A free Aternos alternative - without the queues
Aternos proved free Minecraft hosting could work. We built the version without the queues and ads: your server starts instantly, every time.
Spins up a Vanilla server instantly, free for 24 hours.
Crafty Servers vs Aternos
| Crafty Servers | Aternos | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free plan, no card. Paid plans for more RAM. | Free, ad-supported. |
| Ads | None, on any plan. | Ads fund the service. |
| Starting your server | Starts instantly - no queue. | Can queue at busy times. |
| When nobody's online | Free: pauses after 6 idle hours; one click brings it straight back. Paid: always on. | Sleeps when empty; starting it again can mean waiting. |
| Control panel | Full Pterodactyl panel - console, file manager, backups, schedules. | Custom web panel. |
| Mods & modpacks | Paper, Vanilla and Forge on the free plan; one-click Tekkit modpacks on paid plans. | Supported. |
| Try before signing up | Yes - launch a live demo server with no account. | Account required. |
Aternos details describe its widely-known free-tier model as of writing - check their site for current specifics.
An honest comparison
Credit where it's due: Aternos hosts millions of servers for free, and if you have zero budget and don't mind the trade-offs, it works. Those trade-offs are the reason this page exists, though - ad-supported pages, queues when demand is high, and servers that sleep and take a while to come back, usually right when your friends are ready to play.
Our free tier has limits too, and we'd rather say them plainly: one server, the free plan's RAM, and it pauses after 6 hours with nobody online. The difference is everything around those limits - no ads, no start queue, an instant one-click restart, a full Pterodactyl panel with real file access, and a paid tier that simply never sleeps when you outgrow free.
Frequently asked questions
Is Crafty Servers really free?
Yes. The free plan needs no card and runs a real server with full panel access. Free servers pause after 6 idle hours with nobody online; one click starts them right back up, with no queue.
What's the catch?
The free plan is one modest server that pauses when idle - that's it. No ads, no queues, no credits. Paid plans exist for more RAM, modpacks, and always-on servers; they're how the free tier gets paid for.
Can I move my world over from Aternos?
Yes. Download your world from Aternos, connect to your new server over SFTP (included on every plan) and upload the world folder - world downloads are usually too big for in-browser upload, so SFTP is the way. Your builds come with you.
Can I try it without making an account?
Yes - the live demo on this page launches a real server with no signup. If you like it, claiming it onto a free account keeps the world.