Minecraft has been around for over a decade, and it somehow keeps getting bigger.
Millions of players jump into multiplayer servers every single day, on everything from phones to PCs.
And with so many players joining servers on limited mobile or broadband plans, one question keeps coming up.
So, how much internet data does Minecraft use?
On average, Minecraft uses around 40 to 200 MB of internet data per hour on multiplayer servers, which is quite reasonable for a game people play for hours at a stretch.
Unlike most online games, Minecraft's data usage swings quite a bit depending on how much new terrain you're loading, not just how long you play.
In this article, I've broken this down in more detail.
I've also explained exactly why the numbers vary so much depending on where you look, since this is one of the most inconsistently answered questions in gaming!
So, without any further ado, let us dive right into it!
Internet Data Usage of Minecraft
This one took a bit more digging than usual, because Minecraft's data usage is genuinely one of the most argued-about numbers in gaming forums.
I went through community forums, ISP support threads, and a few directly measured sessions where players actually monitored their own bandwidth usage app by app.
The numbers genuinely do spread out more than for most games, and there's a real reason for that, which I'll get to.
Across the sources I checked, joining a regular multiplayer server (not hosting one) came out to roughly 40 MB to 200 MB per hour, with busier, more populated servers sitting toward the higher end.
For a typical session on a mid-sized server without excessive new-terrain exploration, the number most sources land closest to is around 100 MB of internet data per hour.
So, we can conclude that the internet data usage of Minecraft is around 100 MB per hour for a typical multiplayer session, though this is more of a "reasonable average" than a fixed number, for reasons I'll explain below.
From this, it's pretty straightforward to figure out the weekly and monthly data consumption as well!
If you play Minecraft for one hour every day for a week, the total internet data used would be around 700 MB per week.
And if you play for one hour every day throughout an entire month, the total data consumed would come out to around 2.93 GB per month.
Now, here's why the numbers you find online disagree so much.
Unlike a shooter, where each match sends roughly the same amount of data no matter what you do, Minecraft has to send you the actual world data for every new chunk of terrain you walk into.
If you sit in one spot building or mining in an area you've already loaded, you'll use closer to the lower end of the range.
If you're exploring fresh terrain the whole session, expect to sit toward the higher end, and occasionally beyond it.
Now, you might also want to know how much data Minecraft uses based on how long you play each day.
I've put together a handy table below to help you with exactly that!
I've done all the math already, so you don't have to worry about it.
Here's the table:
| Playtime per day | Data usage per day | Data usage per week | Data usage per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 hour | 100 MB | 700 MB | 2.93 GB |
| 2 hours | 200 MB | 1.37 GB | 5.86 GB |
| 3 hours | 300 MB | 2.05 GB | 8.79 GB |
| 4 hours | 400 MB | 2.73 GB | 11.72 GB |
| 5 hours | 500 MB | 3.42 GB | 14.65 GB |
| 6 hours | 600 MB | 4.10 GB | 17.58 GB |
| 7 hours | 700 MB | 4.79 GB | 20.51 GB |
Note: The data usage of Minecraft has been taken as 100 MB per hour in the above table. Actual usage can run lower or higher depending on how much new terrain you explore during your session.
Does Minecraft use a LOT of Internet data?
For casual multiplayer, Minecraft sits in the moderate range, using around 100 MB per hour on average, similar to plenty of other online games.
But there are two situations where it climbs noticeably higher, and both are worth knowing about if you're on a limited plan.
First, heavy exploration. Venturing deep into unloaded terrain for a long session can push usage up toward 300 to 500 MB per hour, since the server has to stream you brand-new chunk data the whole time.
Second, hosting a server yourself instead of joining one. Since you're now sending world data out to every connected player rather than just receiving it, hosting typically uses meaningfully more bandwidth, often estimated at 200 to 300+ MB per hour depending on player count.
Outside of those two cases, the game itself is small to install (around 500 MB to 1.5 GB depending on edition and platform), so it's not a heavy download either.
So for most casual players sticking to familiar worlds, Minecraft is genuinely light on data. Explorers and self-hosters should just budget a bit more.
Conclusion
In this article, I've answered one of the most commonly asked, and most inconsistently answered, questions among Minecraft players: how much internet data the game actually uses.
I've also explained why exploration and self-hosting are the two things that actually push usage higher, since the matches themselves aren't the culprit.
I'll keep updating the data in this article as things change over time.
Note: The data in this article is up-to-date, as of 19th July 2026.
Now, I'd love to hear from you:
Do you already play Minecraft? If yes, are you more of a builder who sticks to one base, or an explorer who's always chasing new terrain?
Or maybe you've got a question!
Either way, feel free to drop a comment below and let me know!
Cheers,
Raj Oberoi