Playing Minecraft With Friends: Which Option Actually Suits You
Realms, a rented server, self-hosting and LAN each suit different groups. The wrong choice costs money or evenings of troubleshooting.
The short answer
Realms suits small groups who want zero administration and can accept limited mod support, while a rented server suits groups wanting mods, plugins and more players. Self-hosting is free but requires network configuration and leaves your world offline whenever your machine is. LAN play is the right answer for people in the same house and is frequently overlooked.
Verified and last updated August 12, 2026.
- Time needed
- 14 min
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Read time
- 3 min
Every group of friends who want to play Minecraft together goes through the same conversation, and it usually ends with one person volunteering to host and then spending an evening on port forwarding.
There are four options and they suit genuinely different situations.
Same house? Use LAN
LAN play is free, instant, requires no accounts or configuration, and is the option people forget exists. If everyone is on the same network, start there.
The four options compared
Realms: pay to not think about it
Realms is the right answer for a small group that wants to play together and has nobody who enjoys administration.
What you get: an always-on world, automatic backups, no configuration, and a straightforward invite system.
What you give up: player count limits, and mod support that ranges from limited to absent depending on edition. Java Realms will not run server-side mods at all.
The typical trajectory is a group starting on Realms, playing happily for months, then wanting a specific modpack and moving to a rented server. That is a reasonable path rather than a mistake.
Rented server: the flexible option
A rented server gives you full control: mods, plugins, world settings, larger player counts, permission systems.
The cost driver is memory, and memory demand is driven by modpacks. A vanilla server for five people needs very little. A heavily modded pack for the same five needs several times as much.
Start small. Providers make upgrading straightforward and most groups over-provision on the first purchase.
Self-hosting: free with conditions
Running the server on your own machine costs nothing and gives you complete control, with three real conditions:
- The world is offline whenever your machine is off. For a group in one timezone this is manageable. Across timezones it becomes the main complaint.
- Network configuration is required. Port forwarding on the router, and a firewall exception. This is where evenings go.
- Your connection carries the load. Upload bandwidth, not download, and home connections are typically weak on upload.
Worth doing if you enjoy the administration. Frustrating if you do not. The server setup guide walks through it properly if you go this route.
LAN: the forgotten option
If everyone is in the same house, open a single-player world, open the pause menu, and choose to open to LAN. Everyone else on the network sees it in their multiplayer list automatically.
When it does not work, it is nearly always one of two things:
- Different networks. One device on a guest network or a 5GHz band isolated from the main one.
- Firewall. Windows blocks Java on networks classified as public. Set the network profile to private.
That second one accounts for most reports, and home networks get classified as public more often than you would expect.
What works
What doesn't
Key takeaways
Frequently asked questions
Is Realms worth the money?
For a group of two to five people who want to play together without anyone administering anything, yes. It is always on, requires no configuration, and handles backups. The limitations are player count and mod support, and those are the reasons groups eventually move to a rented server. As a starting point it is hard to beat.
Can I use mods on Realms?
On Java Realms, no, in the sense that modded content requiring server-side changes will not work. Bedrock Realms supports marketplace add-ons, which is a different and more limited concept than Java modding. If your group wants a modded experience, a rented or self-hosted server is the only route.
Why does LAN play never work for us?
The two most common causes are the devices being on different networks, such as one on a guest WiFi, and the host's firewall blocking the connection. Windows firewall in particular blocks Java on public network profiles, and most home networks get incorrectly classified as public at some point. Setting the network to private resolves it more often than anything else.
How much does a rented server cost?
It varies with player count and mod requirements, and the honest guidance is to start small. A group of five playing vanilla needs very little. Heavily modded packs need substantially more memory, and providers price on that. Do not buy for the size you might grow to; upgrading later is straightforward.
About the author
Roblox & Live-Service Editor
Priya started scripting in Roblox Studio at fourteen and has since published three experiences, the largest of which passed 1.2 million visits. That background is why our Roblox coverage explains why a code fails rather than just telling you to try again later.
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