We love Minecraft as much as you do, and we know that Minecraft is always better when you’ve got your own server that you and your mates can play. 

Minecraft servers don’t have to cost a bomb – but it always helps if you can bag yourself a free one, such as the one offered by Aternos. 

The good news is that free doesn’t mean you have to scrimp on quality, nor do you have to worry about being scammed. We’ve done the research, performed a few tests and in our Aternos hosting review we give you the lowdown on whether or not this particular Minecraft host is worth your time and effort. 

Aternos also made our list of the Top 5 Minecraft Hosting Providers to use

What Is Aternos Hosting?

Aternos is one of the most commonly used portals that provides Minecraft fans with free servers so that they can run their own network. Everything is free, from the Ram to the plugins on offer. 

Indeed, the company even has a motto: Minecraft servers – free – forever. 

This means that Aternos will be free for as long as Minecraft is free. 

There are currently almost 13 million users and 400,000 gamers who use Aternos every single day, and the server has been in operation since 2013. 

How Does Aternos Work? 

Aternos works exactly like any other Minecraft server, and getting started couldn’t be any easier. 

All you need to do is get yourself over to their website, login or create an account – and get your own personal Minecraft server. It takes just seconds for your server to be up and running, and you’ll get an email informing you when it’s ready. 

Once you’re all setup, you’re free to add your friends/colleagues/whoever you want. I added 3 friends and we were soon having a lot of fun. 

Once we were up and running, Aternos didn’t distract us with any upsells. The major worry was that, because Aternos was 100% free, we’d be deluged with ads or incentives to upgrade to a premium plan. This didn’t happen and there were zero restrictions. We got exactly what we were told we’d get. 

The whole process is incredibly simple and you can jump from having no Minecraft server to having a fully customised one complete with your own world at the touch of a few buttons. 

Who Is Aternos For? 

First and foremost, Aternos Hosting is for Minecraft lovers who are on the lookout for a free Minecraft server and thus aren’t looking for anything that’s super duper fancy, rich in features or rich in Ram. 

Secondly, it’s aimed at predominantly small groups of people who just want a shared network where they can hang out with a few friends. As long as you’re not asking for too much (but still want to do crazy stuff, like me and my buddies did), Aternos is perfect. Be warned that you won’t be able to modify config files, so if that’s a deal breaker for you, you’ll need to look for a premium (paid) Minecraft server. 

Aternos Features 

  • For a totally free Minecraft server hosting solution, Aternos offers a fairly wide range of features. These include: 
  • Full customisation – Users have the chance to adjust anything they want on the server so that the game is exactly the way they want it to be 
  • Mods and plugins – If Vanilla isn’t your cup of tea, you can add one of a variety of plugins or mods
  • Customised worlds – We wanted to upload our own world, including parkour and adventure maps, and found that it was super easy to do 
  • 2 core processor 

Is Aternos Reliable? 

One of the biggest gripes Minecraft fans have is with servers that land them with too much downtime. Worse still, when they try to get in contact with customer support for help and assistance, they’re made to wait.

It’s definitely a different experience than premium minecraft hosting, which is faster and has the 24/7 chat support.

However considering it is free, things could be worse, and uptime is good enough to enjoy playing the game. Plus, whenever there is downtime, you’ll be forewarned.

Customer support, meanwhile, is excellent for what’s essentially a free service. It’s perhaps not as instant as some of the premium Minecraft servers but any query you put forward should be answered within 24 hours. That’s none too shabby for a free product. 

Are There Any Limitations? 

Naturally there are limitations.

When you pay for a Minecraft server, you can either get a very basic server or you can get a huge server with unlimited players. 

Aternos Hosting caps the amount of players you can add at 20, while modpack’s and plugins are also limited.

The amount of Ram available, meanwhile, is capped at 1.7GB. 

Is Aternos Safe? 

One of the questions I’ve personally been asked a lot is this: If a Minecraft server like Aternos is free, is it actually safe and legit? “It sounds too good to be true,” people say. 

Aternos Hosting is safe, secure and legit. In our own experience, we had no issues with our server being compromised, uptime was excellent and every Minecraft server is guaranteed DDOS protection so that attacks are thwarted. 

It’s also worth mentioning that Aternos offer automatic backups incase things do get wrong. This means you never need to worry that your Minecraft worlds will be lost. And, let’s face it, Minecraft worlds can get lost when the server stops functioning. It’s scary. 

Pros and Cons of Aternos 

Like any Minecraft server, Aternos has its pros and cons. 

Pros:

  • It’s free (and always will be) 
  • You can add up to 20 players 
  • Excellent customer support 
  • Absolutely no need to hand over your card details 

Cons: 

  • Limited options 
  • Plugins are available but again they’re limited 
  • Can’t install your own modpack or modify config files 

Conclusion Of Our Aternos Review: Is Aternos Good? 

Aternos Hosting will hold great appeal to cash conscious Minecraft fans who want a network server for themselves and their mates. It’s not super fancy, it’s not rich in options and you can’t add your own mods … but for a free service, there’s still a LOT of fun you can have. I played it with 3 friends and we ended up hopelessly addicted! Setup is as easy as 1,2,3, you’ll never have to pay for anything, and there’s no better free Minecraft server hosting out there.