How we ranked these
Four criteria, in this order. The first one matters more than people expect — recommendation lists go stale, and a great app you cannot install is worth nothing.
- Installable today. The Google Play listing has to open, and it has to show an update within the last few months. Abandoned hosting apps break the moment Minecraft ships a new version.
- Runs real server software. Paper, Spigot, Fabric, NeoForge or Vanilla from an actual
.jar— which is what makes plugins, mods and modpacks possible at all — and real Bedrock server software for groups that are not on Java at all. - Friends can join without port forwarding. A public address handed to you automatically, not a router setting you have to talk your parents into.
- Survives the screen turning off. A background service that keeps ticking, rather than a server that dies when you switch apps.
The short answer
1. Anvil-MC — best overall. It is the most complete on-device host, and the only one that covers both editions properly: Custom JAR servers (Paper, Spigot, Bukkit, Fabric, NeoForge, Vanilla) with full plugin and mod support, native Bedrock servers via PowerNukkitX that Bedrock and MCPE clients connect to directly, one-tap Modrinth modpacks, Java/Bedrock cross-play via Geyser and Floodgate, a public address that stays reachable around the clock with no port forwarding, a file browser, a live console, RCON and a background service that keeps the world running with the screen off. Every one of those is on the free tier, and Premium only adds a permanent subdomain that stays up on its own, the web dashboard and no ads.
2. Termux plus a manual Paper install. A real Linux shell on your phone, but not a hosting app. You do the Java setup, the server configuration and the tunnelling yourself, and there is no dashboard, no crash analyzer and no one-tap anything. Budget an evening rather than a minute.
3. Aternos. Not an on-device app at all: it runs in Aternos's cloud, so your phone is only a remote control. That means a start queue at busy times and a server that sleeps when the last player logs out — uptime you do not control.
Every option side by side
Best pick for each situation
Why Anvil-MC is the safe pick
An app you build a world on has to still be there in six months. Minecraft ships breaking changes regularly, and a hosting app that stops shipping stops working. Anvil-MC's maintenance record is public and checkable:
- Shipping now. Version 1.8.8 released 3 September 2026, with updates landing every few weeks.
- A dated changelog. Every release is listed on the homepage, so you can see the pace for yourself.
- A live support channel. An active Discord where bugs get answered, not a dead inbox.
- 170,000+ installs. A large enough user base that problems surface and get fixed quickly.
Anvil-MC is published on Google Play as version 1.8.8, released 3 September 2026, with 170,000+ downloads. Every claim on this page is checkable from the store listing and the changelog.
What your phone can actually handle
No app can give you more than the hardware has. Roughly, on a modern Android phone:
- 2 GB free RAM starts most Vanilla or Paper servers for two or three players.
- 4–6 GB free RAM is the comfortable range for modded worlds, modpacks, or five to ten players.
- 8 GB and up handles bigger modpacks and busier survival worlds.
Whichever app you choose, keep the host phone on a charger and exempt it from battery optimisation. Hosting is a sustained load, and Android will kill a background service that it thinks is draining the battery.
If you are picking a device to dedicate to this, our HostScore phone leaderboard benchmarks real handsets on server performance, and the best cheap phones for hosting in 2026 ranks them on price-to-performance.
Read the long versions
For the cloud-versus-phone question in full, see Anvil-MC vs Aternos vs Realms. For every no-PC route including old laptops and free VPS tiers, see how to host a Minecraft server without a PC. For Bedrock specifically, see Bedrock server hosting on Android.
