There are exactly five ways to play Minecraft with friends, and they differ in the three things that matter: effort, cost, and what happens when the host turns their computer off. Ranked from quickest to most capable.
1. Same room: open to LAN
If everyone's on the same Wi-Fi, pause your single-player world and choose Open to LAN (Java) — or just have friends tap your world under the Friends tab (Bedrock). Free, instant, and gone the moment the host closes the game. Perfect for a sleepover, useless for Tuesday nights apart.
2. Bedrock invites: online, while you play
On Bedrock (phones, consoles, Windows), your world is joinable by anyone on your friends list while you're in it — cross-device, no setup. The catches: the world lives on your device (performance included), only exists while you play, and Java friends can't join at all.
3. Realms: rented simplicity, with walls
Mojang's Realms ($7.99/month) keeps a world online 24/7 with 10 player slots and zero setup. The walls: vanilla or curated content only — no plugins, no mods, no Java+Bedrock mixing, no console or file access. The right answer for a family survival world; the wrong one the day someone asks for a modpack.
4. Self-host: free, if your evening isn't worth anything
Run the server software on a PC that stays on, and it's a real server — mods, plugins, full control. The price is paid in setup instead of dollars: Java and server.jar, port forwarding (impossible on some ISPs), your home IP shared with everyone, and electricity that roughly equals a hosting plan. See the cost guide for the honest math.
5. A hosted server: the one that does everything
A rented server is option 4 with the sharp edges removed: always online, public address (no port forwarding, no exposed home IP), any mods or plugins, and Java + Bedrock crossplay as a checkbox. Cost scales with RAM — a small friend group runs happily on the cheapest tiers. This is where friend groups end up once the world matters.
Quick chooser: same room → LAN. All-Bedrock casual → invites. Vanilla forever → Realms. Love tinkering → self-host. Want it to just work on every device → hosted.