25% of Minecraft admins have lost friends over server decisions according to study

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Server reliability is also a big factor

Minecraft modpacks and animals on screen.
(Image credit: Mojang Studios)
  • 53% of shared hosting users say they’ve lost players due to crashes, lag, or downtime
  • Only 10% of VPS and 8% of bare metal users experienced the same
  • 58% of Minecraft admins say low latency is the most important factor when picking a server

A Liquid Web study on Minecraft hosting in 2025 has confirmed that reliable Minecraft server hosting is key to success in the field.

In the survey of over 1,000 Minecraft server admins and players, Liquid Web found that investing in superior Minecraft servers generally paid off, but that many admins found they could do with more assistance.

Crucially, 25% of all admins found they had lost players and friends due to lag, crashes, or downtime issues on their server. That figure shot up to a huge 53% when looking at shared hosting users, with the number dipping to just 10% for VPS users and 8% of bare metal server admins.

It’s a sharp reminder that the best Minecraft server hosting could make or break your chances as a successful Minecraft server admin.

Minecraft server admins need more support

According to the survey, 38% of Minecraft server admins find server setup and management confusing, with 58% keen to take a short class or tutorial on how to set up a Minecraft server.

These issues were more common among shared hosting users with around 36% of that group citing confusion, compared to 17% of bare metal users. Simply put, shared hosting users are facing higher chances of losing players due to issues, but also feel less confident in their ability to correct matters.

Tied into that, the third biggest dealbreaker for Minecraft users is poor customer support at 36% with hidden fees and high latency/slow response time being the biggest and second biggest issue.

As one person surveyed explained, “It’s hard to get friends to stick around when the server crashes every other day. That’s why I finally switched. It wasn’t about cost, it was about keeping people together.”

While shared hosting might seem like a cheap and easy solution, it may scupper your Minecraft server hosting plans faster than any other decision you make.

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Jennifer Allen
Jennifer Allen
Contributor

Jennifer is a roving tech freelancer with over 10 years experience. Having graduated from Swansea University with a degree in Media and Communication Studies, and later with a diploma from Staffordshire University with a post graduate diploma in Computer Games Design, she's written for a huge number of publications, including T3, FitandWell, Top Ten Reviews, Eurogamer, NME and many more. 


Her main areas of interest are all things B2B, smart technology, wearables, speakers, headphones, and anything gaming related, and you'll find her writing everything from product reviews to buying guides and hunting down the latest coupon codes to save you money. In her spare time, she enjoys the cinema, walking, and attempting to train her pet guinea pigs. She is yet to succeed.

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