How Much RAM Do I Need For My Minecraft Server?

To get the most out of your Minecraft server you need to ensure it has a decent amount of RAM, or Random Access Memory. But figuring out how much is actually needed can be somewhat of a challenge since there are a lot of factors at play.

So, in this article, we will give you some pointers to how much RAM you would need for your specific gaming requirements. A general rule of thumb is 1 GB of RAM per 4 GB of Minecraft game world data, but there are exceptions to this rule and after reading this article you will have a better understanding of when it should be applied or not.

How Much RAM For A Minecraft Server

The amount of RAM you’ll need for your Minecraft server will depend on several factors, including the number of players, the number of mods you’re using, and the amount of world data that needs to be loaded. Let’s take a closer look at each of these factors and how they impact the amount of RAM your server will need.

Number of Players

The number of players on your Minecraft server is one of the most important factors to consider when determining how much RAM you’ll need. Generally speaking, the more players you have, the more RAM you’ll need to keep your server running smoothly.

As a general rule of thumb, you’ll need at least 1 GB of RAM for every 10 players on your server. For example, if you have 20 players on your server, you’ll need at least 2 GB of RAM. However, if your server is running mods or has a large amount of world data to load, you may need even more RAM to ensure a smooth gaming experience.

Number of Mods

Mods are a great way to add new content and features to your Minecraft server. However, they also require additional resources to run. The resource usage can be very different depending on what kind of mods you have installed on your server. Some mods use almost no resources at all, while some use lots.

As with the number of players, the more mods you have on your Minecraft server, the more RAM you will need to ensure the gameplay stays smooth and without any stuttering. However, keep in mind that some mods are more resource-intensive than others, so you may need even more RAM if you’re running particularly demanding mods.

Amount of World Data

The amount of world data your server needs to load is another important factor to consider when determining how much RAM your server will need. World data includes things like terrain, structures, and player inventories. If your Minecraft world is really big with a lot of buildings and player items in storage and inventory, you are going to need a lot more RAM compared to a stock Minecraft installation.

As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, you’ll need at least 1 GB of RAM for every 4 GB of world data on your server. So, if your Minecraft world is huge and world data uses 32 GB of storage, you will need at least 8 GB of RAM just for the world data.

You should also keep in mind that you will need RAM for all the mods and the number of players on your server. So the total amount of RAM will probably be greater than 4 GB. The amount of RAM needed will be even greater if you are running mods that add new structures or increase the size of your world, as this will be especially heavy on resource usage.

In order to make things simpler for you, we have created a table that shows the recommended amount of RAM for different combinations of players and mods. Keep in mind that these are general recommendations, and you may need more or less RAM depending on the specific needs of your server.

Recommended RAM	World Size	Number of Players	Number of Mods
4 GB	16 GB	25	25
6 GB	24 GB	50	35
8 GB	32 GB	75	45
10 GB	40 GB	100	55
12 GB	48 GB	150	75
16 GB	64 GB	200+	75+

As you can see, RAM usage tends to climb fairly drastically with a big world size in combination with multiple mods and many players. This is something that you should keep in mind when deciding how to divide your server resources.

Conclusion

It is worth keeping in mind that these numbers are just general recommendations and your specific needs and requirements may differ from someone else’s. You should always make sure you have a sufficient amount of RAM allocated and meticulously set up your server properly to avoid performance issues.

Should you need help with splitting your server resources you can find a detailed guide in our documentation hub. The guide will show you how to easily split your server resources to any of your game servers. Thank you for reading our blog!