Minecraft Realms has always been quite popular among players, with its ability to host multiplayer worlds for up to 11 players without all of them having to be online at the same time.

In Minecraft Java Edition, players can either jump into a world on their own and explore it, or they can join their friends in a multiplayer world and play together.

Microsoft has announced a free three-month subscription to the cloud-based service, Minecraft Realms Plus is now available as a limited-timed Perk for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate users.

Minecraft Realms is a new feature added in the Redstone Update. Realms allow for small, paid public servers hosted by Mojang. Around 100 players were randomly selected to test Realms with the update.

Minecraft Java Realms has released a set of maps that focus on disasters. Players are dropped into areas affected by extreme weather, shaky ground, and total chaos.

The first and most major difference is that Minecraft Realms costs money (currently € 10) whereas downloading a server package is completely free assuming you intend to host it on your own machine.