20 free hours a month with a CPU share reserved for your server while it's awake — no startup queue, no ads, live TPS on your screen. Free servers are limited, so claim one or join the waitlist and we'll email you the second one opens.
Every region's free pool is full right now — join the waitlist and we'll email you the moment a server frees up.
Free servers usually lag because they share CPU with other free servers. Ours get a CPU share reserved for them while they're awake, and admission control never sells it twice. That's why the pool is small, and why it's honest.
Wake-on-join: a player connecting starts your server — no waiting in a platform-wide line.
Your CPU share is reserved while your server is awake, enforced by admission control. We refuse to overcommit the node.
No interstitials, no "click to keep your server alive." It just runs while you're playing.
Watch your tick rate and MSPT in the dashboard. On Paper, Purpur and Vanilla from Minecraft 1.20.3 we count the world's own tick counter, so the rate is the one your world actually delivered, not one inferred from how long a tick took. Older Paper and Purpur report their own rate and we pass that through; older Vanilla has no tick command at all, and the panel says so instead of inventing a number. The tick doesn't lie — you can see it holding steady.
Real caps, no asterisks. Here's exactly what a free server is — and where it stops.
Each region's free pool is small on purpose — real numbers, shown live above, not a funnel trick.
Free account, no card. Email verification keeps the small free pool for real players.
A server open? Create yours now. All taken? One tap puts you on the waitlist.
First come from the list. Claim your window, spin up, and you're playing.
The wake pool — how many free servers can be awake at once — is small because each awake server holds a real CPU share that is never sold twice; that's the one thing we won't oversell, free or paid. Free servers sleep when empty, so they spend most of the month asleep. When every wake slot is busy, joining gets an honest "Free pool is busy right now — try again in a bit." — never a queue.
Hit 20 hours and your server simply sleeps until the 1st — no throttling, no held-hostage world, no data games. One rule still runs while it sleeps: a free server nobody wakes for 30 days is backed up and removed — we email a warning at 27 days, and removal waits at least 3 days after that email. The days count from its last start. Want more hours, 24/7 uptime, mods, or more RAM? Upgrade in one click. Same server, same world, same data.
We're the paid host, so read this knowing that — and check it yourself. Both are genuinely good at different jobs.
Want hours with no monthly cap, and don't mind a queue and shared hardware? Aternos is genuinely the right tool — we mean that. Want a free server that plays like a paid one, and you're fine with a monthly hour cap? That's exactly what we built.
Free servers are full in every region right now — join the waitlist. No card. Sleeps when idle — the tick doesn't lie.
Free tier is a limited pilot — hours and free servers are real caps, shown live, no credit card required.