Why does my Minecraft server lag? TPS explained
Measure TPS in Dash, find out what slows your server down and when more RAM or CPU helps.
A Minecraft server calculates the world 20 times per second; each calculation is a tick. TPS (ticks per second) shows whether the server keeps up: 20 is smooth, lower values mean lag, such as blocks reappearing, delayed doors or players rubber-banding.
Measure TPS in Dash
- Open your server and go to the Overview tab.
- In the Performance card, click Measure. The server must be running.
- Dash runs the tps command (and mspt on Paper) and shows the result.
This works on Paper, Spigot, Forge and NeoForge. MSPT is the time per tick: below 50 ms the server keeps up.
What Dash recommends
- Low TPS and the CPU at its limit: the server needs more CPU. Upgrade on the Plan tab.
- Low TPS and the memory full: more RAM helps.
- Low TPS while CPU and RAM have room: usually a plugin, a mod or the world itself (see below).
- An out-of-memory crash: upgrade the RAM. Dash shows this hint for 14 days after such a crash.
Java servers reserve most of their RAM up front, so the RAM gauge often looks full even when all is well. TPS tells you more.
Common causes and fixes
- View distance: lower view-distance and simulation-distance on the Game settings tab (8 and 6 are good values).
- Many entities: big mob farms, dropped items and villagers cost a lot. Limit farms or use a plugin that clears dropped items.
- World generation: exploring new land is expensive. Pre-generate the world with a plugin such as Chunky while nobody plays.
- Plugins and mods: remove what you do not need. On Paper, the spark profiler (/spark profiler) shows what takes the most time.
- Restart regularly: a daily restart on the Schedules tab keeps long-running servers fresh.