How to Reduce Server Lag of Your Minecraft Server

No one wants to play on a laggy server that takes five business days to load chunks or a server that keeps kicking you out of the server. So if you are a server owner, you must optimize your server to be as fast as possible if you want to make your server a success. That's exactly what we are going to discuss in this article.

So the first step of reducing lag is to understand what is the cause of the lag that your players are experiencing. We can name three main reasons why lag can occur:

• TPS (Server Performance)
• Latency (Network Connection)
• FPS (Client Performance)

So what are they?

TPS (ticks per second) is the measure of your server's performance. In Minecraft, a tick is 1/20th of a second. In a Minecraft server, 20 TPS is the best, and the lower the TPS, the worse the server performance.

Then the latency and the FPS are pretty much self explanatory. They are mostly just client sided issues that you, as a server owner, cannot handle.

However, if your server is lagging and you aren't even using all of the server resources that you have on your plan, or it uses more than what it should, there's a good chance that your current hosting provider isn't that good. So consider choosing a reliable provider like Eternal Hosting.

So is that it? Just choose a better plan? NO, there's a lot more to it. So let's get started, shall we?

Understanding the Type of Lag That You Are Experiencing

First, understand what causes your server to lag. Is it server performance, is it server latency, or is it FPS?

So how do I actually understand that?

That's pretty simple. To check if your lag is TPS-related, simply go to your server console and run the command /tps, which will show the output. If it says 20, your server hardware is not the issue.

And if you are having high server ping, that means it's latency related.

TPS Benchmarks and What They Mean

• 20 TPS: Perfect performance - server is running smoothly
• 18-19 TPS: Minor lag - barely noticeable to players
• 15-17 TPS: Noticeable lag - players will experience delays
• 10-14 TPS: Significant lag - gameplay severely affected
• Below 10 TPS: Critical lag - server nearly unplayable

How Do I Optimize My Server for Better Performance?

We are going to discuss this under 5 main topics.

1. Server Software

There are many server softwares to choose from when you create your server. But not all of them are created equally. Some are made with performance in mind and some with functionality. So for the best in both worlds, we recommend you to use Paper, Purpur, or Fabric as your server software.

These are not only super optimized for better performance, they allow you to customize your server with plugins and mods that you like.

So with that out of the way, another major thing that we see on many servers that causes lag is outdated server jar files. Always make sure that your server jar is up to date.

One other thing is to change your server startup commands for better performance or simply disable or change features that you don't need, like tick speeds and autosaves. But if you don't have prior experience in doing so, just simply reach out to your hosting provider for support and they can do it for you easily.

Server Software Comparison:

• Vanilla: Basic Minecraft server - limited optimization options
• Bukkit/Spigot: Good plugin support but moderate performance
• Paper: Excellent performance with extensive optimization features
• Purpur: Paper fork with additional performance tweaks and features
• Fabric: Lightweight modding platform with excellent performance
• Forge: Heavy modding support but can impact performance

2. Plugins and Mods

Plugins and mods are the best feature of Minecraft servers. So simply reducing or removing them to reduce server lag is not the option. So then what is it?

You should always check the compatibility between each plugin or mod that you have installed on your server, since that's a common reason for servers to drain server resources unnecessarily.

Also, make sure all of your plugins are up to date and optimized. Check out our guide on essential Minecraft plugins for performance-friendly recommendations.

Plugin Optimization Strategies:

• Regular Updates: Keep all plugins updated to their latest versions
• Compatibility Testing: Test plugin combinations in a development environment
• Performance Monitoring: Use tools like Spark to identify resource-heavy plugins
• Alternative Plugins: Replace heavy plugins with lighter alternatives when possible
• Plugin Auditing: Regularly review and remove unused or redundant plugins

Performance-Friendly Plugin Recommendations:

• ClearLag: Automatically removes lag-causing entities
• LimitPillagers: Prevents excessive pillager spawning
• EntityTrackerFixer: Optimizes entity tracking
• ChunkHoppers: Reduces hopper lag in chunk loading
• FarmLimiter: Prevents excessive animal breeding

3. Server Settings

Adjusting your server settings to gain more server performance is one of the most commonly used and most effective methods. You can reduce the distance where the entities are spawning around the player and render distance to reduce the amount of server resources a single user uses.

This can significantly reduce the server hardware usage. But always make sure to let your players know if you are making a change like this, because with changes like these, farms and other builds on your server might not function as usual.

Key Performance Settings to Optimize:

server.properties Optimizations:

• view-distance: Reduce from 10 to 6-8 for better performance
• simulation-distance: Set to 6-8 (controls entity/redstone processing range)
• max-players: Set realistic limits based on your hardware
• spawn-protection: Reduce if not needed
• network-compression-threshold: Set to 256 for better network performance

Paper/Purpur Configuration:

• Entity Activation Ranges: Reduce ranges for animals, monsters, and misc entities
• Tick Rates: Adjust grass growth, mob spawning, and other tick-based processes
• Chunk Loading: Enable async chunk loading and optimize chunk generation
• Redstone Optimization: Limit redstone update frequency and complexity

4. Entities and Redstone

So, talking about entity spawning leads us to entities and redstone. Anything from a cute frog in a swamp to a complex redstone world eater, everything adds more demand to your server hardware, which ultimately leads to low server TPS and a laggy experience.

So it's a better idea to limit the redstone usage on your server and also the behavior of mobs and other entities. For example, we are seeing users use plugins to stack mobs into one single entity if they are in a small area, and plugins that optimize things like falling leaves and dropped items. And also, plugins that limit redstone usage and sometimes even block redstone components like redstone clocks completely.

But again, don't forget to tell your community about the changes that you made.

Entity Optimization Techniques:

• Mob Stacking: Use plugins like StackMob to combine similar entities
• Entity Limits: Set per-chunk limits for different entity types
• Despawn Timers: Reduce item despawn times to clear dropped items faster
• Breeding Limits: Prevent excessive animal breeding in farms
• Vehicle Limits: Limit minecarts, boats, and other vehicles per area

Redstone Optimization Strategies:

• Clock Limiters: Restrict or ban redstone clocks that run continuously
• Update Limits: Limit redstone updates per tick per chunk
• Component Restrictions: Limit lag-heavy components like hoppers and observers
• Circuit Complexity: Set maximum redstone circuit sizes
• Alternative Solutions: Encourage command blocks or plugins instead of complex redstone

5. Allocating Resources

So you've done everything that we mentioned and still the same result? Or is your server already optimized? Then the only option that you have is to move to a server plan with better server hardware. But make sure that you aren't just adding more server RAM to your server, since Minecraft is not just run on the RAM. It's the balance between the amount of RAM and the power of the CPU of your server that gives the performance to your server.

So always make sure to go for a better CPU and enough RAM with at least 1–2 GB headroom for your server to fluctuate during peak hours.

You can check out our blog on how to choose the best server plan to learn more about this.

Hardware Requirements by Server Size:

Advanced Performance Monitoring

To truly optimize your server, you need to understand what's causing performance issues. Here are some advanced monitoring techniques:

Essential Monitoring Commands

• /tps: Shows current server TPS and memory usage
• /spark profiler: Advanced profiling tool for identifying lag sources
• /timings: Built-in performance analysis (Spigot/Paper)
• /lag: Shows detailed server performance metrics

Performance Monitoring Plugins

• Spark: Comprehensive performance profiler and monitoring tool
• LagMonitor: Real-time lag detection and reporting
• ServerTuner: Automated performance optimization suggestions
• TickProfiler: Detailed tick analysis and entity tracking

Common Performance Mistakes to Avoid

Here are some common mistakes that server owners make that can severely impact performance:

Configuration Mistakes

• Too High View Distance: Setting view distance above 10 chunks
• Excessive Mob Spawning: Not limiting mob spawns in farms
• Poor Plugin Selection: Using outdated or resource-heavy plugins
• Inadequate RAM Allocation: Not leaving enough headroom for peak usage

World Design Issues

• Massive Redstone Contraptions: Building overly complex redstone systems
• Entity Overload: Allowing unlimited entity breeding and spawning
• Chunk Loading: Having too many chunks loaded simultaneously
• Item Hoarding: Not implementing item cleanup systems

When to Consider Upgrading Your Server Plan

Sometimes, optimization can only take you so far. Here's when you should consider upgrading your hosting plan:

Signs You Need More Resources

• Consistent TPS below 18 despite optimization efforts
• RAM usage consistently above 85% of allocated memory
• CPU usage regularly hitting 100% during normal gameplay
• Players experiencing frequent timeouts and disconnections
• World save operations taking longer than 30 seconds

Upgrade Strategy

• CPU First: Minecraft is more CPU-intensive than RAM-intensive
• Balanced Approach: Ensure RAM and CPU are properly balanced
• Storage Speed: Consider NVMe SSD for faster world loading
• Network Quality: Ensure your hosting provider has good network infrastructure

Conclusion

So in this article, we learned that server lag could be caused by TPS, latency, or FPS, and how you can optimize your server to reduce server lag. Using optimization plugins and changing server settings can give you massive performance increases. Make sure to monitor your server's performance from time to time and make changes to optimize your server gradually.

Remember that server optimization is an ongoing process, not a one-time fix. As your server grows and evolves, you'll need to continuously monitor and adjust your settings to maintain optimal performance. The key is to find the right balance between performance and gameplay features that your community enjoys.

So with all these techniques and strategies, we are sure that you are ready to tackle your server lag and create a better experience for your users. A well-optimized server not only provides better gameplay but also helps retain players and grow your community.