How Much RAM Does Your Minecraft Server Need?

The amount of RAM your server needs depends on your player count, server type, installed mods/plugins, and world complexity.

RAM Recommendations

What Uses RAM

• Players — Each player uses roughly 50-100 MB depending on loaded chunks
• Loaded chunks — More view distance = more chunks in memory
• Plugins — Dynmap, WorldEdit, and large permission plugins use significant memory
• Mods — Content mods (new blocks, items, dimensions) add substantial memory usage
• World size — Larger explored areas keep more data in memory
• Entities — Farms and high mob counts consume memory

Signs You Need More RAM

• Server crashes with "Out of Memory" errors (exit code 137)
• Frequent garbage collection pauses (TPS drops every few minutes)
• "Can't keep up!" messages in console
• Slow chunk loading for players

Signs You Have Enough (or Too Much)

• Stable 20 TPS with all players online
• No OOM crashes
• Memory usage stays below 80% of allocated RAM

💡 Tip: Use Spark to monitor real-time memory usage with /spark health. This shows exactly how much RAM your server is using.

📝 Note: More RAM isn't always better. Java's garbage collector can actually perform worse with too much allocated memory. Only allocate what you need.

⚠️ Warning: Make sure to use Aikar's Flags to optimize how Java manages the memory you've allocated.

See also: Aikar's Flags | Performance Guide

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