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Guide · Aternos alternative
Aternos is free and it is fine to start with; we are not going to tell you otherwise. But it shuts your server down when nobody is left inside and puts you in a queue when they are at capacity. They explain this themselves in their documentation: their resources are limited and shared among everyone. If your players log on and the server is off, you need a different kind of service. Here the server stays on and starts when you say so, from €5.99/mo. And you can check it before paying.
| What changes | Astrol Nodes | Aternos (free) |
|---|---|---|
| Price | From €5.99/mo | Free |
| Shuts down when nobody is inside | No | Yes, on a countdown |
| Queue to start | None | Yes, when at capacity |
| Resources | Yours, from the plan you buy | Shared and limited |
| Hardware | Ryzen 9 · DDR5 · NVMe | Not published |
| Java, Bedrock and crossplay | Yes | Java and Bedrock |
| Try it without paying | Two open servers and a 24h trial | The whole thing is free |
Worth saying plainly: Aternos does exactly what it says it does, and explains it in its own help pages. They stop empty servers because their resources are limited and have to be shared among millions of people, which is also why there is a queue when they are full. It is not a bug or a trick: it is the price of being free. In their own article about the queue they recommend paying if you do not want to wait.
There are three signs and they are always the same. Your friends log on while you are away and the world is switched off. You agree on a time and end up waiting for it to boot. Or you want farms, redstone or mobs ticking away and you cannot, because the server stops the moment the last player leaves. If any of those sound familiar, the problem is no longer the host: you need a different category of service.
Your server is on whether anyone is inside or not, and it starts when you say so, with no queue. The RAM and CPU in your plan are yours and are not shared out. And you get full panel access to upload whatever you want: worlds, plugins, mods or a whole modpack. It is the difference between a place where you play and a place where you build something.
We keep two servers open, one in Germany and one in Miami, that you can join right now to see how they run from your own connection. And if you want to test your own, we give a free 24-hour trial requested through a ticket, no card needed.
If your question is not here, open a ticket and we will answer.
No queue to start and no automatic shutdowns. You can try it before paying.
