How to Set Up BungeeCord on Your Free Minecraft Network

Setting up BungeeCord is more involved than a single Minecraft server because you need a proxy plus backend servers. Here's the complete walkthrough.

Architecture overview

• BungeeCord proxy — what players connect to
• Backend servers — actual Minecraft servers (Paper, Spigot, Forge) that players are routed to

Players see the proxy address. They never see the backend addresses directly.

Step 1: Create your servers on FreeMCServers.org

1. Create a BungeeCord server (this is the proxy)
2. Create one or more backend servers — usually Paper or Spigot for each game mode you want (lobby, survival, creative, etc.)

Step 2: Configure each backend

Backend servers need to accept connections from the proxy. On each Paper/Spigot backend, edit:

• spigot.yml → set bungeecord: true under settings
• server.properties → set online-mode=false (the proxy handles authentication)

Restart each backend after these changes.

Step 3: Configure BungeeCord

Open config.yml in your BungeeCord server's root via the dashboard file manager. Edit the servers section:

servers:
  lobby:
    address: backend-lobby.example.com:25565
    motd: Lobby
    restricted: false
  survival:
    address: backend-survival.example.com:25565
    motd: Survival
    restricted: false
listeners:
- host: 0.0.0.0:25577
  priorities:
  - lobby
  forced_hosts:
    creative.example.com: creative

Replace the addresses with your actual backend server addresses (shown in your FreeMCServers.org dashboard for each backend).

Step 4: Restart the proxy

Restart BungeeCord. It should report "Listening on 0.0.0.0:25577" and load your servers.

Step 5: Test connecting

Connect to your BungeeCord proxy address from Minecraft. You should land on the "lobby" server (the priority you configured). Try /server survival in chat to switch to the survival backend.

Step 6: Install lobby plugins (optional but useful)

Common BungeeCord plugins:

• BungeeTabListPlus — Custom tab list across servers
• BungeeCommands — Cross-server commands
• RedisBungee — Network-wide player data
• BungeeChat — Cross-server chat

Common BungeeCord issues

• "Authentication failed" — backend has online-mode=true. Set it to false.
• "Couldn't connect to server" — check the backend address in BungeeCord's config.yml is correct.
• Players can join backends directly — restrict backend firewall so only the proxy can connect.
• "Outdated server" — proxy and backend Minecraft versions don't match.

Should you use Waterfall instead?

Waterfall is an actively maintained BungeeCord fork. See our comparison.