How to create a Minecraft Java server, and when Bedrock changes everything

Bedrock vs Java server: which edition of Minecraft do you have?

Minecraft comes in two editions that do not talk to each other. Minecraft Java Edition is the game on a computer, started from the official launcher, the small program that boots the game. Minecraft Bedrock is the game on consoles, phones, tablets, and the Windows 10 and 11 app from the Microsoft Store. Same name, same blocks, but two different programs, and a server only ever speaks one of the two languages.

Here is why that matters to you. Plugins, the small programs you add to a server to give it commands, rules and mini games, only exist on the Java side. A Minecraft Java Edition server runs on Paper, accepts plugins, and that is exactly what Minax builds. A Minecraft Bedrock server is opened with Mojang's own Bedrock Dedicated Server software, or with a Realm, the official Mojang subscription. In both cases, no Java plugin can ever be installed on it.

The test fits in one sentence. If you and your friends play on a computer with the launcher, you are on Java, and this page is written for you. If you play on a console or a phone, you are on Bedrock, and you can still join a Java server. We explain how further down, with Geyser.

• Java Edition: computer, official launcher, plugins possible
• Bedrock: consoles, phones, tablets, Windows 10 and 11 from the Store, no Java plugins
• A Java server only welcomes Bedrock players through a bridge, the Geyser plugin
• Minax builds plugins for Java servers only, and says so plainly

What do you need before you start: version, Java 25 or 21, Paper

Three decisions before you download anything. First, the Minecraft version. Since 2026, versions carry a calendar number: 26.1, then 26.2, the latest release. Those are not typos, and the last version of the old series was called 1.21.11. Most servers still run 1.21, so both choices hold up: 26.2 for the newest features, 1.21 to sit with the bulk of the servers out there. Minax can build plugins from 1.12.2 to 26.2, but Paper no longer publishes anything for versions 1.0 to 1.15, so do not pick something that old.

Then Java itself. Watch the word: Minecraft Java Edition is called that because the game is written in Java, a programming language. To run a server, your computer therefore needs Java installed, a bit like it needs a player app to open a video. And the version matters. A 26.x server requires Java 25, because Paper 26.x is built with that version of Java, while a 1.21.x server is happy with Java 21. When in doubt, install the Java version your Minecraft version asks for: Paper spells it out in the console when it starts.

Last, the server software. The vanilla server, the official one from Mojang, accepts no plugins at all, only datapacks, which are far more limited rule packs. Paper is the most widely used, clearly faster than vanilla, and it accepts plugins written for Bukkit and Spigot, its ancestors. That is the default choice, and the one Minax targets first. Purpur is a Paper variant with more settings. Folia is another variant that spreads the world across several processor cores: some plugins are not compatible with it, and Minax knows how to build ones that are.

• Version: 26.2 for the newest features, 1.21 to match most servers out there
• Java 25 for a 26.x server, Java 21 for a 1.21.x server
• Paper by default: fast, compatible with Bukkit and Spigot, targeted first by Minax
• Vanilla accepts no plugins at all: if you want plugins, it is not the one

Minecraft Java Edition server setup: the steps, one by one

Here is what you will see on screen, in order. Everything happens inside one folder, and you can start over by deleting it: nothing is installed anywhere else on your computer, apart from Java itself.

• 1. Install Java. Download the version your Minecraft version asks for (25 for 26.x, 21 for 1.21.x) from adoptium.net, where you get Temurin, a version of Java that is free and needs no account, then run the installer, keeping the default choices.
• 2. Create an empty folder, MyJavaServer for example, and download Paper for your version from papermc.io, the official Paper site: go to its Downloads page and take a version marked stable. You get a single .jar file, the format Java programs use: that file is the whole server.
• 3. Run it once from a terminal, the window where you type commands, opened inside that folder, with the java -jar command followed by the file name. The server stops straight away, which is normal: it has just created an eula.txt file asking you to accept the Mojang terms. Open it, replace false with true, and save.
• 4. Run the same command again. This time the server generates the world and writes in the console, the text window where it says what it is doing, that it is ready. Your server is running. Type stop to shut it down cleanly.
• 5. Open server.properties, the settings file created on that first launch: game mode, difficulty, maximum number of players. Leave online-mode on true, we come back to it in the mistakes section.
• 6. Drop your plugins, which are .jar files, into the plugins folder the server created, then restart. Every plugin that loads announces itself in the console at startup, and any error shows up in the same place.
• 7. Open Minecraft, go to Multiplayer then Add Server, and type localhost, the address that means "this computer": you join your own server from the same machine. For your friends you need a real address, and that is the next step.

How do you open your Java server to your friends?

A Java player joins a server with an address and a port. The address is either the public IP address of your connection, the string of numbers that identifies your router on the internet, or a domain name pointing at it. The port is the numbered door Minecraft knocks on: 25565 by default. Your friends type both, separated by a colon, in Multiplayer then Add Server.

If the server runs on your PC, your router blocks that door by default. Two ways around it. Port forwarding: you tell the router to send everything arriving on port 25565 to your computer, from the router's settings page. Or a tunnel tool such as playit.gg or ngrok, which hands you a public address without touching the router at all. Hamachi, the old method, forces every friend to install it too, so skip it. One more trap: the public address of a home connection changes from time to time, and you then have to hand out the new one.

With a host, all of this disappears: you get a fixed address and a port that are already open, and the server stays up when your PC is off. The page on Java edition server hosting goes through what to look at before you pay.

Where should your Java server run: your PC, a host, or free online?

Three families, with no brands and no prices, because rates change all the time. On your own PC it costs nothing, but the PC has to stay on while the others play, and port forwarding is on you. With a host you pay every month, you choose the RAM, the working memory the server is allowed to use, and the region of the machine, and the server stays online around the clock. What actually counts: RAM that is genuinely dedicated to you, a fast processor core, a machine close to your players, file access so you can drop in your own plugins, and backups you can download. For a few friends in survival with a handful of plugins, 2 to 4 GB of RAM is a reasonable order of magnitude.

A free Minecraft Java server online exists too. Aternos is the best known. The limits are out in the open: a queue before it starts, an automatic shutdown when nobody is playing, performance shared with other servers, and, on Aternos, only the plugins from its catalogue: it refuses the ones you upload yourself, the ones Minax builds included. Perfect to try things out with two friends, less so for a server meant to last.

And where does Minax fit? Minax does not host servers and does not sell hosting. Minax builds the plugins that make your server yours, and lets you try them in game on an online test server, before your own server even exists.

Crossplay Minecraft server: welcoming Bedrock players with Geyser and Floodgate

Your cousin plays on console, your little sister on a tablet, and you on PC? Crossplay means playing together from different editions. A Java server does not understand a Bedrock game, but a bridge exists: Geyser, a plugin you drop into the plugins folder of your Paper server, which translates on the fly what a Bedrock player says into something the Java server understands. Geyser is published under a permissive licence, which means you are free to use it.

On its own, Geyser still asks Bedrock players to sign in with a Java account. To avoid that, add Floodgate, its companion: with it, a Bedrock player joins with the account they already have, without buying the game a second time. Both install like any other plugin. Geyser listens on its own port, written in its configuration file, so you will probably have to open that one on your router too, alongside 25565.

What it changes for your plugins: nothing on the server side. Plugins run on the Java server, so a Bedrock player coming in through Geyser gets your commands, your rules and your mini games. Some visual pieces, menus or effects, might show up slightly differently on Bedrock, so test with one friend on console before you open the doors to everyone.

• Geyser: the bridge, dropped into the plugins folder like any other plugin
• Floodgate: the companion that spares Bedrock players from needing a Java account
• The server stays a Java server: your plugins keep running for everybody
• Without Geyser, a console or phone player simply cannot join a Java server

Which plugins make your Java server yours, and how do you ask Minax for them?

A brand new Paper server is just another survival world. What makes it worth joining is what happens on it: a spawn point that welcomes people, rules that hold, an economy, some protection, a mini game of your own. All of that is plugins. You can download them from Hangar, the plugin catalogue run by the Paper team, or from SpigotMC, the other big community catalogue, or you can have one built to fit exactly what you want. Mods are a different thing: every player has to install them in their own game, and they live on Modrinth and CurseForge.

With Minax, you describe your plugin in plain English, the way you would explain it to a friend, and you get back a compiled .jar file, meaning a program ready to load, for your version of Paper. Before you put it on your server, you try it in game on an online test server, and a robot player can replay your scenario to check that the plugin does what you asked. To create, a credit pack paid once, with no subscription: 50 credits for €17.99. Here are three requests ready to paste, written for a Java server that is just starting out.

The mistakes that cost you an evening on a Java server

Almost every server that refuses to start, or that disappoints, falls into one of these six mistakes. They are quick to fix once you know where to look.

• Wrong Java version: Paper 26.x refuses to start without Java 25, and a 1.21.x server wants Java 21 at least. The console message names the version it expects, so read it before you look anywhere else.
• Believing a plugin works on Bedrock: a plugin is Java code running on a Java server. On Bedrock Dedicated Server or on a Realm, it simply never loads. The only route is a Java server with Geyser on it.
• Counting on ViaVersion to change versions: ViaVersion is a plugin that lets players on another version connect. It never changes the version of the server itself. A plugin compiled for 26.x needs a 26.x server, ViaVersion or not.
• Picking a version that is too old: Paper no longer publishes anything for versions 1.0 to 1.15. You would end up with no updates and no recent plugins.
• Flipping online-mode to false so friends without an account can join: it is common, but it opens the door to name spoofing, where anyone can connect using somebody else's name. If you do it, know what you are taking on.
• Mixing up mods and plugins: Fabric and NeoForge are for mods, which every player has to install at home. A plugin server asks nothing of its players. If your friends should only have to click Join, a Paper server is what you want.

Frequently asked questions