Compare
Here are four other ways to get a world, or an AI, into Minecraft. Each is fine at what it does. This is what each one gives you, and where it stops.
Thinking of running an open-source AI bot yourself instead? Mindcraft, AI Player and Steve AI beside the hosted way.
No price lists below: everybody's change by region and by month. The shape of what you are buying does not.
A world hosted by the people who make the game. Nothing to set up, a small number of slots, and it stays up when you log off.
What is good about it. Genuinely the easiest thing there is. If all you want is somewhere for a few people to play vanilla, it is hard to beat.
Where it stops. It is vanilla and it stays vanilla: no mods, no plugins, no datapacks. Nobody in it can build you anything. An empty map is an empty map until somebody places every block by hand.
You pay for RAM and a control panel. Install what you like: plugins, datapacks, mods, whatever you can configure.
What is good about it. Total control, and the market is competitive enough that it is cheap.
Where it stops. You are now a server administrator. Somebody has to choose the plugins, keep them on the right version, and fix it at 9pm on a Sunday when everyone says it is down. The AI in this market lives in the billing panel, not in the game.
A website you describe a building to. It sends back a schematic file (.schem, .litematic or .nbt) for you to import with WorldEdit.
What is good about it. Fast, cheap, often free, and the results can be genuinely impressive. If you want one castle and you already run a server with WorldEdit on it, this is the shortest path there is.
Where it stops. It hands you a file. Somebody still has to own a server, install WorldEdit, work out where to paste it and paste it, and nobody watches it go up, because it never happened in a world. It cannot mine, craft, play survival beside you or write you a game. It makes builds, and a build is only one of the things you might want.
A mod, or a desktop app, that puts an AI character into your game.
What is good about it. Free, and some of them are clever. Worth a look if you are technical and playing on your own.
Where it stops. Everybody who wants to see it has to install it, on the right version, on their own machine. In practice that makes it a single-player toy. Nothing it does survives you closing the laptop, and the ones that generate code warn you not to point them at a server other people are on.
Side by side
| A Realms-style hosted world | A rented server from a hosting company | An AI build generator | A free AI companion mod | Cubelings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friends join with unmodified Minecraft | yes | yes | sort of | no | yes |
| World stays up when you log off | yes | yes | no | no | sort of |
| Nothing for you to configure | yes | no | no | no | yes |
| Something in the world that builds what you ask for | no | no | no | sort of | yes |
| It builds in a world, not into a file you import | no | no | no | sort of | yes |
| Mines and crafts the materials in survival | no | no | no | sort of | yes |
| New games written and loaded while you play | no | sort of | no | no | yes |
| It checks its own work and tells you | no | no | no | no | yes |
| Custom companion names and skins | no | no | no | sort of | no |
| Self-service world downloads | sort of | yes | yes | yes | no |
● yes ◐ sort of, with conditions — no
The Cubelings column is the current Paper beta. Empty worlds sleep
and wake when you connect. What the beta does not do yet
is kept in one list.
The short version
Any of them will give you somewhere to play. A Realms world is the simplest, a rented box gives you the most control, and a free companion mod costs nothing if you are happy installing things and playing alone.
What none of them give you is somebody standing in the world with you. Cog builds what you describe where you are standing, writes new games on request, and plays survival beside you under the rules you play by. The world stays up when you log off, your friends join with the game they already own, and we run the server.
Invite-only beta
A private Minecraft world for the people you choose, with Cog there to build alongside you. Join the list and we’ll email you when there’s a place.
14-day trial once invited · No card needed