Aternos alternative
Aternos is excellent when you want free hosting and do not mind waiting. VoxelRun makes sense when your group meets for a session, wants to start quickly, and does not want to pay outside play time.
Aternos is the best-known free Minecraft host, and for many players it is the right first choice. The natural trade-offs are queues, server sleep, ads, and less control over performance. VoxelRun is not a free replacement. It is pay-as-you-go hosting for groups that want less waiting, easier modpacks, a saved world, and billing tied to the hours they actually play.
| Area | VoxelRun | Aternos |
|---|---|---|
| Best reason to choose it | When you want to start the server when the group is ready and pay only for play time. | When the most important requirement is paying nothing. |
| Price | Pay as you go — about €0.04 per running hour for an 8 GB server, plus its disk. Stopped compute is not billed. | Free, supported by ads and the natural limits of a free service. |
| Monthly cost cap | Yes — compute stops billing once it reaches a cap set below the always-on price, so a busy month can never run away. | Not needed — Aternos is free. The trade-offs are queues, sleep, and shared capacity instead. |
| Starting the server | No public queue. Your server starts on our own hardware in well under a minute, whatever size you pick. | At busy times you may wait in a queue before the server starts. |
| After players leave | The server keeps running until you stop it or configure your own shutdown behavior. | Inactive servers sleep so free capacity stays available. |
| Performance | Pick any size from 2 to 32 GB of RAM on our own AMD Ryzen 9 bare-metal machine with NVMe storage, in the EU. | Shared free-tier resources; best suited to lighter or occasional play. |
| Modpacks | CurseForge server packs and custom server ZIPs; RAM is recommended per pack. | Modpacks are supported, with options depending on service settings and limits. |
| World and backups | The world stays saved, backups are free, and retained for 30 days. | Works for normal worlds; migration or major changes may require manual work. |
| Best fit | Groups that play in sessions, want less waiting, more control, and easier modpack hosting. | Players who want a free server and accept waiting, sleep, or free-tier constraints. |
If you play occasionally, do not need the server to start immediately, and want to spend exactly zero, Aternos is hard to beat. It is ideal for a first world, a short test with friends, or any situation where price matters more than convenience. In that case, paid hosting may not be worth it.
VoxelRun is a better fit when the group decides to play spontaneously and does not want to begin the evening in a queue. It also fits modpacks, longer sessions, and worlds you want more control over. Start the server, play, stop it afterwards, and the bill grows only while the server is actually running.
Do not compare only the monthly number. Compare how you play. If the server runs 24/7, evaluate it like normal monthly hosting. If you play two evenings a week, pay-as-you-go can be more practical because you pay for played hours, not for days when nobody joins.
For modpacks, RAM is only part of the story. The right server pack, matching versions for every player, and the ability to scale up when the world grows all matter. VoxelRun tries to use the author's server pack and recommends how much RAM the pack needs, so startup does not fail because client-only mods reached the server.
If you already have a world on Aternos, you can usually download it and upload it to a new host. Vanilla worlds are straightforward. For modpacks, also match the modpack version, loader, and configs so blocks or entities do not break after the move.
Aternos saves money. VoxelRun saves waiting and gives more control. Neither option is universally better. If you barely play, start free. If your group keeps coming back, compare convenience, startup reliability, and the time you do not want to spend managing the server.
Aternos is the right choice for free, occasional, or test play. VoxelRun is better suited to groups that want to start without a queue, have enough performance for mods, and pay only for real play time. The best choice depends on whether zero cost or smoother regular sessions matter more to you.
Ready when you are
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