Shulkerboxes

Guides

exaroton vs Aternos: Same Company, Different Deal

Last checked: 7 October 2026

exaroton and Aternos are run by the same company, Aternos GmbH, and the choice comes down to whether you will pay for hours of play. Aternos is free with no way to pay: unlimited slots, mods, plugins and modpacks, but you may wait in a queue to start, an empty server stops after a countdown, and Aternos sets the plan’s RAM. exaroton has no monthly price: a running server costs 1 credit per GB of RAM per hour (2 GB for 4 hours is 8 credits), plus up to 10 credits per 30 days to store it. In return you pick the RAM, can let friends start the server by joining, and can import an Aternos server with its data. Aternos’s own help center sends people who don’t want to wait, or want a server that stays online longer, to exaroton. If your group plays a few evenings a week and minds the queue, try exaroton’s free trial; if free matters most, stay on Aternos.

Side by side

exaroton facts are from exaroton.com on 7 October 2026. Its page loads the price of credits in your currency by script, so this guide quotes prices in credits only. Aternos facts are from its homepage as archived on 3 October 2026 and its help center and terms (dates in Sources).

ComparedexarotonAternos
Cost1 credit per GB of RAM per hour; storage up to 10 credits per 30 days; free trial with no payment methodFree; its homepage says there is no way to pay for anything
RAMYou choose, and can raise it for a busy sessionSet by Aternos per software and version (2,400 MB for vanilla 1.20.1 in its example)
Player slotsNot stated on its homepageUnlimited, per its homepage
Mods and pluginsPaper, Purpur, Spigot, Fabric, Forge, NeoForge, Quilt, Arclight and 500+ one-click modpacksPlugins (Paper, Spigot, Purpur), mods (Forge, NeoForge, Fabric, Quilt), preconfigured modpacks
When nobody is onOptional automatic stop a set time after the last player leaves; you are charged only for the hours it runsStops after a countdown
How it startsFrom the panel, by joining in-game if you turn it on, or from its Discord bot or APISomeone presses start on the website; a queue when its system is full
AdsNot stated on its homepageIts help center says it is financed through advertisements
BedrockBedrock Edition servers (Vanilla, Preview, Nukkit)Bedrock Edition servers, separate from Java
Who it suitsGroups that play in sessions, can pay a little, and want no wait, more RAM or join-to-startGroups that want to pay nothing and can live with the queue and the countdown

exaroton

exaroton’s homepage calls it “high-end on demand game servers by Aternos”, and its footer names Aternos GmbH. Instead of a monthly plan, it charges for the time a server runs: 1 credit per GB of RAM per hour. Its own examples: 2 GB for 4 hours is 8 credits, and 4 GB for 2 hours 24 minutes is 9.60 credits. A stopped server is stored for up to 10 credits per 30 days, with up to 10 GB per server. The trial needs no payment method.

The on-demand tools are the point. You can let players start the server by joining in-game, have it stop automatically a set time after the last player leaves, and give Discord members permission to start it through a bot. It lists Java software from Vanilla and Paper to Forge, NeoForge, Fabric, Quilt and Arclight, Bedrock software, 500+ one-click modpacks, credit pools so friends can share the cost, world upload and download, backups to cloud storage such as Google Drive, and servers in North America and Europe. Its Aternos Import keeps your data when you move.

Aternos

Aternos is the free service from the same team, running since 2013 according to its footer. Its homepage says it is free and always will be, with no possibility to pay for anything, and lists unlimited slots, mods, plugins, preconfigured modpacks, world uploads and automatic backups to your Google Drive. Its help center says it is completely financed through advertisements.

The free deal has limits that exaroton removes. When its system is full you wait in a queue and confirm near the front, and you cannot skip it. An empty server stops after a countdown. Its terms forbid getting around the idle timeout and delete servers after a long period of inactivity, usually 3 months. The plan’s RAM is set by Aternos by software and version, as of its help center’s 4 October 2025 snapshot. Its help pages point to exaroton for each of these: no wait, longer uptime, and more RAM.

Pick exaroton if, pick Aternos if

Pick exaroton if the Aternos queue or countdown keeps getting in the way, you want to choose the RAM for a heavy modpack, or you want friends to start the server by joining. Work out the cost in credits first: hours your group plays each month, times the GB of RAM, plus storage.

Pick Aternos if paying anything is a deal-breaker, your group plays together in sessions, and one person can press start and wait if it is busy. Moving later is easy, because exaroton imports Aternos servers.

Where Shulkerboxes fits (and doesn’t)

Shulkerboxes is free Minecraft: Java Edition hosting for a friend group, with no ads, no credit card and no port forwarding. A server wakes up when a friend joins and is ready in about a minute, and your group gets a private Discord channel with the team. It is invite-only with a waitlist and open in the US, Spain, Germany, Mexico and Brazil. It is free because gameplay is recorded and de-identified into AI training datasets, and chat is recorded only if you opt in (full explanation). Servers run Paper with built-in homes and /tpa, you can upload a world you already have, and your saved world is yours to download. Modpacks and custom plugins are not supported, and Bedrock players cannot join, so if your group needs those, exaroton or Aternos is the better pick.

Have an invite code? Enter it on the home page. No invite yet? Join the waitlist and we will save you a spot.

FAQ

Are exaroton and Aternos the same company?

Yes. exaroton's homepage describes it as on-demand game servers by Aternos, and its footer names Aternos GmbH. Aternos is the free service; exaroton is the paid one, billed by the hour.

How much does exaroton cost?

A running server costs 1 credit per GB of RAM per hour, so 2 GB for 4 hours is 8 credits. Storing a server costs up to 10 credits per 30 days. exaroton's page shows the price of credits in your currency, and the trial needs no payment method.

Does exaroton have a queue like Aternos?

Aternos's help center says people who don't want to wait in its queue can use exaroton, its paid service. exaroton's homepage does not mention a queue.

Can I move my Aternos server to exaroton?

Yes. exaroton lists an Aternos Import that upgrades a server from Aternos and keeps your data.

Does exaroton stay online all the time?

Only while it runs, and you pay for each hour it runs. You can turn on an automatic stop after the last player leaves and let players start it by joining, so you pay only for the hours you play.

Is exaroton worth it over free Aternos?

It is worth it if the queue, the stop countdown or the fixed RAM on Aternos gets in your group's way and you can pay for the hours you play. If paying anything is a deal-breaker, Aternos stays free.

Sources

Aternos blocks automated fetches, so its pages are cited from archive.org snapshots, each with its date. Every other page was fetched on 7 October 2026.

Written by the Shulkerboxes team.