xape Game Servers
Minecraft hosting as a reference for adaptive compute. Servers start on demand, pause on idle. You pay active seconds.
Why run a game server on xape?
Game servers are the textbook example of adaptive compute: a typical server runs 4 hours per evening and sits idle 168 hours a week. Always-on hosting bills that idle time in full. xape pauses the server automatically once the last player leaves.
Compared to Minecraft Realms or classic shared hosting, xape offers:
Full control
Any mods, plugins, modpacks. Server config, worldgen, whitelisting — all manageable via dashboard or API.
Cluster-grade performance
Dedicated CPU and RAM on modern AMD nodes. NVMe storage, low TPS drops, fast chunk loading.
Privacy & security
Whitelist and SSO auth. Regular volume snapshots protect progress. Cilium-based network policy.
Pay-per-second instead of pay-per-idle
Server pauses at 0 players, restarts within seconds on next login. You pay only active time.
Minecraft Realms is capped at 10 players, no mods, no plugins. xape Game Servers are more flexible, more powerful and — thanks to scale-to-zero — often cheaper.
Hosting models compared
Three typical ways to run a Minecraft server:
Shared hosting
Server shares hardware with other tenants. Cheap (~€3/month), but little control and bad performance under load.
Dedicated / VPS
Own server or VM. Full control, but 24/7 billing and manual sizing.
Adaptive compute (xape)
Dedicated resources with per-second billing. Server pauses on idle, starts on demand. Self-service dashboard.
What to look for in game-server hosting
These factors decide play quality:
CPU: single-thread performance
Minecraft mostly uses one CPU core. Single-thread perf matters more than core count. xape uses modern AMD Ryzen with high clock speed.
RAM: rightly sized
Vanilla with few players: 4 GB. Modpacks: 6-8 GB. Big modpacks or 20+ players: 16 GB. More RAM only helps if it's actually used.
Storage: NVMe required
Minecraft writes chunks constantly. NVMe SSDs eliminate lag spikes during loading. xape uses NVMe-backed persistent volumes only.
Location: EU latency
European players want EU data centers. xape runs only EU hardware in Germany and Finland.
Cold-start & availability
On adaptive compute, cold-start matters. xape starts servers in under 45 seconds via Kubernetes pre-warming.
Support & community
xape support runs through the Discord community plus email for account topics. Direct line, no ticket queue.
Hardware & performance
xape uses cluster-grade hardware in EU data centers:
Mini
2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM
Vanilla, 2-5 players
Small
4 vCPU · 8 GB RAM
Modpacks, 5-15 players
Medium
8 vCPU · 16 GB RAM
Big modpacks, 15-30 players
- NVMe persistent volumes for fast chunk loading
- AMD Ryzen with high single-thread performance
- Kubernetes-based: autoscaling, failover, rolling updates
- EU data centers in Germany and Finland
- DDoS protection and Cilium network policies included
Transparent pricing
Billed per second, no hidden fees:
- Playtime per started second (from €0.063/h)
- Storage €0.10 per GB per month (minimum 10 GB = €1/month)
- No setup fee, no minimum term, no hidden costs
- Cost cap: every hour after 360 active hours/month is free
Compute your individual cost:
Cost calculator
Ready in under 45 seconds
Server is live in seconds. No SSH, no FTP — all via web dashboard and API.
- 1Create server: pick plan, modpack and version
- 2Play immediately: server starts in <45 seconds
- 3Manage: file manager, backups, console and monitoring in the browser
Dashboard and API cover everything: file manager, backups, console, resource monitoring, one-click modpacks. No prior experience needed.
Frequently asked questions
Which server flavors are supported?
Can I install mods and plugins?
How much RAM does my server need?
Is my data safe?
How do players connect?
What does it cost in practice?
Start your game server
Create an account and deploy your first server in under 60 seconds. Per-second billing, EU-hosted, no contract.
EU-hosted · Per-second billing · Cold-start <45s