Cracked vs Online-Mode: Which Should You Choose?

This comes up constantly when setting up a Minecraft server (and it's one of the fields on our Server List submission form too) — here's what it actually means and how to decide.

What "Online Mode" Means

Online mode (premium/authenticated) verifies every connecting player against Mojang/Microsoft's real authentication servers — meaning only people with a genuine, paid Minecraft account can join. This is Minecraft's default, intended behavior.

What "Cracked" Means

Cracked (offline mode) skips that authentication check entirely — anyone can connect with any username, whether or not they own a real copy of the game. This is a legitimate server setting (not something we're endorsing piracy through), commonly used for:

• Private servers among friends who trust each other and don't want authentication friction
• Testing/development servers where you're spinning up throwaway accounts
• Some regions/communities where cracked clients are simply more common in practice

The Real Trade-offs

Online mode:

• ✅ Real identity verification — usernames can't be impersonated by someone else logging in as "you."
• ✅ Most anti-cheat and moderation plugins assume/require online mode to work correctly (they check against real Mojang UUIDs).
• ❌ Locks out anyone without a genuine paid account.

Cracked:

• ✅ Lower barrier to entry — anyone can join instantly.
• ❌ Username impersonation is trivial — anyone can log in claiming to be any username, including one of your existing players' names, which is a real griefing and social-engineering risk.
• ❌ Many premium plugins (especially anti-cheat and economy/rank systems tied to Mojang accounts) either don't work correctly or need extra configuration to function safely in cracked mode.

"Both" — What It Actually Means

Some setups (via specific plugins like a floodgate-style authentication bridge) allow both cracked and online-mode players to join the same server, handling identity verification differently per player type. This is more complex to set up correctly and is really only worth it if you specifically need to support both audiences (for example, bridging Java cracked players with a different verification system).

Our Recommendation

Default to online mode unless you have a specific, deliberate reason not to — the impersonation risk on a cracked public server is real, and it undermines almost every serious moderation and anti-cheat tool available. Cracked mode makes sense for small, trusted private groups; it's a much harder sell for any server you're trying to grow into a real community.

You set this in your server.properties file (online-mode=true or false) — see our server.properties guide for the full breakdown of what else lives in that file.