(Estimated Read Time: 3 Minutes)

Minecraft is better with friends and family, but playing together wasn’t always so easy. For that reason, Mojang offered their own official server hosting titled “Minecraft Realms.” So, today, we explore the subject of Minecraft realms and compare it to third-party options.

What Are Minecraft Realms?

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Minecraft Realms is Mojang’s official Minecraft server hosting service, which offers slightly different packages for Bedrock Edition and Java Edition. On Bedrock Edition, two tiers of subscription exist, offering servers with three player slots or eleven. If the more expensive subscription is selected, it additionally comes with a rotating selection of marketplace content. Bedrock Realms are also cross-play. As for Java Edition, only one subscription is offered for the same cost as the higher-tier Bedrock subscription. The server comes with eleven slots and includes a selection of free community content, such as adventure maps. Otherwise, the services are the same and have a hard limit of three worlds, free backups, and are available 24/7.

Subscription Costs

For Bedrock Edition, the lower tier package costs 3.99 USD a month, while the higher tier package labeled Realms Plus costs 7.99 USD a month. As for Java Editon, the only package offered costs 7.99 USD a month. Both these numbers are subject to change and were accurate as of writing.

Minecraft Realms Vs. Third-Party Hosting

Photo by HenryNewman12. Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International The main strengths of Minecraft realms are ease of setup and reliability. There is no denying that when it comes to quality, Mojang does not slack. However, assurance of quality comes with many limitations that Minecraft servers do not typically have. At most third-party server hosts, customers are able to edit the files to their liking. Examples of this include adjusting the number of slots a server has, editing server view distance, and even running older versions. Additionally, third-party server hosts allow clients to run custom jars, granting countless new features through plugins and modpacks at no extra charge. Both features realms does not support at all. Overall, if you are content with a standard vanilla server for select friends and family, chances are Minecraft realms will fit your needs perfectly well. However, anyone with desires beyond that would likely find their needs better met with third-party options.