Server Status Checker
Check if any Minecraft server is online. View player count, MOTD, version and more.
How to check whether a Minecraft server is online
Enter the address
Type the host, or host and port for anything not on the default, and choose Java or Bedrock before you check.
Read the answer
Version name, protocol number, player count, MOTD and the server icon all come out of the ping itself.
Match the edition
A Bedrock host asked on the Java port answers nothing at all, because the two speak different protocols on different ports.
Check again later
An answer is held for thirty seconds before a fresh ping goes out, and your recent lookups stay in the browser for a second run.
How It Works
Check if any Minecraft server is online and see player count.
Live pings through version 3 of the mcsrvstat APIPage updated
About This Tool
This free Minecraft Server Status Checker lets you quickly find out if any Java Edition or Bedrock Edition server is online. Enter a server address to see real-time information including player count, MOTD (Message of the Day), game version, server software and more.
Use it to monitor your own server, check if popular servers like Hypixel or CubeCraft are up, or verify that your port forwarding is working. The tool queries each server directly and caches results for 30 seconds for performance.
Supported features include full MOTD color rendering with all 16 Minecraft color codes, server icon display, player list preview and version detection. Recent lookups are saved in your browser so you can quickly re-check your favorite servers. The player count that comes back is the live one; what your own hardware can carry is a different number, and the player slot advisor works that one out.
When A Check Disagrees With Reality
A green result is not proof that the world behind it works. A proxy answers the ping itself, so a Velocity or BungeeCord front end reports online with its own MOTD and player count while the backend it forwards to is dead. The same gap opens after a migration, when DNS still points at the old host and that host answers happily with a world nobody plays on any more.
Restarts explain most of the rest. A check that lands inside the restart window reads as offline even though nothing is wrong, and that window comes from whatever schedule the cron expression builder writes. A Bedrock host asked on the Java port gives the same silence, because the two speak different protocols and listen on different ports.
What The Numbers Are Worth
Version name is free text the server fills in itself, so a proxy or a plugin can write anything there and plenty do. The protocol number underneath it is what a client actually matches on, which is how a server can call itself one thing and still turn away an older client.
The player count is a claim rather than a measurement. Online and max both come from the server, max is one line in server.properties instead of anything the hardware agreed to, and networks that want to look busy have plugins that inflate the first number on purpose.
Checking A Server You Host
Test from outside your own network. A hostname that resolves on your LAN can point somewhere else entirely from the public internet, and localhost proves nothing at all about port forwarding. Ask a player for the address they type and check that one.
What comes back splits the work in two. The lines and colours are the MOTD, written by the MOTD generator, while whether the ping answers at all and how many slots it reports are settings in the server.properties generator.
What a server ping actually returns
| Java default port | 25565 over TCP. Type host:port for anything else. |
|---|---|
| Bedrock default port | 19132 over UDP, answered by the RakNet unconnected ping. |
| SRV record | _minecraft._tcp.yourdomain.com points a plain domain at any port. Java clients follow it, Bedrock clients ignore it. |
| In the response | Version name and protocol number, players online and max, an optional sample of names, the MOTD, and the icon. |
| Server icon | server-icon.png at exactly 64 by 64 pixels, sent back as a base64 data URI. Any other size and the server leaves it out. |
| Cache here | A result is reused for 30 seconds, so a restart can take that long to show up. |
| MOTD rendering | All 16 section sign colours plus bold, italic, underline and strikethrough are drawn out. One difference with the client: here a colour code keeps the formatting that came before it, while in game a colour code clears it. |
Nothing on this page is stored on our side. Every lookup leaves at that moment for version 3 of the mcsrvstat API, the Bedrock endpoint for a Bedrock host, and its answer is held for 30 seconds before the next visitor sets off a fresh ping.
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions about server pings
Why does my server show as offline when I can join it myself?
Joining and pinging are two separate paths. enable-status=false in server.properties still accepts logins but stays silent to the server list. The same result comes from a firewall that only opens the port to your own address, or from a hostname that resolves to a different machine than the one you connect to.
Does a whitelist block the status check?
No. The whitelist is checked at login, not at ping, so a whitelisted server still reports its version, MOTD and player count to anyone who asks.
Why is the player list empty while players are online?
The name sample in a ping response is optional and holds only a handful of entries. Plenty of servers trim it or replace it with decorative lines, so treat the count as reliable and the list as a hint.
How do I check a server on a non standard port?
Write the address as host:port. Without a port this checker tries the SRV record first and then falls back to 25565 for Java and 19132 for Bedrock.
Embed This Tool
Put the server status checker on your own site or server wiki.
<iframe src="https://tools.astroworldmc.com/embed/status-checker" width="700" height="500" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;" loading="lazy" title="Server Status Checker"></iframe>
