Updated 30 October 2026
What each setting does, why turning them up costs so much more than it looks, and sensible values for small servers.
View distance is how far players can see. Simulation distance is how far the world actually runs: crops, mobs and redstone. Simulation distance costs far more, so keep it lower - around 8 and 6 for a small server, and 12 to 16 and 10 to 12 for a bigger one.
These two settings in server.properties have more effect on how hard your server works than almost anything else.
How far around each player the server sends the world, in chunks (a chunk is 16 by 16 blocks). It decides how far players can see. Their own video setting cannot go further than the server allows.
How far around each player the world is actually running: crops growing, mobs moving, furnaces smelting, redstone working. Past this distance the world is visible but frozen.
The distance is a radius, so the area grows with its square. Around one player:
Players spread out across the world multiply that again. Simulation distance is the expensive one, because every chunk inside it is running. View distance mostly costs memory and upload.
On LunaHost both are in the Settings tab. Each plan has a sensible maximum for its CPU and memory, so a setting cannot quietly make a small server lag.
See the plans