How to download your world from Apex Hosting and move it

Apex Hosting gives every server an FTP login, and that's how you download your files before uploading them to your server here. Apex steps checked against Apex Hosting's guides in October 2026. Move your server from another host has more on the upload side.

Before you start

1. In the Apex server panel, press the red Stop button near the top of the page, so the world isn't changing while you copy it.
2. Minecraft only: scroll to the World section at the bottom of the panel, with the Change World, Reset Nether and Reset End buttons. The box above those buttons shows your world's folder name, such as mc_1_21_5_1778083. Write it down.
3. Note the version and server software the Apex server runs.
4. Take a backup of your server here in Backups. Uploaded and extracted files can replace files with the same name, and the backup undoes that: How to create and restore backups.

What to download

On Minecraft Java, the world folder sits at the top level of the Apex server, under the name you wrote down. On versions before 26.1, Paper, Spigot and Purpur split it into three folders: that name, the same name ending in _nether, and the same name ending in _the_end. Download all three, or the Nether and the End start fresh here.

Bring plugins or mods, config, server.properties and the player lists too, as Move your server from another host lists.

Download from Apex

Small worlds: the panel's FTP File Access

Apex suggests this only up to about 100 MB, because bigger transfers can time out.

1. Click FTP File Access in the panel's left-hand menu and enter your panel password when asked.
2. Select the folders you want (Ctrl or Cmd + click to pick several), right-click and choose Compress.
3. Name the zip and click Create Archive.
4. Right-click the zip and choose Download.

Bigger servers: FileZilla over FTP

1. Open the FTP File Access login page in the Apex panel and copy:
   • Address/Host
   • Port: 21, separate from your game port
   • Username: the FTP username on that page, which isn't your panel login
   • Password: your Apex panel password, not your billing account password
2. In FileZilla, connect over FTP, not SFTP: Apex documents an FTP login only.
3. Drag the folders from the server side to a folder on your computer.

Match the version here

On Minecraft, set the same software and version in the JAR Manager tab (under More) before you upload: Change Minecraft server version or loader. If Apex ran Spigot, pick Paper: there's no Spigot option here, and Paper runs Spigot plugins.

Upload the files here

1. Stop your server here from the Console.

2. Up to 100 MB: in the File Manager, select Upload and pick your zip, then select it and choose Extract here. Delete the zip once its files are out.

3. Over 100 MB: connect to your server here over SFTP and drag the folders across. The login is behind the SFTP button in the File Manager, and Connect over SFTP with FileZilla or WinSCP shows the steps.

   

4. If everything lands inside a folder, select each item, choose Move to…, enter / as the Destination folder and press Move. A move onto a name already at the top level is refused with Couldn't move this, so delete or rename that one first.

Point Minecraft at your Apex world

Apex's world folders have their own names, such as mc_1_21_5_1778083, so your server here won't load yours until you say so.

1. Open the Config Editor tab. In the World section, set World folder to the name you wrote down, then click Save changes.
2. Keep the _nether and _the_end folders' names as they are, so they match.
3. Start the server. When the Console shows Done (…s)!, join and check your builds.
4. Share the new address from Server address in the left rail: Join your Minecraft server (and fix errors).

Cancel Apex last

Keep the Apex server until your players have moved and you've checked the world. Apex's guides say a terminated server's files are deleted, and its offsite backups are kept only for a limited time.

If something's missing

• A fresh world loads instead of yours - World folder doesn't match the world's folder name, or the world is still inside a subfolder.
• A fresh Nether or End - the _nether and _the_end folders weren't downloaded, or their names don't start with the world's name.
• FileZilla can't log in - use port 21 with FTP, the username from FTP File Access, and your panel password.
• "… is over the 100 MB limit" - send that file over SFTP instead.