Compare
There are three other ways to get a Minecraft world online, and they are all fine. Here is exactly what each one gives you, and the part they all leave to you.
No price lists below — everybody's change by region and by month. What does not change is the shape of the thing you are buying.
A world hosted by the people who make the game. Nothing to set up, a small number of slots, and it stays up when you log off.
What is good about it. Genuinely the easiest thing there is. If all you want is somewhere for a few people to play vanilla, it is hard to beat.
Where it stops. It is vanilla and it stays vanilla: no mods, no plugins, no datapacks. Nobody in it can build you anything. An empty map is an empty map until somebody places every block by hand.
You pay for RAM and a control panel. Install what you like: plugins, datapacks, mods, whatever you can configure.
What is good about it. Total control, and the market is competitive enough that it is cheap.
Where it stops. You are now a server administrator. Somebody has to choose the plugins, keep them on the right version, and fix it at 9pm on a Sunday when everyone says it is down. The AI in this market lives in the billing panel, not in the game.
A website you describe a building to. It sends back a schematic file — .schem, .litematic or .nbt — which you then import with WorldEdit.
What is good about it. Fast, cheap, often free, and the results can be genuinely impressive. If you want one castle and you already run a server with WorldEdit on it, this is the shortest path there is.
Where it stops. It hands you a FILE. Somebody still has to own a server, install WorldEdit, work out where to paste it and paste it — and nobody watches it happen, because it did not happen in a world. It cannot mine, it cannot craft, it cannot play survival beside you, and it cannot write you a game. It is a build generator, and a build is one of the things you might want.
A mod, or a desktop app, that puts an AI character into your game.
What is good about it. Free, and some of them are clever. Worth a look if you are technical and playing on your own.
Where it stops. Everybody who wants to see it has to install it, on the right version, on their own machine — which in practice means it is a single-player toy. Nothing it does survives you closing the laptop, and the ones that generate code warn you not to point them at a server other people are on.
Side by side
| A Realms-style hosted world | A rented server from a hosting company | An AI build generator | A free AI companion mod | Cubelings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friends join with unmodified Minecraft | yes | yes | sort of | no | yes |
| World stays up when you log off | yes | yes | no | no | yes |
| Nothing for you to configure | yes | no | no | no | yes |
| Something in the world that builds what you ask for | no | no | no | sort of | yes |
| It builds in a world, not into a file you import | no | no | no | sort of | yes |
| Mines and crafts the materials in survival | no | no | no | sort of | yes |
| New games written and loaded while you play | no | sort of | no | no | yes |
| It checks its own work and tells you | no | no | no | no | yes |
| Name it, skin it, set how it behaves | no | no | no | sort of | yes |
| Take the whole world with you if you leave | sort of | yes | yes | yes | yes |
● yes ◐ sort of, with conditions — no
The short version
Any of them will give you somewhere to play. A Realms world is the simplest, a rented box gives you the most control, and a free companion mod costs nothing if you are happy installing things and playing alone.
What none of them give you is somebody standing in the world with you. Cog builds what you describe where you are standing, writes new games on request, and plays survival beside you under the rules you play by. The world stays up when you log off, your friends join with the game they already own, and we run the server.
We are opening a small number to begin with. Put your name down and we will tell you when yours is ready.