If your server stopped by itself, that's almost never a fault — it's behaviour that protects your balance. Sleep has two causes, both reversible, and History records which one it was.

Reason 1: idle sleep

On new servers the idle-sleep setting is on by default. With no players for 15 minutes the server puts itself to sleep, so later hours aren't charged while nobody is playing.

When someone wants in, one click wakes it; being ready can take a few minutes. You don't have to be there to do it: while Let players start it is on in Settings, the server starts by itself when a player connects to the waiting address. If you'd rather it stayed up, turn the setting off in Settings — your preference is stored and never reset.

The panel gives you a single on/off toggle: the 15-minute window is fixed. On free-tier servers the toggle is locked — sleeping when empty keeps free slots available to servers people actually play on — and unlocks on a paid package. In a network setup the setting doesn't appear at all, and network servers are never put to sleep.

Reason 2: your balance ran out

When your balance runs out the server is put to sleep automatically — a safety behaviour too: no debt accumulates and the server isn't suddenly deleted.

Two other shutdowns get confused with these: the daily spend limit and a crash. A limit-stopped server does not start itself the next day: the same day you must first raise the limit in Settings, and the next day you simply start it. On a crash the meter stops, so a crashed server isn't charged hourly. History records each reason separately.

What "Stopped" and "Deep sleep" mean in the panel

Right after it sleeps the status reads Stopped: the world is still on the machine it was running on and Start brings it back quickly.

If it stays off longer, the world moves to cloud storage and the status becomes Deep sleep. That means no data loss; it only makes starting slower, since the archive is restored first. While a server sleeps the console screen stays empty: nothing is running to attach to.

What happens to your world while it sleeps?

The world, plugins and configuration of a sleeping server are archived, then restored exactly as you left them when you start it again.

File Protection is free and on for every server and cannot be turned off, so a sleeping server's files need nothing from you. On the free tier the world lives as long as the server: never start it for 30 days and the world and the server go together.

On a paid package your world is kept with no time limit: leave the server closed for months and your files are still there, because File Protection is on and free on every server. The only limit is on the free tier — if a server is never started for 30 days, the world and the server are deleted together. Deleting a server takes its backups with it, so download the backups you care about first.

How do you wake it?

If your balance is enough, one click starts it. If it slept because the balance ran out, top up your wallet first: starting needs at least one hour's worth of balance.

The second way: your players start it. Let players start it in Settings is on by default on new servers. While it is on, a player connects to the waiting address (yourname.gir.arcadeservers.com), sees a short waiting screen, and is let in on their own once the server is ready. You decide who may do it: by default your server's own lists rule (if the whitelist is on, only the names on it; if it is off, operators (OP); if both are empty, nobody can start it and we let you know), and if you prefer you can turn the second switch off in Settings to make your server open to everyone — then any player who knows the waiting address can start it. There is no cap on the number of starts; you get a notification each time, and the hour it opens is charged to you — on free servers nothing is charged. If you want to cap your spending, set a daily spending limit in Settings. Turn it off in Settings if you don't want it. The waiting address works on Minecraft 1.20.5 and newer Java versions; older versions and mobile (Bedrock) players use the direct address. Waking takes a few minutes while the archive is restored; the panel shows the status live.

On the charging side: the hour already paid for when it slept is not refunded, but waking it before that hour ends costs nothing extra — you use the minutes left. Wake it later and a fresh hour is charged up front. Details are in the hourly billing article.

Troubleshooting

  1. If Start returns a balance error, top up: nothing starts on less than one hour's worth.
  2. If it sleeps again right after starting, 15 minutes passed with nobody connecting: start it when your friends are ready, or turn the setting off.
  3. If waking takes a long time, it is coming back from deep sleep; watch the status label on Overview rather than the console. The last few days of server logs survive sleep: if your server went down because of a fault, you'll find those records in the Logs section after waking it — so the answer to "why did it stop" isn't lost.
  4. If it never sleeps, the setting is off (check Settings) or the server is part of a network.
  5. If you don't know why it stopped, open History; idle sleep also leaves a notification.
  6. If you cannot find the server in the list, a long stretch with no start may have removed it; a notification and an email go out first.

Common mistakes

  • Reading sleep as a fault and deleting the server: that takes every backup with it, while a sleeping server comes back with one click.
  • Turning the setting off and forgetting the server is up: hours keep being charged with nobody playing. The daily spend limit is the counterweight.
  • Putting off waking it because you assume it costs again; waking inside the same paid hour adds nothing.
  • Trying to turn idle sleep off on a free-tier server; the toggle is locked there.
  • Looking at a sleeping server's empty console screen and assuming it is broken.
  • Assuming a free server is kept like a paid one; on the free tier 30 days without a single start deletes the world and the server together.

Which setting fits you?

For groups that play now and then, leaving idle sleep on keeps spending down: a server that's off on weekdays and on at weekends costs you only the weekend.

If you run a lasting community server and want players to join at any hour, turn it off; the server stays up until you stop it and hours keep being charged. On the free tier there is no choice: sleep is always on, and control passes to you on a paid package.