Minecraft's multiplayer scene is incredibly diverse. From peaceful survival worlds to cutthroat PvP arenas, there's a server type for every playstyle. But if you're starting your own server, choosing the right type is crucial — it determines what plugins you'll need, how much RAM you'll require, and what kind of community you'll attract.
This guide explains every major Minecraft server type, what makes each one unique, and what you'll need to set one up on Azion Cloud.
Survival SMP (Survival Multiplayer)
The classic Minecraft experience. Players gather resources, build bases, explore caves, fight mobs, and survive together. This is the most popular server type and the easiest to set up.
What Makes a Good SMP
- Community: SMPs thrive on their community. A small, tight-knit group of 10-30 players creates the best experience.
- Trust and grief protection: Use claim plugins so players can protect their builds from others.
- Quality of life: Add /home, /tpa, and /spawn commands so players can navigate easily.
- Economy (optional): Some SMPs add a player-driven economy with shops and currency.
Essential Plugins
- GriefPrevention or Towny: Land claiming and protection.
- EssentialsX: Core commands (/home, /tpa, /spawn, /warp, /kit).
- LuckPerms: Permission management for ranks and groups.
- CoreProtect: Block logging to investigate and rollback grief.
- Dynmap (optional): Live web-based map of your world.
Server Requirements
| Players | RAM | Server Software |
|---|---|---|
| 1-10 | 2-3 GB | Paper or Purpur |
| 10-30 | 4-6 GB | Paper or Purpur |
| 30-50+ | 6-8 GB | Purpur (with optimizations) |
Creative Servers
Creative servers give players unlimited resources and the ability to fly. They're all about building — from pixel art and replicas of real buildings to massive fantasy cities and redstone engineering.
Types of Creative Servers
- Free Build: Everyone gets a plot and can build whatever they want.
- Themed Build: Build competitions with specific themes (medieval, futuristic, underwater, etc.).
- Redstone Labs: Dedicated to redstone engineering and circuit design.
- Education: Used in schools for Minecraft: Education Edition projects.
Essential Plugins
- PlotSquared: Creates a grid of individual plots for each player.
- WorldEdit: Powerful building tool for copy/paste, selections, and transformations.
- VoxelSniper: Terrain sculpting and large-scale building tools.
- goBrush: Smooth terrain editing with brush tools.
Server Requirements
Creative servers are generally lighter than survival because there are no mobs or redstone ticking (unless you specifically enable it). 2-4 GB RAM handles most creative servers well. However, if players build massive redstone contraptions, CPU usage can spike significantly.
Skyblock
Skyblock starts each player on a tiny floating island with limited resources. The challenge is expanding your island, farming resources, and completing challenges — all while floating in the void. It's one of the most addictive server types.
How Skyblock Works
- Players start on a small island (usually with a tree, some dirt, and a chest with starter items).
- Using cobblestone generators, farming, and mob spawners, players expand their island.
- Islands are rated by level based on the blocks placed.
- Players compete for the highest-level island on a leaderboard.
- An economy system lets players trade items and currency.
Essential Plugins
- BentoBox or ASkyBlock: The core Skyblock island management system.
- ShopGUI+: Server shop where players can buy and sell items.
- Vault + Economy plugin: Currency system for the economy.
- Island leveling system: Calculates and ranks island values.
- Challenge system: Gives players goals and rewards.
Server Requirements
Skyblock servers need more RAM than vanilla survival because each player has their own world/island that needs to be loaded. For 20+ concurrent players with islands, plan for 4-6 GB of RAM.
Prison Servers
Prison servers are a unique RPG-style experience where players start in a "prison" and work their way out by mining blocks, earning money, and ranking up through letter grades (A through Z, then freedom). It's a grind-focused experience with PvP elements.
How Prison Works
- Players start at the lowest rank (typically Mine A) with a basic pickaxe.
- Mining blocks earns money. Different mines have different blocks and payouts.
- Money is used to rank up, unlock new mines, and buy better gear.
- Higher-ranked mines have rarer blocks and better payouts.
- PvP areas let players fight for each other's items.
- After reaching the highest rank, players are "free" and can access end-game content.
Essential Plugins
- Mines plugin: Creates and auto-resets mining areas.
- RankupX or PrisonRankup: Manages the A-Z ranking system.
- TokenEnchant or Custom Enchants: Special pickaxe enchantments (auto-sell, explosive mining, etc.).
- Vault + Economy: Currency system.
- WorldGuard: Region protection for mines and PvP zones.
Server Requirements
Prison servers need good CPU performance because mines reset frequently (regenerating thousands of blocks) and custom enchantments add processing overhead. Recommend 4-6 GB RAM with a fast CPU.
Factions / Raiding
Factions is a PvP-focused server type where players form teams (factions), claim territory, build bases, and raid other factions' bases using TNT cannons and combat skills. It's one of the most competitive Minecraft experiences.
Core Mechanics
- Factions: Players create and join factions (teams) with shared territory.
- Power system: Each player has "power" — dying reduces it. If a faction's power drops below its claimed chunks, enemies can overclaim their land.
- TNT cannons: Players build TNT cannons to breach enemy base walls. Cannon building is an art form with its own meta.
- Raiding: Once inside an enemy base, players loot chests and destroy valuables.
- Economy: Most factions servers include spawners, farming, and shops for income.
Server Requirements
Factions servers are very resource-intensive. TNT cannons fire hundreds of TNT entities simultaneously, chunk generation during exploration is heavy, and PvP with many players taxes the CPU. Recommend 6-10 GB RAM with a high-clock-speed CPU. Use Paper or Purpur for the best TNT handling performance.
Anarchy Servers
Anarchy servers have no rules. No bans, no claims, no protection, no moderation. Players can grief, cheat (on some servers), hack, and do whatever they want. The most famous example is 2b2t, the oldest anarchy server in Minecraft.
Characteristics
- No griefing protection — your builds can be destroyed at any time.
- No chat moderation — anything goes in chat.
- PvP is always enabled everywhere.
- Some servers allow hacked clients; others have a light anti-cheat.
- The world is never reset, creating a layered history of builds and ruins.
Server Setup
Anarchy servers are actually the simplest to set up — you need minimal plugins. The main challenge is performance because players will deliberately try to lag the server with entity spam, chunk loading, and redstone machines.
Key requirements: Strong anti-lag measures, chunk loading limits, entity limits, and robust DDoS protection (anarchy communities frequently DDoS each other). DDoS protection is absolutely essential.
Minigame Servers
Minigame servers host multiple game modes in one server. Players join a hub/lobby and choose which minigame to play. Popular minigames include:
- Bed Wars: Teams defend their beds while trying to destroy others'. Last team with a bed wins.
- Sky Wars: Players start on floating islands and fight to be the last one standing.
- Hunger Games / Survival Games: Players fight in a shrinking arena with random loot.
- Build Battle: Timed building competitions judged by other players.
- Spleef: Players break blocks under each other's feet. Last player standing wins.
- Capture the Flag: Teams compete to capture each other's flags.
Server Requirements
Minigame servers are complex to set up because each game mode needs its own maps, configurations, and logic. You'll need a BungeeCord/Velocity proxy if you want multiple instances. For a single-server setup with 3-5 minigames and up to 50 players, plan for 6-8 GB RAM.
Pixelmon / Modded RPG
Pixelmon adds Pokémon to Minecraft. Players catch, train, and battle Pokémon in the Minecraft world. It's one of the most popular mods, but it's extremely resource-heavy because it adds 800+ new entities, hundreds of new items, and complex AI systems.
Server Requirements
Pixelmon is one of the most demanding Minecraft mods:
- RAM: Minimum 6 GB, recommended 8-12 GB for 10-20 players.
- CPU: High single-thread performance is critical.
- Storage: 5-10 GB for the Pixelmon mod files alone.
- Server software: Requires Forge (specific version matching the Pixelmon release).
See our modded server setup guide and best mods guide for detailed instructions.
Choosing Your Server Type
| If you want... | Choose | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Chill building with friends | Survival SMP | Easy |
| Architectural creativity | Creative | Easy |
| Progression and challenges | Skyblock or Prison | Medium |
| Competitive PvP | Factions | Hard |
| Chaos and freedom | Anarchy | Easy (setup), Hard (management) |
| Variety of games | Minigames | Hard |
| Pokémon experience | Pixelmon | Medium |
Ready to start your Minecraft server? Azion Cloud's Minecraft hosting supports all server types with one-click installation, NVMe SSDs, DDoS protection, and 24/7 support. Plans start from ₹99/mo. Need help choosing a server type or setting up plugins? Join our Discord and our team will help.