1Which plan
Minecraft runs the world on one core, so a fast core and enough memory matter most. Vultr's High Performance plans have the newest Intel Xeon or AMD EPYC cores it offers, and NVMe disks; Regular Performance has older cores and plain SSDs. High Performance also has more cores for the money than High Frequency. The sizing guide works out what your group needs; this is the plan it picks for each group.
| Plan and price | The sizing guide's pick for |
|---|---|
| 2 vCPU · 4 GBHigh Performance · 100 GB NVMe$24 a month | 1–4 friends on Vanilla or Paper |
| 4 vCPU · 8 GBHigh Performance · 180 GB NVMe$48 a month | 5–20 friends on Vanilla or Paper 1–10 friends using lots of plugins or a few mods |
| 4 vCPU · 12 GBHigh Performance · 260 GB NVMe$72 a month | 21–40 friends on Vanilla or Paper 11–20 friends using lots of plugins or a few mods 1–4 friends on a big modpack |
| 8 vCPU · 16 GBHigh Performance · 350 GB NVMe$96 a month | 21–40 friends using lots of plugins or a few mods |
| 12 vCPU · 24 GBHigh Performance · 500 GB NVMe$144 a month | 5–40 friends on a big modpack |
Prices on 28 Sep 2026, before tax. Vultr bills by the hour, up to these monthly prices.
For 5–10 friends on Vanilla or Paper
High Performance · 4 vCPU · 8 GB
New accounts get $300 of credit for 30 days. A card or PayPal is needed, and unused credit expires.
Referral link: Playkeeper earns a commission, at no extra cost to you.
2Create the server
Products › Compute › Deploy
In Vultr's console, with Shared CPU as the type.
Pick the location nearest your friends
Vultr has locations on six continents. Closer means lower ping.
Pick High Performance and the size
From the table. AMD and Intel cost the same.
Configure Software: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS x64
Add your SSH key if you have one, then Deploy. The server's page shows its IP address and root password.
Playkeeper also runs on Ubuntu 20.04–26.04, Debian 12–13, the RHEL family 9+ or Amazon Linux 2023, on x86_64 or 64-bit ARM. Vultr's High Performance plans are x86_64.
3Open the ports
Vultr's Ubuntu image turns on ufw with only SSH allowed. The installer allows 8443, 25565 and 80 in it for you; open the rest yourself as you need them, such as sudo ufw allow 24454/udp for voice chat or sudo ufw allow 25566/tcp for a second server. A Vultr Firewall group is optional; if you add one, it needs every port you use:
| Port | For |
|---|---|
| TCP 22 | SSH, so you can still log in |
| TCP 8443 | The dashboard |
| TCP 25565 | The first Minecraft server; 25566, 25567 and so on for each one after it |
| UDP 24454 | Voice chat, for each server that has it; the next takes the next free port |
| TCP 80 | Only for your own domain, while Let's Encrypt checks it |
4Run the one command
Log in as root over SSH, or in Vultr's web console, and run:
curl -fsSL https://playkeeper.io/install | sudo sh
It checks the VPS first
Then it lists every change it will make, and how to undo it, before it asks to go ahead.
Open the link it prints
https://your-ip:8443/setup with a one-time code, good for 24 hours. The browser warns about the certificate: continue only if the fingerprint it shows matches the one the installer printed.
Create your admin account
Then your first server: the newest Paper, with memory picked for how you'll play. Change picks others.
5A free address for your friends
Machine settings › Address gives the server a free yourname.playkeeper.me name with a real certificate: the browser warning goes away, and friends join at a name instead of an IP address. Then New invite link on a server's Players tab: a friend opens it, types their Minecraft name and is on the allowlist.
6Keep copies off the server
World › Backup rules › Copies somewhere else encrypts every backup on the server, then sends it to S3-compatible storage or to another machine over SFTP. Vultr's Object Storage is S3-compatible: pick Other S3-compatible storage and enter its endpoint, like https://ams1.vultrobjects.com, the bucket and an access key. A copy at another company, such as Backblaze B2 or Cloudflare R2 (both have presets), also survives a problem with your Vultr account. Keep the recovery key somewhere other than the server.
7What it costs
Playkeeper and its playkeeper.me address are free; the server is the only bill. For 5–10 friends on Vanilla or Paper, a High Performance plan with 4 vCPU and 8 GB is $48 a month, billed by the hour (prices on 28 Sep 2026). New accounts get $300 of credit for 30 days through our link, enough for that plan's first month. A card or PayPal is needed, and unused credit expires. Vultr's own automatic backups of the whole server are optional and cost extra.
Questions
High Performance, High Frequency or Regular?
High Performance. Regular Performance has older cores and plain SSDs; High Frequency costs the same for the same memory, with fewer cores, and every server after the first wants a core of its own.
Can I move to a bigger plan later?
Yes: the server's Settings › Change Plan. Vultr can't move a server to a smaller plan, so start with the size the table suggests.
Which location?
The one nearest most of your friends. Their ping to the server matters more than yours.
