Let friends join your Minecraft server without port forwarding
A relay gives your server an address anyone can join and your router stays exactly as it is. It works on home broadband, on mobile data and behind CGNAT, where port forwarding can't work at all. Java and Bedrock players can both connect. It's free for you and three friends and from £1.50 a month for more people and a name you choose.
Why friends can't get in
- Your connection might not allow port forwarding at all. A lot of providers now put many homes behind one shared public IP, which is called CGNAT. It's normal on mobile broadband, 4G, 5G and Starlink. You can set every router option correctly and the connection still won't reach you. Our port forwarding guide is there if you want to try the manual route first.
- Your IP address changes. Most home connections get a new public IP every few days. The old one stops working, the server looks offline to everyone and you're back in Discord posting the new one.
- A raw IP gives away more than you'd think.
203.0.113.87:25565is easy to mistype and it tells anyone who joins roughly where you live. A relay address hides your IP. - Router settings are easy to get wrong. Even when port forwarding does work, most people don't fancy poking around the router and hoping the home internet still works afterwards. If you've never run a Minecraft server before, our setup guide starts from the beginning.
How it works
A small program on your PC keeps a connection open to one of our relay nodes. When a player types your address into Minecraft, the node sends them down that connection to your server. Your router never sees an incoming request, so there's nothing to change on it.
Player ─▶ <yourname>.play.mcservermanager.com ─▶ Relay node (EU, US, AU or Singapore) ─▶ Your PC ─▶ Minecraft server
============================================ MC Server Manager - Relay v1.0.1 ============================================ [14:02:11] Connecting to relay node 203.0.113.24:7001 ... [14:02:11] Connected. Players can join: <yourname>.play.mcservermanager.com:25565 [14:02:11] Bedrock players connect to: <yourname>.play.mcservermanager.com:25410
The connection starts on your side, so your router treats the relay like any other program going online. Nothing else on your network gets opened up to the internet. It works the same anywhere your PC can get online, hotel wifi included.
Setup, start to finish
Pick the tab that matches how you run your server. Either way it takes about two minutes.
If you run your server through the MC Server Manager desktop app, the relay's already in it and there's nothing else to download.
Pick a plan from your account
On your account page pick Free, Starter or Plus. Free gets you an address we pick, a word from the game and a number on play.mcservermanager.com, in Europe or the United States, with nothing to pay. On Starter or Plus you pick a region (Europe, the United States, Australia or Singapore) and the name you want. That becomes your full address, <yourname>.play.mcservermanager.com. Pay by card, yearly or monthly, cancel any time.
Start your server
Start your server in the app like normal. The relay launches with it, connects in the background and your address shows up in the server panel. It stops automatically when you stop the server.
Share the address
Copy your address from the server panel and send it to players. Java players paste it as a server, Bedrock players use the separate Bedrock port shown alongside it.
If your server runs outside the desktop app, say on a Mac or a Linux box, or you'd rather not install another program, the standalone setup pack does the same job.
Sign up and pick your address
Create an account on the website, pick a region (Europe, the United States, Australia or Singapore) and the name you want. That becomes your full address, <yourname>.play.mcservermanager.com. Pay by card, cancel any time.
Download the setup pack
One click and you get a small ZIP file. Inside is the relay program (a JAR file), a config file with your account details already filled in and start scripts for Windows, Mac and Linux. Nothing to edit by hand.
Unzip and run the start script
Put the unzipped folder anywhere you like. Double click start.bat on Windows, or run ./start.sh on Mac and Linux. A console window opens, the relay connects and prints your address ready to share. Leave the window open while you want the server reachable.
Share the address
Send your full address to anyone you want to play with. They paste it into Minecraft as a server and connect. Java players use the standard port, Bedrock players use a separate port the relay shows when it starts.
If Windows pops up a firewall prompt
The relay only makes outbound connections so Windows usually leaves it alone, but very occasionally Defender or a third-party antivirus asks for permission the first time it runs. If a prompt appears, tick Private networks and click Allow access.
If you accidentally clicked Block, open Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security (search it from the Start menu), go to Outbound Rules, find any block entry for java.exe, javaw.exe or mcservermanager-relay.jar, right click and delete it. Start the relay again and you'll get a fresh prompt. If you'd rather add the rule manually instead of waiting for a prompt, create an outbound rule that allows the same program, no port restrictions needed.
Pricing
Each plan costs the same in every region and you can cancel any time. Plus also brings in the rest of what we make, it's all listed on its card. The details are under the region picker.
- An address we pick on our domain
- Europe or the United States
- On while your server runs, one per account
- No card, on from your account in a minute
- A name you choose on our domain
- Europe, the United States, Australia or Singapore
- Standard on Windows while it runs
- 1GB of cloud storage
- Move up to Plus later and keep the address
- Your relay: a name you choose, your own domain, four regions
- 16GB of cloud storage for world backups and modpacks
- Standard on Windows while you're subscribed
- The Linux edition, three machines
Pick your region
Same price whichever you pick, so choose the one closest to your players.
OVH data centre in Gravelines, France. Best for European, UK and Middle East players.
not measured yet
BinaryLane data centre in Sydney. Best for Australian and New Zealand players.
not measured yet
OVH data centre in Virginia. Best for North and South American players.
not measured yet
BinaryLane data centre in Singapore. Best for South East Asia and India players. New, so tell us how it runs for you.
not measured yet
Ping shows your round-trip time to each relay node from this device right now. It's the latency the network adds on the way to the node, your in-game ping also depends on where the server itself is running.
The details
Every plan gets the same network and the same DDoS protection. No contract, cancel any time from your account page. Prices are in GBP. If you're outside the UK you'll see and pay in your local currency at checkout.
Free is the whole relay, for four
Turn it on from your account and you're playing in a minute, on an address we pick, a word from the game and a number on play.mcservermanager.com. It runs while your server runs and stops when the server does, so it's there whenever you play. When a fifth friend turns up they'll be told it's full. That's the moment for Starter or Plus.
Starter is for a few friends
It's meant for playing with a few friends rather than running a public server. Your address is on our domain, with 250GB of data a month. If you outgrow it, move up to Plus any time and keep your address.
No player cap on Plus
Bring as many people as your PC can handle, the relay won't be the thing that stops you. What Plus has instead is a monthly data allowance of 1TB on the Europe and United States nodes, 512GB on Australia and 250GB on Singapore, which works out at roughly 24 players online around the clock for a whole month, or a lot more if they log off sometimes. Starter gets 250GB.
Your account page shows exactly how much you've used, we email you at 80% so it's never a surprise. If you do hit it the relay pauses until the 1st. Your server and world aren't touched, only the relay stops routing.
Your own domain on Plus
Bought a domain? Point it at your relay with one CNAME record and your players type mc.yourdomain.com instead of an address we picked. Up to three names on one relay, no extra charge. Your website and email carry on as they were. There's a step by step for each registrar.
Once it's live, your own domain is the address we show you everywhere and the one to give players. Your relay address keeps working too, it's what your CNAME points at, so nothing you've already handed out stops working.
Starter keeps the address on our domain, which is all most small groups need.
Extra relays on Plus
Running more than one server? Each extra relay on your Plus is £1.50 a month or £18 a year and it's a Plus relay: no player limit, its own name, your own domain. It's Starter money because your Plus already pays for the inclusions once. Add one from the relay form on your account page, it gets its own card there and cancels on its own.
Backups and Linux come with Plus
Plus includes 16GB of cloud storage for world backups and hosted modpacks and the Linux edition on up to three machines, for as long as you're subscribed. Need more room? A bigger plan replaces the 16GB rather than adding to it and you pay the difference: 64GB in total for £1.99 a month, or 256GB in total for £4.99.
Standard comes with both
Either plan includes the paid app features, like unlimited session time, for as long as you're subscribed. If the subscription stops, the app goes back to Lite.
If you'd rather own Standard outright it's £1.99 once and it stays yours, whatever happens to the relay. Buying it that way is cheaper from the second month, so it's worth doing if the app is what you're really after.
Yearly and changing your mind
A yearly Plus runs to the end of the year you've paid for, monthly just stops at the end of the month you've paid for. Inside the first 14 days of a first payment you can have the unused days back. Cancel any time from your account page, nothing is charged after that.
How it compares to the alternatives
vs port forwarding on your router
Free if your internet provider supports it, plenty still do, but it can't work at all behind CGNAT. Even when it works, it exposes your real IP address to anyone who joins your server. A relay works on any connection and keeps your IP private.
vs renting a server from a hosting company
Paid Minecraft server hosting starts around £5 to £10 a month and keeps your server online 24/7 without your own PC running. A relay is for the case where your PC is already running the server, you just want people to be able to connect to it from outside your network. We also have a comparison of all the alternatives if you want to see hosting providers side by side.
vs playit.gg
Playit works, but the player-facing address is on their domain by default and using your own needs their premium plan at $3 a month. Setup also requires installing and signing into their separate client app. Plus is £24 a year, £2 a month in effect, with your own domain included. Starter and Plus both get a name you choose on our domain, the free relay gets one we pick and it all runs from a single JAR with no extra accounts.
vs ngrok
Ngrok is a general-purpose tunnel built mainly for web traffic. Bedrock support takes extra setup, your own domain is on a paid tier and the free plan gives you one static address rather than one per server. Our relay only carries Minecraft, handles Java and Bedrock natively and gives every server its own name.
Questions
Do I need to open ports on my router?
No. The relay opens an outbound connection from your PC to our server, the same kind any browser or game makes when it goes online. Your router doesn't need any incoming ports opened, which also means it works on connections that don't allow port forwarding at all.
Is it complicated to set up?
No. Sign up, download the ZIP, double click the start script. The config file inside has your account details already filled in, so there's nothing to type or configure. The whole thing takes about two minutes.
Does it work for Bedrock players on console, mobile or Windows?
Yes. Java players connect using your address on the standard port. Bedrock players use the same address on a separate port that's shown when the relay starts and listed on your account page.
What do I need installed?
Java 11 or newer. Most people already have it, since any server on Minecraft 1.17 or later needs Java 17 or above anyway. If you're running an older pack on Java 8 you'll need a newer Java installed alongside it, the relay and your server can use different ones. The setup pack itself is a single JAR plus a config file and start scripts, nothing else to download.
Does it work on Mac and Linux?
Yes. The setup pack includes start.bat for Windows and start.sh for Mac and Linux. Same JAR, same behaviour.
Is it safe to leave running?
Yes. The relay only handles traffic between your Minecraft server and players, it doesn't touch the rest of your PC and it doesn't expose any other ports. Stop it any time by closing the window.
How much latency does it add?
Around 20 to 80 milliseconds if you pick the closest region to your players. Similar to most paid hosting and to Realms, most players won't notice the difference compared to a direct connection.
I'm in the US, can I use this?
Yes. There's a US node in Virginia, so American players connect to that rather than crossing the Atlantic. Expect roughly 15 to 30ms from the East Coast and Midwest and around 60 to 80ms from the West Coast. Pick the region closest to your players when you set the relay up. You can move it later without your address changing.
How many players can connect?
Plus has no player limit at all, Relay Starter caps at 16 and the free relay at 4. On Plus the thing you'll run into first is your PC's CPU, RAM and home upload speed, the same as any other hosting setup, not the relay. What Plus does have is 1TB of data a month, which is roughly 24 players online around the clock. Your account page shows how much of it you've used.
What happens if my internet drops?
The relay reconnects automatically when your connection comes back. Your address stays the same, players can rejoin once it's reconnected.
Does it work with modded servers?
Yes. The relay forwards the raw Minecraft traffic without touching it, so any server type works including vanilla, Paper, Spigot, Fabric, Forge and modpacks.
Does the relay need a Windows Firewall rule?
Usually no. The relay only makes outbound connections, which Windows allows by default. On the rare occasion Defender or a third-party antivirus prompts you the first time you start it, tick Private networks and click Allow access. If you blocked it by mistake, open Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security, find any block entry for java.exe, javaw.exe or mcservermanager-relay.jar in Outbound Rules, delete it and start the relay again to re-trigger the prompt.
Can I cancel?
Yes, any time. On your account page open Relays and press Cancel subscription on the relay's card. It runs to the end of the month or year you've already paid for. Nothing's charged after that. No cancellation fee. Manage billing opens Stripe for your card and invoices, cancelling isn't done there.
Can I upgrade my free relay?
Yes. On your account page open Relays and press Upgrade on the free relay's card, pick Starter or Plus and pay at checkout. It keeps the same address and stays on the same server. You can pick your own name for it afterwards. Starter moves up to Plus the same way with Move up to Plus.
Is there a free trial?
No, there's a free relay instead. Four players on an address we pick, no card, turned on from your account page or in one click from the server's Network tab in the app. It's the whole relay, so you find out whether it works for you before paying for Starter or Plus. Either one cancels any time and runs to the end of what you've paid for.
The free relay's on your account page and it's running about a minute after you turn it on. Running your server in the app? Download it and switch the relay on from the server's Network tab instead.
Set up a relayBuilt and maintained by Natchland, maker of MC Server Manager. Last updated .