How often to restart your Minecraft server

There is no single right interval for restarting a Minecraft server. Some changes only take effect after one. Whether your server also needs regular restarts for performance is something the Console tab can show you.

Checked against the panel's Console, Schedules and Plugins tabs, October 2026.

When a restart is required

These need a restart before they take effect:

• A new, updated, enabled or deleted plugin or mod. The Plugins or Mods tab says "Restart the server to load it" after an install, and "Restart the server to apply" after a delete or a switch between enabled and disabled.
• A saved change in the Config Editor. After Save changes it says "Restart the server to apply it."

Make all of these changes first and restart once. A new Minecraft version or loader is different: the JAR Manager reinstalls the server when you press Apply change, so there is no separate restart to schedule. If the server is stopped afterwards, press Start.

When a restart helps

A restart only helps if performance falls over time, and your own graphs show whether it does:

1. Open the Console tab and look at the TPS card, which should sit at 20. The cards turn amber below 18 and red below 16.
2. Choose a longer range on the card, such as 24h or 7d, and see whether the figure slides down as the hours pass, then recovers after the last restart.
3. Look at RAM Usage the same way. A server on Minecraft can reasonably use most of its plan's RAM, so a high figure alone is not a fault.

If performance falls over days and a restart fixes it, restart on a schedule. If it does not recover, a restart is not the answer. Why is my server lagging? covers the other causes, such as too many plugins, a high view distance or too little RAM.

A starting point

A daily restart at the hour your players are least likely to be online is one option, and it is what the panel's own preset sets up. If you rarely see lag, you can restart less often. Restart more often only if your own graphs show a reason.

Set up a scheduled restart

1. Open More in the left rail, then Schedules.
2. On the Nightly restart with warnings card, pick a restart time.
3. Press Enable. It adds a daily restart and a 5-minute warning to players in game.

To change the time, press Remove on the card and enable it again. For other intervals, press New Task, choose a Power action and set it to Restart. The How often? list offers Every day, Every week, Every month and Every few hours. Schedule automatic restarts and tasks has the full steps.

Restart cleanly

A normal Restart stops the server and starts it again. Keep Force stop for a server that will not stop. If you want recent changes on disk first, run save-all flush in the Console before you restart. Minecraft autosave versus backups explains what it does.