Minecraft server for a school or club

Updated 4 November 2026

Want to play Minecraft together with a class, a club, a scout group or the kids in your neighbourhood? With your own server you decide who joins and what's allowed. This guide sets up a safe server you can run without any technical knowledge.

1. Pick the right plan

Up to about 15 players at once on a normal server: 4 GB.
Bigger groups or lots of plugins: 6 or 8 GB. Not sure? See How much RAM does a Minecraft server need?

Have an adult place the order, for example the teacher, coach or a parent. You get a PDF invoice with every payment, handy for your school's or club's bookkeeping. You choose whether you pay per month, quarter or year, and you can cancel any time, so you're not tied to anything.

2. Only your own group on the server: the whitelist

With a whitelist, only players you add can join. Open your server in SparkPanel and type in the Console:

whitelist on
whitelist add PlayerName for every player (their Minecraft name, not their real name)
whitelist list to check who is on it

Only give supervisors operator rights (op Name). Operators can do everything, including changing the world and removing players.

3. Set the rules

The main settings are in the file server.properties (in SparkPanel under Files). Restart the server after saving.

No attacking each other: type gamerule pvp false in the console (Minecraft 1.21.9 and newer; on older versions pvp=false in this file).
difficulty=peaceful or easy: no or few monsters, nice for young players.
gamemode=creative: everyone builds with unlimited blocks, ideal for class building projects.
motd=: the text players see in their server list, for example the name of your school or club.

4. Plugins that help with supervision

On a Paper server (the default at ServerSpark) you can add plugins that make managing easier. See Install Minecraft plugins. Popular with groups:

CoreProtect: see who placed or broke which block, and roll back damage.
WorldGuard: protect areas, like a shared village or a building project.
LuckPerms: give supervisors more rights than players without making them full operators.

5. Backups and fixed times

We make a backup every night. On top of that, make your own backup under Backups before a big project or after a lesson.
Under Schedules the server can restart or make a backup automatically, for example every night.
Want people to play only during class? Turn the server on and off in SparkPanel with Start and Stop.

6. Players on tablet, phone or console

Do some kids play on a tablet, phone, Switch or Xbox? They use Minecraft Bedrock. With the free Geyser plugin they can join the same server: see Let Bedrock players join with Geyser.

Frequently asked questions

Does this work with Minecraft Education? No. Minecraft Education is a separate Microsoft version with its own servers. This guide is about regular Minecraft (Java and, through Geyser, Bedrock).

What does it cost? A 4 GB plan is €4.19 a month when you pay per quarter (€12.57 every 3 months), or €4.39 with monthly billing. Current prices are on the pricing page.

Can you set it up for us? Yes. Order your plan and email your order number to info@serverspark.nl with what you want (for example whitelist, creative building, no PvP). We set it up for free.