Minecraft: Realms vs External Servers

Have you ever wondered why Minecraft personally hosted servers are the best option for gaming? This article will help you understand why external hosting is better than using a Minecraft client-server (Realms). 

First, we will list the differences between Realms and external servers to help you understand why you should be choosing a server over a realm.

Why Servers Are Better Than Realms

Player Limit

Servers can have unlimited player slots and allow 100+ users to be playing at one time, some servers may require you to buy a better plan to do so but it’s still a viable option. However, on realms, they only allow 2 players on bedrock and 10 players on the Java edition. This means you cannot really have a server running to the public since the player cap is too low, and for the people with larger friend groups, this means you cannot all play one server.

Configuration

Whilst configuring your realm you have to be on the Minecraft home screen whereas you can edit all files and settings from your control panel online when using a server. Players on realms cannot be invited/uninvited or opped/de-opped (given/removed operator status) in-game – they must quit the menu to do this.

Game server control panels are also optimized for ease of use for new players so you will have an easier time using a game hosting service in most cases, over realms.

Game Version

When using a server you can revert to older versions of the game and play with 0 limitations or bugs but realms only work on the most recent version of the game and cannot be accessed by using older versions of the game or snapshots. 

So, if you want to run your server on one of the older popular versions like 1.8 you can use a game hosting company. You can also choose not to update your server with upcoming updates meaning your game can stay in its current version whilst other servers and single-player worlds update around it.

Game Activity

Players are kicked due to inactivity in realms which means AFK farms and short game breaks whilst still being logged in are impossible which can remove a big portion of the game since getting materials for big builds and acquiring the rare loot you want becomes 100 times harder.

Servers however allow players to go AFK and can even give a custom message in the console and game chat to alert owners and other players when someone goes AFK. This allows all kinds of AFK farming and looting.

Age Limit

The majority of Minecraft server hosts don’t have an age limit on tier servers, they are advertised for all ages and can be used by any age. However realms require parental permission if you are under the age of 16, This is due to the General Data Protection Regulation. However servers have specific chat options and are restricted for this reason, so you can still enjoy your favorite game safely without worrying about the chat feature.

Server Uptime

Minecraft servers have a 100% uptime guarantee, this is one of the best features of external hosting. Your server can still be up and running when no one is there, which means things like tree farms and mob farms can still be active even if not logged in. The uptime of your server is completely in your hands and you can Stop, Start and restart whenever you see fit.

However, with realms, they have an auto-reset time at midnight every day, which in itself isn’t that hard to deal with but being kicked abruptly whilst in the game is not something anyone wants, especially if you are flying over lava and the game reminds you it needs to reset. This means realms aren’t technically a 100% uptime guarantee.

The one thing about realms that is more convenient is mini-games. Changing and finding mini-games for realms is much easier than servers since some server hosting companies offer it and some don’t so mini-game servers are hit-and-miss.

Why You Should Choose UltraServers

Secondly, we would like to tell you why you should choose Ultraservers over all the other hosts on the market. There are a lot of server hosting options out there but we would like to sway you in the direction of why we are the best match for you.

Minecraft Plugin Installer

With UltraServers you can Install plugins directly from Spigot (It is likely that we add devBukkit as well but it will be after release). This means you don’t have to go out of your way when playing Minecraft, to go and search on the web for the plugins you would like to use. You can simply go to our plugins tab and download the exact plugins you would like. As Ultraservers get further into its development more plugin options will be added.

Minecraft Modpack Installer

Installable mod packs with selectable versions from Curseforge, Modrinth, Feed The Beast, and Technic. Modpacks are also tested prior to being available for the client to install, to make sure they run correctly. These are also available for one-click install and if you would like to switch mod packs that job is made very easy as your client will only allow you to install one Modpacks at a time hence making it very hard for your server to break.

Reinstall Feature

In the future we also plan to add our game swapping feature which quickly and easily allows you to switch between games, we will be offering games such as Minecraft, Rust, and Valheim to begin with, and switching between these games in full-release of UltraServers will be one of the easiest tasks compared to other hosting providers.

Unbreakable Panel

The panel will do a lot of hand-holding to help the client not break things, but will try not to restrict the client to do what they want either: It should be accessible for both Minecraft veterans and newbies to the game. 

The goal is to have as few support requests as possible. This is achieved by letting the panel adapt to the environment it has been given and disallowing installing two things that are not compatible with each other without giving the user warnings that they need to delete what is already installed etc.

Conclusion

By now you should have a pretty good idea on why a external server is preferred over the realms provided directly in Minecraft. The ability to customize your server to your specific needs and requirements is reason enough for why you should use a server.

We hope that you found this article to be interesting and maybe you even learned something about Minecraft. If you want more information about our servers, you can sign up for access to our dashboard and join our Discord server and become a part of the community. Have a nice day!