Host a Minecraft Java server without port forwarding

Setting it up

Create an account, then New relay. Pick Minecraft Java Edition as the game, Europe or the US as the region and the free plan. Tunnel is right for Minecraft.
On the PC the server runs on, install the agent from the download page and sign in:
```
natchplay login
```
Start your server, then carry the relay to it:
```
natchplay relay add yourname
```
The agent finds the port your server is listening on, the server-port in server.properties, 25565 unless you changed it. Then, as an administrator, so it starts with the PC:
```
natchplay service install
```
Players open Multiplayer, then Add Server, with yourname.eu.natchplay.com as the address. No port, the relay knows which server they want from the name they joined with.

Seeing each player's real IP

Through the tunnel every player reaches your server from the agent on your own PC, so the server sees them all as 127.0.0.1. Bans by IP and anything that reads addresses need the real one, which the relay can hand over with PROXY protocol. Turn it on in the server first, then on the relay:

Paper: proxy-protocol: true under proxies in config/paper-global.yml, then restart.
Velocity in front of your servers: haproxy-protocol = true under [advanced] in velocity.toml. Leave it off on the servers behind it.

natchplay relay set yourname --proxy-protocol on

Vanilla and a server with no PROXY support can't read it, so it stays off for those or every player is turned away.

How far 50 GB goes

Minecraft players on MC Server Manager's relays averaged 356.2 kbit/s each, measured over a day to 29 October 2026, 37 hours of real play on 12 relays. That's about 310 hours of one player a month, or 44 hours each for seven friends. A relay that uses it all stops carrying players until the 1st, or you can move it to the relay plan with 1 TB a month.