List a beacon
Launch a beacon on any VPS, claim the dashboard, and publish to the Atlas when you're ready.
The fastest path from "I want to host" to "my server is listed on the Atlas" starts on the List a beacon page. First launch a real server, then claim its dashboard, invite players, and publish it when it is ready.
Your server, your bill
Beacon doesn't resell hosting and runs no affiliate or partner program. You deploy onto a host you control and pay the provider directly — Beacon never touches your bill.
Launch on any VPS
On a fresh Ubuntu 24.04 box with at least 8 GB RAM, run this once as root:
curl -fsSL https://beacon-mc.io/bootstrap.sh | sudo bashIt installs Docker, the Beacon CLI, and your server, sizes the JVM heap to the box, opens the firewall, and writes a one-time admin claim link to the login banner. The same script also works pasted into any provider's user data / cloud-init box, so it runs hands-free on first boot.
The List a beacon page has both forms ready to copy. It can also spin the server up on your own cloud account from an API token; the token is used once and never stored.
What you get
However you launch, the result is identical — a full beacon stack:
- A dashboard at
https://<your-server-ip>.sslip.io, with a real Let's Encrypt certificate and no DNS setup (the address resolves to your server's own IP). - A Minecraft server reachable at your server's IP on port
25565. - A one-time admin claim link to create the first admin account. Open it before you share the address.
Claim before you share
The first person to open the claim link becomes the admin. It's printed to the
server's login banner and shown in the launch flow. If you miss it, SSH in
and run beacon restart, then beacon logs admin-rpc and open the latest
ADMIN CLAIM LINK.
Sizing
A beacon needs 8 GB RAM minimum — the stack runs Minecraft, the live-map renderer, the dashboard, and the ingress proxy. That comfortably fits a typical 5–15 player world; step up to 16 GB for bigger or modded servers. See Hosting on a VPS for the full sizing table.