Help and frequently asked questions
Everything about how this list is built, measured and ordered. If your question is not answered here, the short version is that we measure what we can and say so when we cannot.
What is this site?
It is a directory that connects public Minecraft servers to the players looking for one. Every listing carries an address, what the server actually runs, a live player count we measure ourselves, and a vote button. Listing is free and always has been.
How are servers ranked?
The numbered list is led by a small number of editor's picks, and everything below them is ordered by the votes a server collects during the current calendar month. Votes reset on the first of each month, so a server that was strong last year does not sit on the ranking forever and a newly listed one can climb.
What does the gold star mean?
A gold star marks a featured placement, shown in its own block above the ranked list. A featured server also appears in the numbered list at whatever position its votes earn, so a star never removes a server from the ranking and never pushes anyone else down it.
Where do the player counts come from?
We send our own status ping to every listed address and record what comes back. Nothing here is typed in by an owner. If a server has not answered in the last 30 minutes we show the last successful reading and label it as last seen, rather than presenting a stale number as if it were live.
How often do you check a server?
Roughly every five minutes. A Bedrock check runs less often, about once an hour, since it is a separate protocol on a separate port. Owners can also trigger a check by hand from their dashboard rather than waiting for the cycle.
My server is online but you show it offline
The usual cause is a firewall or proxy dropping our ping. If you sit behind Cloudflare, a DDoS filter or a proxy that only allows known addresses, allow our pinger through. The other common cause is an SRV record pointing somewhere the A record does not, which we follow but which can break if only one of the two is updated.
How do I add my server?
Create a free account, then add your address. Your server has to be online while we check it, because we confirm the address answers a status ping before the listing goes live. You need nothing installed on the server to be listed.
Someone else already listed my server
You can take it over. Open the listing, start a claim, and we issue you a short code. Put that code in your server's MOTD, submit the claim, and we ping the address and hand the listing over only if the live MOTD contains your code. Then set your MOTD back to whatever you like.
Can I edit my listing after it goes live?
Yes. Name, website, Discord, description, gamemodes and Votifier credentials are all editable from your dashboard at any time.
Why can I not change the address?
Because the address is the thing we verified. A listing that could be pointed at a different server after being claimed would let anyone inherit somebody else's votes. If you genuinely moved hosts, get in touch and we will re-verify.
How often can I vote?
Once every 24 hours per server. The limit is enforced on the username and on the connection, so a fresh browser or a new name does not reset it, and every vote solves a small proof-of-work check before it counts.
Do I need an account to vote?
No. Voting takes a Minecraft username and nothing else. Accounts exist for server owners who want to list, claim and manage a server.
What is Votifier and do I need it?
Votifier is a plugin that tells your server the instant somebody votes for it, so you can hand out a reward automatically. It is optional. Without it the vote still counts toward your rank, you just cannot reward the player for it.
My votes are not reaching my server
Run the address, port and key through our Votifier tester. It sends a real test vote and reports exactly where the handshake failed, which is almost always a closed port, a v1 key pasted with the wrong line breaks, or a v2 token entered into the v1 field.
Why did my vote total reset?
The ranking runs on the current calendar month and resets on the first. Nothing is deleted: your all-time total keeps every vote you have ever collected and drives the all-time leaderboard.
Can I get players on one server to vote for another?
No. Votes belong to the server the player actually plays on. Directing traffic from one listing to inflate another is vote manipulation, and it costs the receiving server its listing.
Do you remove servers that go offline?
Not immediately. A server that stops answering keeps its listing and shows a last-seen count instead of a live one. Servers that have not answered for a long stretch sink out of the ranked list on their own, because a dead address earns no votes.
Why was my server removed?
Almost always vote manipulation, a listing that describes a different server than the one at the address, or a name field stuffed with keywords. We treat a removal as a warning. A pattern of it ends in a permanent block on the address and the account.
What belongs in the server name field?
The server's name. Not the version, not the gamemode list, not "BEST SMP 1.21 JOIN NOW". The gamemodes and version have their own fields that build the actual browse pages, so stuffing them into the name only makes your listing read worse.
Where does my server icon come from?
From your server. The status response carries the 64x64 server-icon.png sitting next to your server.properties, and we save the copy your server sends us on the first successful ping. If no icon shows, your server is not serving one.
Why does my server have no banner?
Because nobody has uploaded one. A banner is a 468x60 image shown next to the listing, and it is the single biggest difference between a row people click and a row they scroll past.
How do you decide a server's country?
We resolve the address, follow the SRV record if there is one, and look up the IP it answers on in a country database. It is the location of the machine, not the owner, and a server behind a proxy or DDoS filter shows wherever that provider's edge sits. Browse it all on the servers by country page.
Do you list Bedrock and cracked servers?
Yes to both. Bedrock addresses get their own RakNet check on port 19132, and cross-play servers running Geyser are listed under Java, Bedrock and Cross-Play. Cracked servers are listed and tagged as such so nobody joins one by accident.
Do you list Hytale servers?
No. This list covers Minecraft servers only, Java and Bedrock.
Does listing cost anything?
No. Adding a server, being ranked, receiving votes, the Votifier delivery and all of the owner tools are free and have no listing tier attached.
Can I buy a higher rank?
No. The featured block above the list is a separate placement with a gold star on it, and it does not reorder the ranked list underneath. Nothing in the numbered ranking is for sale.
Can I use your rankings data?
Yes. The live ranking is published as JSON under a Creative Commons licence that only asks for attribution. See the licence page for the endpoint and the terms.
How do I put a live badge on my site?
Every listing has an SVG badge at /badge/your-slug.svg showing the live player count and rank. Embed it as an image and link it back to your listing. The ready-made HTML and BBCode are on your server's page.
Something is wrong with a listing
Tell us. A listing pointing at a dead address, a description that has nothing to do with the server, or a server buying votes all make the list worse for everyone, and we would rather hear about it than not.