How to fix server lag in Minecraft

Servers are one of the most common ways in which players can enjoy Minecraft multiplayer, with the biggest servers boasting massive player counts at peak daytime hours.

However, one of the biggest problems with Minecraft servers is that they are extremely prone to lag, especially if they are not set up correctly. This can be a massive hurdle for first-time server owners and less technical players.

The good news is that there are lots of easy and effective ways to significantly improve the performance of a server. This guide will explain the most effective tried & tested optimization that players can employ on their own servers to make pesky game-ruining lag a thing of the past.

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Why does a Minecraft server lag?

The first thing players should note is that there are different types of lag when playing on a Minecraft server - network and TPS lag.

Network lag can easily be identified in the form of high pings from players. Ping can easily be checked by holding the tab key in order to check the in-game player list. If players see a connection meter only a few bars strong, this is likely the source of their experienced lag.

All of the players on this server have a great connection and will likely feel no network side lag

If a player has a full connection meter but still experiences lag on the server, it's likely due to TPS (ticks per second) loss on the side of the server.

TPS in Minecraft servers can (for simplicity's sake) refer to how often a server refreshes. A server with no lag will sit at 20 TPS, meaning it refreshes 20 times in 1 second.

This server is running at below 14 TPS and will feel a lot of lag

Players running either spigot or bukkit as their Minecraft server jar can easily check their TPS by using the command /TPS in-game. Anything below 17 TPS is not good and is likely the reason why the lag is being felt.

How can players fix lag on a Minecraft server?

Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to fix network lag. The problem could be on the end of the server or the connected player's internet. However, if other players do not have network lag while connecting to the same server (full connection meters), it's likely not a problem on the server's end.

In terms of fixing TPS lag, the easiest way is simply to upgrade hardware. Players can upgrade their CPU or allocate more RAM to their server as a quick fix for the majority of problems with TPS. However, upgrading hardware costs money and isn't always an option that is feasible.

Another easy way to instantly see better performance is to use an optimized Minecraft server jar. The most popular one is called "Paper MC." It has been perfected over several years by some of the best developers in Minecraft as a passion project.

Upgrading to Paper MC is very easy. All players need to do is simply swap out their old server jar with the relevant Paper MC version.

Paper MC supports all versions of Minecraft, including builds for all the latest versions as soon as they are released by Mojang.

One final thing players should ensure is that low-quality and poorly optimized plugins aren't installed on the server. Even just one badly written plugin can bring even the most optimized server to its knees.

If lots of plugins are installed, players can easily identify laggy ones by removing plugins one by one until the lag stops.

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