win’ elements, thanks to its recently balanced shop. It’s also got a huge Minecraft Skyblock server, plus survival, parkour, and creative servers.
If you’re looking for something a little different, its Islands game mode tasks you with surviving on a mostly-submerged island – while staying away from the poisonous water. Or there’s Olympus, a prison-based server where you’re assigned your own personal plots of land, ranking up as you make money, gaining access to new, more profitable areas.
Fallen Kingdom
IP: play.fallenkingdom.co
Server: Fallen Kingdom
Requires Minecraft Java 1.16, does not work on Bedrock
For long-term fans of CaptainSparklez, here is a Minecraft server that allows players to create defences for a castle, or train troops to storm an enemy’s defences. By using custom resources, you can recruit troops to fight enemies by spending resources gathered from the mining world, or upgrade items via the blacksmith. There are several raids that your troops can participate in. If this sort of thing interests you, CaptainSparklez has a playlist of development videos that explain more about each of the features in detail.
How to join a Minecraft server
To join a Minecraft server, first, find a server you like the sound of – like any of the ones mentioned below – and grab the IP address. Start the game, click ‘multiplayer’, then ‘add a server’. Next, pop in the IP address and name the server.
Now, make sure you click ‘done’ before heading back to your server list and finding your desired server. Hit the ‘join server’ button and you will find yourself in a new, wonderful world of blocks, and people who like said blocks. You can also set up your own free Minecraft server, so follow our guide if you’re feeling daring.
Now has that list of the best Minecraft servers got you as excited as it has us? Amazing new worlds combine with fun and varied activities but make sure you look the part on each new server you encounter with the best Minecraft skins. Also, don’t forget to make Minecraft even better with our list of the best Minecraft mods, you’ll never look back after you’ve applied all those excellent tweaks and improvements. If you’re interested in starting your own server, check out our Minecraft hosting guide. But, if you don’t mind, we’ve got some minigames to play, and new blocky worlds to discover.