For aspiring long-term builders, single worlds aren't enough. Most groups want at least one world dedicated to survival, one to creative, and one to modded. The problem is that most Minecraft world hosting services charge for each world you want to host, and that can get expensive.

This is how to host additional worlds with little to no cost.

Why Does Standard Hosting Cost So Much

Standard Minecraft world hosting services sell you a spot on a server. Pay the subscription and you get a world. In order to have more worlds, you need to pay for more spots on the server(s).

This is a problem for groups that want to play a survival world, then play a creative world, and then play a modded world. You end up paying for a server group that only gets partially used. In the end, you pay for worlds that don't get played.

What Are Your Options for Having Multiple Worlds

When it comes to running a single server with multiple worlds, you have some options. The first of the options is the ability to switch between different worlds or environments on the same server. Most of the server hosting services (such as Paper or Spigot) support this and allow you to host multiple worlds on a single server.

There are some drawbacks to this, though. Having multiple worlds hosted on one server means that all the worlds will use the same server resources. If you have a survival world that is really active and a creative world that isn't, the worlds will use the same amount of server resources, and the creative world will lag.

Option 2: Running separate servers yourself You can create your own server instances on a PC with the right specs or on a VPS. You will have complete control, and the only cost will be the price of the PC and the power consumption. You will need a lot of bandwidth and a PC that you can keep on all the time. You will also need to put in some effort to get it set up.

Most groups of friends who don’t have that much technical skill will likely find setting up your own server to be far more of a hassle than it’s worth. And what happens when their PC isn't on and the friends want to play?

Option 3: A hosting platform built for multiple worlds You can find newer hosting platforms that do not follow the per-server model. For example, with a single subscription, Obsidian Worlds lets you have multiple worlds that can be used for survival, creative, modded, and more. Worlds that are not in use do not use resources and therefore do not cost anything.

We structure our subscription into communities. A community can have many worlds associated with it, and have at least two of them running concurrently. With the others sitting in standby mode, waiting for their turn to shine.

Active Worlds vs Standby Worlds

This distinction is more important than many people probably think when considering a budget for hosting multiple worlds.

Worlds that are active are those that are running, accepting connections, and consuming server resources. You incur costs for those active worlds even if no one is logged in.

Worlds that are on standby are saved and backed up, and are not active. They consume very little resources. When you and your friends wish to use the world again you can bring it back to active status.

The most cost-effective solution is to have a few active worlds, and as many worlds as you want on standby. This model is what Obsidian Worlds is built around. With a subscription, you can have a limited number of worlds that are active at the same time, and an unlimited number of worlds that are on standby.

What This Looks Like in Practice

Imagine your friend group's typical Minecraft year:

• January–March:

  Deep into a hardcore survival run

• April:

  Survival world ends, everyone switches to a modded season

• May:

  Half the group wants to keep modded going, half want a creative project running simultaneously

• Summer:

  New survival world starts fresh

With traditional per-server hosting, you'd be paying for every world that exists whether they're active or not. With a standby model your old survival world is preserved and can be revisited anytime. The best bit being that it just isn't costing you full server fees while nobody's playing it.

Helpful Advice to Manage Multiple Worlds

- Naming things is hard but you still need to make sure to name your worlds in a way that makes sense. For example "World1" doesn't say anything about what's in that world and is a poor naming convention. Instead, think about naming worlds by season or purpose. Some examples include: "Survival S1," "Creative Builds," and "Modded April 2026."

- It is a good idea to come to an agreement on what is considered 'active' and 'standby' worlds. It helps to avoid confusion in case someone in the group attempts to log in to an offline world.

- Make a copy of world files before switching. It is a good idea to make a copy of a world before putting it on standby. You don't want to lose the work you put in on an important build because of a corruption error.

- Remember what's important. Write up a log of your worlds in a shared note with important dates and what is in your worlds. It might seem unimportant now, but in a few years it may be important.