Piggo vs Apex Hosting: An Honest Comparison from the Founder (2026)

I run Piggo. Apex Hosting is a competitor, so read this knowing exactly how biased I am.

I'm writing it because the same question keeps arriving in our Discord: *"I'm on Apex, is it worth moving?"* The honest answer depends on where your friends live, and I'll get to that. But the money part is not complicated, so let's start there.

The short answer

Apex charges roughly $3.75 per GB of RAM per month. We charge $2.50.

On an 8 GB server - the size most modern modpacks want with a few friends - that's about $120 a year.

That's the whole story on price. The rest of this page is about what the extra money buys, because it does buy something real, and for some of you it's worth paying.

What it actually costs

Apex prices as listed on apexminecrafthosting.com. Check their site - prices change, and promotional first-month pricing is not the same as what you renew at.

One thing worth flagging even though it helps them, not me: if you're on Apex's 15 GB plan at $79.99, look at the 16 GB EX tier at $71.99. More RAM, better specs, less money. I don't know why it's priced that way, but if you're staying with Apex you should be on the cheaper one.

Custom modpacks: they charge, we don't

Both of us install popular packs in one click. That part is equal and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.

The difference is what happens when your pack isn't in the list - your own mod selection, a pack from outside the big launchers, or a modified version of something public.

On Apex: you upload it yourself over FTP or the file manager, or you buy their paid installation service.

On Piggo: you send us the pack, or a link to it, and we set it up. Usually within the hour between 08:00 and 22:00 Amsterdam time. There's no fee and there's no step two.

That's the part of this business I actually enjoy, which is probably why it's free.

What CPU are you renting?

This one matters more than most people realise.

A modded Minecraft server is mostly single-threaded. Adding cores doesn't help much; the speed of one core does. That's why two servers with identical RAM can behave completely differently.

Apex publishes hardware specs for their top EX tier - Ryzen 9 7950X, 4 dedicated vCores. For the standard plans below it, the hardware is described as "high-performance servers" without a model number.

Here's ours, in full:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
• RAM: DDR5-6000 ECC
• Storage: 120 GB NVMe Gen4 on every plan
• Location: Netherlands

We run one machine and we know what's in it. If you're paying for performance, you should be able to read what you're paying for.

The panel

Apex runs Multicraft. We run Pterodactyl.

Both work. Multicraft has been around a long time and a lot of people know it. Pterodactyl is newer, and the file manager and console are where you'll notice the difference.

I'd rather show you than argue about it. If you've used both, you already have an opinion.

Support

Apex has 24/7 live chat and a good reputation for it. First replies in minutes are normal. That is genuinely better coverage than mine and I'm not going to spin it.

With us you message me. Not a queue, not a bot - me, or someone I've trained, between 08:00 and 22:00 Amsterdam time. In those hours, if your server goes down we guarantee it's playable again within the hour, or your next billing period is free. That's written into our SLA, including the parts we don't cover.

Outside those hours you wait. That's the trade, and it's a real one.

When Apex is the better choice

Genuinely, and not as a formality:

Your group is in North America. We run one machine in the Netherlands. Apex has US locations. No amount of good support fixes latency, and if half your friends are in Texas you should stay where you are.

Someone plays at 3am. Our guarantee runs 08:00-22:00 Amsterdam. Apex answers around the clock. If your server's busiest hours are the middle of our night, their coverage is worth money.

You want a company with a decade of history. Apex has been trading for years. We started in February 2026. If you're a parent paying for this, or you've been burned by a host disappearing, that's a completely reasonable thing to weigh.

You want to host other games too. They cover many. We do modded Minecraft and nothing else.

If two or more of those describe you, don't switch. You'd be paying less for something that fits you worse.

So what are you actually paying for?

Apex's price buys scale: locations on several continents, staff awake at every hour, and a company that will still be here in five years.

If you need that scale, it's good value. If you're a group of friends in Europe running one heavy pack, you're paying for a distribution network instead of a server.

That's the honest version. It's not that they're expensive for no reason - it's that the reason might not apply to you.

Planning to switch from Apex?

If the maths above is your situation, we'll do the move for you.

You send us your Apex details, we pull the world, mods and configs across, stand it up, test it, and send you an address. It's free, it usually happens the same day, and you don't need to know what you're doing at any point.

Weighing other hosts too? We wrote the same honest breakdown for Piggo vs Exaroton and Piggo vs Nitrado.

Tell us your current host - or take the 48-hour free trial first, no card needed.

Frequently asked questions

Is Apex Hosting expensive? Compared with smaller specialist hosts, yes. Apex charges around $3.75 per GB of RAM per month; Piggo charges $2.50. On an 8 GB server that's roughly $120 a year. The higher price pays for multiple server locations, 24/7 live chat and a long trading history.

How much RAM does a modded Minecraft server need? 8 GB covers most modern packs with a few friends. 12 GB is the right size for a heavy pack with a full group. 16 GB and up is for large packs and bigger communities.

Can I install a custom modpack on Apex? Yes, by uploading it over FTP or the file manager yourself, or by paying for their installation service. Piggo installs custom packs free - you send the pack and we return a joinable address.

Does Apex tell you what CPU you get? Hardware is published for their top EX tier. Standard plans are described as high-performance without a specific model. Since modded Minecraft is largely single-threaded, the speed of one core matters more than the number of cores, so this is worth asking about wherever you host.

Can I move my world from Apex to another host? Yes. The world, mods and configs all transfer. We do it free, usually the same day - send us your current host details and we handle it.

Do I lose my world if I switch hosts? No. The world folder moves with you. The only thing that changes is the connection address, and your friends will need the new one.

• Maks, founder of Piggo