With thousands of unique Minecraft servers to pick from, it can be a rather overwhelming task for players to filter through the pile and discover the best Minecraft servers worth investing time into.
There's a huge variety of Minecraft server types available for players to enjoy. Whether it's intense PvP, classic survival, relaxing parkour, or ruthlessly competitive minigames like Bedwars, this list will explore a range of the best quality Minecraft servers, covering all of the most popular gamemodes.
All the best Minecraft servers listed below have been verified to be publicly available to join 24/7, completely free.
Note: The Minecraft servers below are in NO particular order, and only reflect the opinions of the editor. Views of others may differ!
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The best Minecraft Servers in 2021
#1 Purple Prison / IP: PURPLEPRISON.ORG
In the world of prison Minecraft servers, Purple Prison is the gold standard. It's a server that has been consistently updated and refined since it's creation over 7 years ago. Gameplay here is superb, and whether players are looking for PvP, building, mining, or even parkour, Purple Prison provides nothing but top quality.
As such an old but still hugely popular server, the sense of community is strong; as shown by their active discord server community of over 30,000 friendly and welcoming members.
Gamemodes: Prison, PvP, Parkour
Average Playercount: 1200+
#2 Roleplay-Hub / IP: roleplayhub.com
Roleplay Hub is among the most popular & best Minecraft servers for social roleplay, welcoming both veterans and newbie roleplayers alike.
There are a few unique roleplay worlds for players to immerse themselves within; the most popular of which is centered around a Japanese high school. Here, players can roleplay either as a student or a teacher, and are free to create their own storyline; all while interacting with hundreds of other players inside the school.
Gamemodes: Roleplay, RPG, Social
Average Playercount: 200+
#3 Origin Realms / IP: originrealms.com
Origin Realms remains one of the best kept secrets in Minecraft multiplayer. Often labeled "Minecraft v2," Origin Realms sets out to massively expand upon vanilla Minecraft survival through a myriad of exclusive features, such as: custom items, rich questlines, mindblowing animated cutscenes, and more.
A brief paragraph really can't do justice to the resounding effort clearly put into the development of this server. As of right now, however, Origin Realms is holding a publicly available early beta, meaning players can join right now and get an early taste of what all the hype is about.
Gamemodes: Survival, RPG, Quests
Average Playercount: 150+
#4 Minecraft Central / IP: mccentral.org
Minecraft Central is one of the most recognizable names within the world of Minecraft multiplayer. Created in 2016, remaining popular ever since, it boasts of thousands of concurrent players on a daily basis.
At Minecraft Central, players can enjoy a variety of different classic-style gamemodes, each of which have been refined and consistently improved upon throughout many years of uptime.
Gamemodes: Survival, Factions, Hide & Seek, Creative, Skyblock
Average Playercount: 1400+
#5 Lunar Network / IP: lunar.gg
Lunar Network is highly popular within the Minecraft 1.8 PvP community, remaining as a top choice for any player looking to fine tune their PvP skills via practice 1v1 duels with others.
Lunar Network has achieved much popularity due to its flagship Minecraft PvP client, called "Lunar Client". This custom client helps players improve their PvP through various optimizations, and also helps ensure fairness due to an intelligent built-in anticheat system.
Gamemodes: PvP, Kit-PvP
Average Playercount: 350+
#6 Hypixel / IP: hypixel.net
For many, Hypixel will need no introduction. Hypixel has absolutely dominated the Minecraft multiplayer scene in terms of raw popularity, boasting over 100,000 concurrent players at peak times.
The majority of Hypixel's success can be attributed to their consistent innovation of exciting new gamemodes. Specifically, Hypixel is most famously known for creating and innovating the smash hit original Bedwars gamemode.
Gamemodes: Minigames, Skyblock, Bedwars
Average Playercount: 90,000+
#7 MineClub / IP: mineclub.com
For players looking for a bit less intensity and for a more relaxed Minecraft multiplayer experience, Mineclub is the perfect place to stop by.
The attention to detail sewn into Mineclub is absolutely undeniable. Gameplay wise, Mineclub describes itself as a "social Minecraft server" and offers a selection of uniquely made small minigames for players to enjoy.
By completing these minigames, players can earn coins to unlock wacky rare hats, custom cosmetic items and much more.
Gamemodes: Minigames, Roleplay, Social
Average Playercount: 600+
#8 Poke-Smash / IP: play.smashmc.co
Fans of the Minecraft pixelmon gamemode, or even Pokemon fans in general, might be interested in exploring the blocky lands of Poke-Smash. It is currently the biggest and most popular pixelmon Minecraft server.
In Poke-Smash, players can catch, train, trade, and battle all 932 of their favorite pokemon, directly inside a huge Minecraft world with other players. PokeSmash also includes a myriad of other features, such as Pokemon gyms, rare shiny Pokemon, player battle tournaments, and more.
(Note: Poke-Smash is a modded server and will require players to download and install the pixelmon mod to join. Here is a helpful guide on how to do this.)
Gamemode: Pixelmon
Average Playercount: 250+
#9 CamperCraft Survival SMP / IP: play.campercraft.net
Although heavily modified servers and gamemodes are uniquely fun, some players simply yearn for an uncomplicated, vanilla-style Minecraft survival multiplayer experience; staying true to how the game was intended to be played.
Camper Craft is the perfect small but friendly tightknight SMP (Survival Multiplayer) server for a good old no-nonsense, basic Minecraft survival experience. The server is also constantly updated so players can always enjoy the latest and greatest Minecraft features.
Gamemodes: Survival, SMP
Average Playercount: 50+
#10 Parkour Craft / IP: parkourcraft.com
Parkour Craft, as the name might suggest, is a dedicated Minecraft server for parkour. The server offers over 100 unique custom made parkour maps for players of all skill levels to complete, each with varying levels of difficulty, and even some with a special theme.
Upon completing a parkour map, players will be rewarded with in-game coins that can be collected and used to purchase awesome cosmetics such as pets, hats, colored boots, and even sweet perks like colored nicknames.
Gamemode: Parkour
Average Playercount: 100+
Also Read: How to Join a PC/Java Edition Minecraft server
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