Free Minecraft servers that start when a friend joins
Java and Bedrock worlds with no ads and no credit card, and nobody has to open a website to press Start.
Java and Bedrock 26.60 can play together. Enable Bedrock and see how to join.
Make a free server- Free, with no ads Every account gets three servers, and you never enter a card.
- Starts when a friend joins The world usually wakes in about 4 seconds, even while you are in class.
- Your world is yours It saves whenever the server goes idle, and you can download it or back it up to your own Google Drive.
- Updates that ask first Your Minecraft version only changes when you say so.
JetRift is early and does not behave exactly like vanilla yet. See known issues.
Sam pressed Join and the world started, without anyone opening a website.
Hi, I'm Julius. I built JetRift because every time my friends and I wanted to play, someone had to log into a hosting site, press Start and then wait while the rest of us sat in the Multiplayer screen hitting refresh.
To fix that properly I wrote the server itself. Butternut is the Rust engine underneath, and it is the reason a world can be ready the moment somebody joins instead of whenever the owner remembers to start it.
JetRift is small and I run it on a few little ARM computers, which is why every account gets three free servers and why I would rather tell you when we are full than make you wait in a queue.
Julius, who builds Butternut and JetRift
Plugins
A plugin changes how the game plays on your server, for example by making every block you break explode. JetRift writes every plugin; you cannot upload your own.
About Butternut
What it is
Butternut is a Minecraft Java Edition server written from scratch in Rust, starting from the open-source PumpkinMC project. It was built for one job, which is running survival worlds for small groups of friends without making anyone wait or pay.
What you gain
A world can start from idle the moment someone joins, and it uses far less memory than a typical Java server, which is what lets one small computer look after many worlds and why JetRift can be free, with no ads and no ranks to buy. Survival plays like vanilla, including villagers, iron golems and redstone, and plugins written for Butternut are added from the dashboard.
Once a server exists you can send friends the address and close the tab. They can play without you, and when the last player leaves the world is saved and the server goes idle.
What you give up
Butternut is not Paper, Spigot, Forge or Fabric, so plugins and mods written for those will not load. It has its own plugin system with a smaller library, a few vanilla mechanics can still behave slightly differently in rare edge cases, and Java and Bedrock use the same Java-style world mechanics. It is also young, so far fewer people have run it than the standard Java server.
Friend groups of about four who want a survival world that is there whenever someone feels like playing, people who would rather not look after a server, and anyone happy with vanilla gameplay plus a few plugins.
If your world depends on a modpack, a specific Paper plugin such as WorldGuard or EssentialsX, a minigame network, or a large public server with dozens of players online at once, a conventional host will serve you better.
Questions
Do I need a credit card?
No credit card is needed to make a server or to keep one.
Is it really free?
Yes, and there are no ads either, so if paid options ever show up they will be optional.
How many servers can I have?
Each account can have up to three free servers.
Can I use plugins or mods?
Paper and Spigot plugins and Forge or Fabric mods do not run on Butternut, but it has its own plugins. JetRift writes them, they are listed here, and you can add one to a server from its Plugins tab.
Do my friends need accounts?
No, they only need the address and Minecraft.
What if I'm offline?
It doesn't matter, because anyone with the address can wake the server unless you have turned the whitelist on.
Is there a queue?
There is no waiting line, though capacity is finite, so if we are full we will tell you up front instead of making you wait.
What happens to my world?
It's saved every time the server goes idle, and you can download it whenever you like.
Questions, bugs or ideas? Join the JetRift Discord and talk to the person who builds it.