How to Reduce Lag on
Your Game Server

Lag is the most common complaint on any game server. Whether you're hosting Minecraft, FiveM, Palworld, or any other multiplayer game, lag ruins the experience for everyone. But "lag" isn't a single problem — it has multiple causes, and each requires a different fix.

In this guide, we'll break down the three types of lag, how to identify which one is affecting your server, and actionable steps to fix each one.

The Three Types of Lag

1. Network Lag (High Ping)

Network lag is the delay between a player's action and the server's response. It's measured in milliseconds (ms) and commonly called "ping." If a player has 200ms ping, everything they do has a 0.2-second delay.

Symptoms: Rubber-banding, delayed block placement, teleporting players, hit registration issues.

Common causes:

• Server is geographically far from players (e.g., hosting in Europe for Indian players)
• Player's internet connection is unstable
• Network route issues between player and server
• DDoS attack consuming bandwidth

2. Server Lag (Low TPS)

Server lag happens when the server can't process the game fast enough. Most games run at 20 ticks per second (TPS). If TPS drops below 20, everything slows down — mobs move in slow motion, blocks break slowly, and redstone delays.

Symptoms: All players experience slowdown simultaneously, block break delays, mob AI freezing.

Common causes:

• Too many entities (mobs, dropped items, armor stands)
• Expensive plugins or mods running heavy calculations
• Insufficient CPU for the player count
• Unoptimized world (too many loaded chunks)

3. Client Lag (Low FPS)

Client lag is on the player's side — their computer can't render the game fast enough. This isn't a server issue, but players often blame the server.

Symptoms: Only one player experiences issues, choppy visuals, stuttering.

How to Diagnose the Problem

For Minecraft Servers

Use the /tps command (requires Paper/Spigot) to check your server's tick rate. If it shows 20.0, your server is running perfectly. Below 18, you have a performance issue.

Use Spark profiler to identify exactly what's causing lag. Install it as a plugin, run /spark profiler start, wait 60 seconds, then /spark profiler stop. It generates a detailed report showing which plugins, mods, or game mechanics are eating CPU time.

For FiveM Servers

Use the resmon command in the server console to see resource usage per script. High-resource scripts (above 5ms per tick) need optimization or replacement.

For Any Game Server

Check your hosting panel (Pterodactyl) for CPU and RAM usage. If CPU is consistently above 80%, you need a better plan or optimization. If RAM is maxed out, the server will start using swap (disk), which is 100x slower.

Fixing Network Lag

Choose the Right Server Location

This is the single most impactful fix. If your players are in India, host your server in India. A server in Germany will always have 150-200ms ping for Indian players, no matter what you do.

Azion Cloud hosts game servers with Indian infrastructure, giving sub-20ms latency for most players across India.

Enable DDoS Protection

Even small DDoS attacks (1-5 Gbps) can cause packet loss and high ping. Ensure your hosting provider includes DDoS protection. All Azion Cloud plans include enterprise DDoS mitigation at no extra cost.

Optimize Network Settings

For Minecraft, adjust these in server.properties:

network-compression-threshold=256
connection-throttle=4000

The compression threshold reduces bandwidth usage. Setting it to 256 means packets larger than 256 bytes will be compressed before sending.

Fixing Server Lag (TPS)

Reduce Entity Count

Entities are the #1 cause of TPS drops. Use these settings in spigot.yml:

entity-activation-range:
  animals: 16
  monsters: 24
  misc: 8
merge-radius:
  item: 3.5
  exp: 4.0

Limit World Size

Set a world border to prevent players from loading infinite chunks. A 10,000-block radius is generous for most servers. Pre-generate chunks within this border using Chunky.

Use Paper/Purpur Instead of Vanilla

Paper server software includes dozens of built-in optimizations that vanilla Minecraft doesn't have. It can reduce CPU usage by 30-50% with zero configuration. Read our Paper vs Spigot vs Purpur comparison to choose the right one.

Optimize Your Plugins

Remove unused plugins. Profile with Spark to find slow ones. Common offenders:

• Dynmap — renders 3D maps, very CPU-heavy. Set render interval to 300+ seconds.
• ClearLag — ironically can cause lag if configured to clear too frequently.
• Logging plugins — CoreProtect and similar can slow down during heavy activity. Optimize their purge intervals.

Fixing FiveM Server Lag

FiveM servers are CPU-bound. The most impactful fixes:

• Use OneSync for better player sync at scale
• Optimize SQL queries in your framework (QBCore/ESX)
• Reduce streaming distance for custom assets
• Remove unused resources and scripts
• Use ox_lib instead of older utility libraries

Hardware Solutions

If optimization alone doesn't fix the issue, you may need better hardware:

Situation	Solution
CPU always at 80%+	Upgrade to a plan with higher clock speed CPU
RAM constantly full	Upgrade RAM or reduce loaded content
Disk I/O slow	Switch to NVMe SSD hosting (included with Azion Cloud)
High ping for all players	Move server to a closer data center

Summary Checklist

1. Identify the type of lag (network, server, or client)
2. Profile with Spark (Minecraft) or resmon (FiveM)
3. Choose the right server location for your players
4. Enable DDoS protection
5. Reduce entities and optimize plugins
6. Use Paper/Purpur instead of vanilla
7. Pre-generate chunks and set a world border
8. Upgrade hardware if optimization isn't enough

Still experiencing lag? Join our Discord and our team can help diagnose your specific issue.