Almost every host lets you pick a server location and almost none explains how. So people pick "the one that sounds closest" and end up with half the community at 200 ms. This is the conversation we have on Discord with anyone who asks before buying, written down, using our four nodes as the example: Miami, Los Angeles, Canada and France (Roubaix). The logic works for any provider.
What ping is, and what it is not
Ping is the round-trip time between your PC and the server. It depends on the physical distance the fiber covers and how many devices the packet crosses, not on how many megabits you pay for. A 1 Gbps connection in Buenos Aires still sees 130 ms to Miami because the cables are where they are.
What most people call "lag" is something else: the server dropping below 20 TPS. That freezes mobs, delays chests and slows the world down for everyone at once, at 20 ms or 200. Geography sets your ping; hardware and config set your TPS. Before obsessing over location, make sure the host is not overselling its CPU: the lag guide explains how to tell.
How much ping you notice in Minecraft
- Under 50 ms: indistinguishable from local.
- 50-100 ms: unnoticeable in survival, creative, modded, roleplay and minigames. High-level PvP starts to feel it.
- 100-150 ms: still feels normal outside competitive PvP. Melee timing and fast mining suffer.
- Over 150 ms: playable for relaxed survival; frustrating for anything reflex-based.
A second variable weighs as much as the number: stability. A steady 120 ms is less annoying than 60 ms that spikes to 400 every few seconds, because you can time a steady delay and you cannot time a jittery one. Fiber is usually steady; wireless and mobile are not. That is why we always ask people to measure from their own connection rather than trust a table.
The rule: not the node closest to you, the one that spreads best
If all your players are in one city, pick the closest node and move on. Most communities are not like that: they have people in Texas and Mexico, Florida and Colombia, or Spain and Peru on the same Discord. Then the right question is not "which is closest to me?" but "which node leaves the whole group in the lowest band?".
A worked example, half the community in Mexico and half in Argentina:
- Node in Mexico: Mexicans at 10-30 ms, Argentines at 170-220 ms.
- Node in Buenos Aires: Argentines at 10-30 ms, Mexicans at 170-220 ms.
- Node in Miami: Mexicans at 50-90 ms, Argentines at 120-160 ms.
Miami is the best for nobody and the only one where nobody suffers. That is usually the right trade.
Our four nodes and who each one is for
Miami: the meeting point for the US South and Latin America
A large share of Latin America's international traffic physically passes through Miami's exchange points, so from almost any country in the region Miami is the international destination with the fewest hops. Typical fiber ranges: Florida 5-20 ms, Atlanta 15-35, Texas 30-50, New York 25-45, Chicago 35-55, Mexico 50-90, Colombia and Ecuador 70-110, Venezuela 90-135, Peru 80-120, Chile 110-150, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay 120-165, Spain 110-150. It is the node we recommend to any community spread across the US South and Latin America, or across several Spanish-speaking countries. There is a dedicated Miami hosting page with the full city table.
Los Angeles: the West Coast and the Pacific side of Mexico
For California, Arizona, Nevada, the Pacific Northwest and northern or western Mexico (Tijuana, Hermosillo, Sinaloa, Baja California), Los Angeles typically gives 5-40 ms. From central and southern Mexico the difference against Miami is small and depends on the ISP; measure both. For South America, Los Angeles is worse than Miami.
Canada: the Northeast
The Canada node is meant for Eastern Canada and the US Northeast (New York, Boston, Toronto, Montreal), where it gives 10-35 ms. From Latin America it adds nothing over Miami.
France (Roubaix): Europe
From Spain, France, the UK, the Netherlands and Germany, 10-35 ms on fiber. It is the node for European communities. The usual trap: a community that is half Spain, half Latin America. The European node leaves the Latin American players at 200-250 ms; for that mixed case Miami spreads better (Spain at 110-150, Latin America at 50-160), even though the Spanish players lose their 20 ms.
When none of ours is the right pick
We would rather say it ourselves. If your whole community sits in one South American country and the server is competitive PvP, where hits and crits depend on reflexes, a provider with a real node in that country will serve you better than any of our locations. We say the same on our Spanish pages for Chile, Argentina and Bolivia. What we do ask is that you verify the "local node" is real: several regional hosts advertise national nodes that in practice route through the United States.
How to measure before paying (two minutes)
- Ask us on Discord for a test server IP in the location you are considering.
- Measure it with the server status tool or a
pingfrom your PC, and watch for a couple of minutes, not just the first value: what hurts in-game is the spikes. - Ask two or three players from other regions of your community to do the same. Pick with those numbers, not with a table, including this one.
If you already picked and got it wrong
It can be changed. If your community shifts or you discover half your players were somewhere else, support moves the server to another of our locations with the world and config intact. Before doing it we tell you whether the move actually improves the group's ping or just shifts it from some players to others.
Summary
- Geography sets ping; hardware sets server lag. Fix the second first.
- Community spread across the US South and Latin America, or across several Spanish-speaking countries: Miami.
- European community: France. Mixed Spain + Latin America: Miami.
- US West and Pacific Mexico: Los Angeles. US Northeast and Eastern Canada: Canada.
- One South American country and competitive PvP: a host with a real node there.
- Always measure from your own connection before paying.