TL;DR: Realms Pro launched on November 9, 2026. It runs your realm on a non-shared server with 4 CPU cores and 16 GB of RAM, lets 50 players be online at once (Realms Plus allows 10), and adds admin sliders for render distance, simulation distance and player caps. It costs $1 for the first 14 days, then $29.99 a month in the US. It requires Minecraft: Bedrock Edition. Java players get nothing new.
- 50Players online at once
- 16 GBRAM on a non-shared server
- $29.99Per month after a $1 trial
- 0Java Edition support
Why it’s special
- Five times the players. Realms Plus tops out at 10 people online together. Pro takes 50, which finally makes a Realm usable for a community instead of a friend group.
- Your own hardware. Mojang says Pro runs on a non-shared server with 4 CPU cores and 16 GB of RAM, so other realms can’t drag your tick rate down.
- Real admin controls. Owners can set player caps and push render distance up to 96 chunks and simulation distance up to 12, according to the Minecraft Wiki’s tier comparison.
- A performance dashboard. Minecraft.net now shows live and historical CPU, memory, tick time and player counts for your realm. That used to be something you only got from paid third-party hosts.
- Building tools. On Windows, admins can use Minecraft Editor on the live realm to clone structures and paint terrain with changes appearing in real time.
The numbers
| Realms Core | Realms Plus | Realms Pro | Java Realms | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price per month (US) | $3.99 | $7.99 | $29.99 | $7.99 |
| Players online at once | 2 | 10 | 50 | 10 |
| Manual save storage | 5 GB | 10 GB | 25 GB | n/a |
| Server | Shared | Shared | 4 cores, 16 GB, non-shared | Shared |
| Marketplace Pass | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Trial | None | 30 days free | 14 days for $1 | 30 days free |
Every tier still lets you invite up to 10,000 players to the realm. The limit that matters is how many can play at the same time. Mojang also notes that 50 players at once can strain low-end devices, so phones and older consoles may struggle on a busy Pro realm.
What about Java?
Realms Pro is Bedrock only. Java Realms stays where it was: 10 players at once for $7.99 a month. For PC Java players who want a bigger world, the answer hasn’t changed. Rent a server from a hosting company or run your own Paper or Fabric server, which also gets you plugins and mods that Realms will never allow. Pro is aimed squarely at Bedrock communities, where cross-play between phones, consoles and PCs makes Realms the easiest option.
Is it worth it?
For a Bedrock group that keeps hitting the 10-player wall, Pro is the first official option that doesn’t mean leaving Realms. You keep automatic backups, cross-platform play and no setup. For everyone else, $29.99 a month is a lot more than Realms Plus. The $1 trial is the cheap way to find out whether your community actually fills 50 slots.
How to try it
- Go to the Realms Pro store page on Minecraft.net and sign in with the Microsoft account that owns Bedrock Edition.
- Start the 14-day $1 trial. It’s for new Pro subscribers only and renews at the full monthly price unless you cancel.
- Open your realm in Bedrock and check the new server settings, then watch the dashboard on Minecraft.net while your players join.
What’s next
Mojang hasn’t said whether a Pro tier is coming to Java Realms. Java got a built-in Friends List with the 26.2 update this year, so Java server owners will be watching to see whether bigger Realms follow. For other changes to how you play together, see our guides to Java system requirements and the 26.4 winter drop.
