How to make a Minecraft server for two players

A server for two people is made exactly like any other, and on JetRift it costs nothing: pick a game mode, name the world, add the other person’s Minecraft username, and send them the address. Only one of you needs an account. It takes about ninety seconds, runs Minecraft 26.2 on Java Edition, and the world keeps running when either of you logs off.

Why this is worth a server at all

For two people the tempting answer is to open one world to LAN, or to leave one computer running and forward a port to it. Both work and both have the same flaw: the world exists on one person’s machine, so it is only playable when that person is at home with the game open.

A server removes the asymmetry. Neither of you is the host, neither of you has to be awake, and the person who wants to play at seven in the morning can.

Which modes are good with two

Some of what is on offer needs a crowd. Manhunt with one hunter is a chase rather than a hunt, and Bingo with two is a race, which is arguably better. These hold up well at two.

• Survival, which is the usual answer and never a wrong one.
• One Block, where a pair shares one block and the progression carries the session.
• Skyblock, for the same reason, with more falling.
• Bingo, which is a straight race with two and better for it.
• Death Swap, which is at its purest with exactly two people.

What it costs

Nothing. Two people on one world use the same a hundred and fifty hours a month as ten would, because the allowance counts how long the world is awake rather than how many people are on it.

That works out at roughly 5 hours every day, and a world that nobody is on sleeps and stops counting ten minutes later.

Common questions

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