Cost · 6 min read
Hourly, daily or monthly: which is cheapest for a game server?
Hourly, monthly or by the day: how game server billing works, the break-even for each, worked through for real play patterns, and the catches to check.
Last checked
Short answer
Three ways hosts charge
| By the hour | By the month | By the pass | |
|---|---|---|---|
| You pay for | By the hourHours the server runs | By the monthA calendar month, used or not | By the passA day, a week or a month of time |
| Paid | By the hourFrom a balance you top up, or billed after | By the monthUp front, renewing | By the passUp front |
| Server left on by mistake | By the hourKeeps charging | By the monthCosts nothing extra | By the passCosts nothing extra |
| Server off for two weeks | By the hourLittle or nothing, if storage is free | By the monthPaid for anyway | By the passNothing, between passes |
| Best for | By the hourShort, scattered sessions | By the monthA server that's always up | By the passNights or weeks of play with gaps between |
By the hour. A meter runs while the server is on. The bill follows how much you play, which is good for a group that plays in short bursts and bad for one that forgets to press stop: a server left running overnight is eight hours on the meter. Many hourly hosts sell credit up front, so read whether a top-up has a minimum and what happens to an unused balance.
By the month. One flat price that renews, however much or little the server is used. Simple, and the best value when the server is on most days. Check what the renewal price is, not only the first month's.
By the pass, which is how we price: a day, a week or a month for one server, paid up front. A day pass is the whole 24 hours, however long you play in it, so there's no meter to watch and leaving the server on costs nothing extra. Each pass renews until you cancel, or runs once: the buyer chooses which.
Working out the break-even at any host
Two divisions tell you which plan wins before you pay anyone:
- Hourly against monthly: divide the monthly price by the hourly rate. That's how many hours the server can run in a month before the hourly plan costs more. If the month costs 200 times the hourly rate, the hourly plan wins below 200 hours, which is about six and a half hours a day.
- Daily against monthly: divide the monthly price by the daily price. Play on more days than that and the month is cheaper.
Count the hours the server is on, not the hours you play: the time it takes to start, the evening it ran with nobody on, and any time the host bills while it's stopped. Then add anything charged on top, such as storage for a stopped server or a minimum top-up.
Worked through for a 4 GB server
| Play pattern | Days | Day passes | Week passes | Month pass |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One night a week | Days4 | Day passes£8.00 | Week passes£13.68renewing, £15.20paid once | Month pass£9.79renewing, £10.88paid once |
| Weekends only | Days9 | Day passes£18.00 | Week passes£13.68renewing, £15.20paid once | Month pass£9.79renewing, £10.88paid once |
| A week's holiday | Days7 | Day passes£14.00 | Week passes£3.42renewing, £3.80paid once | Month pass£9.79renewing, £10.88paid once |
| Two weeks of evenings | Days14 | Day passes£28.00 | Week passes£6.84renewing, £7.60paid once | Month pass£9.79renewing, £10.88paid once |
| Every evening | Days30 | Day passes£60.00 | Week passes£17.10renewing, £19.00paid once | Month pass£9.79renewing, £10.88paid once |
| Never switched off | Days31 | Day passes£62.00 | Week passes£17.10renewing, £19.00paid once | Month pass£9.79renewing, £10.88paid once |
A week pass covers seven days in a row, so it pays off when your play bunches up: a holiday, a launch week, a new world's first push. Spread the same days across a month and they fall in different weeks: then day passes, or the month, cost less.
Every price scales with the size, and some games need far more than 4 GB. The RAM calculator picks a size for your game and group, and the pricing page draws these patterns for any size.
The catches to check, at any host
| Ask | Why it matters | Our answer |
|---|---|---|
| What does a stopped server cost? | Why it mattersSome hourly plans keep charging for storage while the server is off | Our answerNothing: a pass is time, and between passes there's no charge |
| Does a forgotten server keep charging? | Why it mattersOn an hourly meter, yes | Our answerNo meter. Minecraft Java servers also stop themselves after 15 minutes with nobody online |
| Is there a minimum top-up, and is a balance refunded? | Why it mattersPrepaid credit can leave money stranded | Our answerNo balance: each payment buys time for one server |
| Does the price go up at renewal? | Why it mattersAn introductory first month can renew higher | Our answerA new account's first-pass price is for that pass. A server's prices are locked for 12 months from its first payment, and a change is announced 30 days ahead |
| What happens to the world when you stop paying? | Why it mattersSome hosts delete it straight away | Our answerThe server stops and its files are kept for 30 days |
When a month makes sense
If your server is a community hub that's up every day, the month is the cheaper pass: at 4 GB it is £9.79 renewing or £10.88 paid once. You choose whether it renews every month until you cancel, or you pay once, and nothing is chosen for you. A renewing month costs 10% less than paying once, on the first payment and every renewal, while renewal stays on. It is charged when each month ends, we email you between 5 and 7 days before each renewal, and one click on the Billing page in the panel stops it. Stopping is free and takes nothing back: the month you've paid for still runs to its end.
Stopping the server
A pass is time, not running hours, so stopping the server doesn't make it last longer. Stop it when your group is done anyway: the world saves cleanly and nothing runs with nobody watching.
Playing for just one night or a weekend? A temporary Minecraft server compares the ways to do that, and how we price sets out the rules behind every pass.