Dynmap vs BlueMap: which live map should your Minecraft server run?

If you just want the recommendation: run BlueMap unless you have a specific reason not to. It renders your world in 3D in the browser, it runs on Paper, Spigot, Folia, Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Sponge, and version 5.28 shipped on September 25, 2026 with support for Minecraft 26.1 through 26.3. Dynmap is the older, flatter map: 2D tiles you can pan and zoom, lighter to serve from a weak host, and the right choice if your server is on a version BlueMap no longer builds for.

Both are free. Both need a second port or a reverse proxy, both will fill your disk if you render everything, and both show where every player is standing unless you turn that off. This guide compares them properly, then covers setup for each, ports and subdomains, hiding players, and where to put the map link so it brings people in instead of just existing.

Dynmap vs BlueMap side by side

The practical difference is who you are showing the map to. A survival or towny server whose players build big and want to show off gets more out of BlueMap's 3D view, and it is the one people screenshot. A server aimed at younger players on old hardware, or a modpack on a version BlueMap has moved past, is better served by Dynmap's plain tiles. On storage, expect gigabytes for an ordinary survival world on either, and tens of gigabytes if you pre-generate a huge world and render all of it, so render the parts people use and leave the rest.

One more difference matters for lag: Dynmap renders on the server and serves finished images, so a busy map costs you render time but almost nothing per visitor. BlueMap also renders on the server, but the heavy drawing happens in each visitor's browser. If your host is tight on CPU, both let you pause rendering during peak hours.

How to set up Dynmap

1. Download the file for your platform and version from the Dynmap Modrinth page. There is one jar per platform per Minecraft version, so match both.
2. Drop it into plugins/ or mods/ and start the server once. It creates plugins/dynmap/configuration.txt and a web folder.
3. Open configuration.txt. The web server is on by default (disable-webserver: false) on webserver-port: 8123. Storage defaults to type: filetree; sqlite keeps everything in one file, and mysql, mariadb or postgres let a separate web host read the tiles.
4. Open or allocate TCP 8123 on your router or hosting panel, or leave it closed and proxy it (next section).
5. Render something. /dynmap radiusrender 500 renders 500 blocks around you, which is enough to see it working. /dynmap fullrender world renders the whole world; /dynmap stats shows progress; /dynmap cancelrender world stops it; /dynmap pause all pauses everything until /dynmap pause none.

How to set up BlueMap

1. Download the build for your platform from the BlueMap site (or Modrinth). One jar covers every version that platform build supports.
2. Start the server once. It creates core.conf, webapp.conf, webserver.conf, plugin.conf, a maps/ folder with one config per world, and storages/.
3. In core.conf set accept-download: true. BlueMap downloads Minecraft's own textures from Mojang to draw blocks and will not render until you agree. Then /bluemap reload.
4. In webserver.conf the built-in web server is enabled: true on port: 8100, bound to ip: "0.0.0.0". On a shared host, change port to the extra port your panel gave you.
5. Let it render. BlueMap starts rendering on its own. /bluemap shows status, /bluemap update re-renders a world or a radius, /bluemap freeze <map-id> stops one map updating, /bluemap stop and /bluemap start pause and resume all rendering, and /bluemap purge <map-id> deletes a rendered map.
6. Pick storage. File storage is fine for one server. For a network, or when a separate web host should serve the map, use storages/sql.conf: storage-type and connection-url, with SQLite, MySQL, MariaDB or PostgreSQL behind it.

Ports, subdomains and a reverse proxy

Both maps run a small HTTP server on their own port. You can share play.example.net:8100 and be done, but it is ugly, it has no HTTPS, and hosts that give you exactly one port make it impossible. The cleaner setup is a subdomain such as map.example.net served by a reverse proxy on the same machine, which also gets you a free certificate. If you have not set up a domain yet, start with the domain name guide.

BlueMap's own docs give the nginx block for a subdomain:

location / {
  proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8100;
}

And the Caddy version, which handles the certificate for you:

map.example.net {
  reverse_proxy 127.0.0.1:8100
}

Then set ip: "127.0.0.1" in webserver.conf so the map is only reachable through the proxy, not on the raw port. For Dynmap the same shape works with 8123: set webserver-bindaddress: 127.0.0.1 and add your proxy's address to trusted-proxies so Dynmap sees real visitor addresses instead of the proxy's.

Unlike the game port, the map is ordinary web traffic, so Cloudflare's orange-cloud proxy works for it and hides your server's address from map visitors. Keep the game address on a separate record, as the SRV record guide explains.

Hiding player positions

By default both maps show every online player's name and position, live. That is fun on a friends server and a problem on a public one: it tells strangers where every base is, when its owner is offline, and where a specific player is standing right now. Turn it off, or lock it down, before you publish the link.

• Dynmap, hide the layer by default. In configuration.txt, the playermarkers component has hidebydefault: false; set it to true and visitors have to switch the player layer on themselves.
• Dynmap, require a login to see players. protected-player-info: true hides positions and status unless the visitor logs in to the web UI with an account that has dynmap.playermarkers.seeall. Good for a staff-only view.
• Dynmap, per player. /dynmap hide hides you, /dynmap hide PlayerName hides someone else, /dynmap show reverses it. display-whitelist: true flips hiddenplayers.txt into a list of the only players shown.
• BlueMap, off entirely. In plugin.conf set live-player-markers: false. Nothing about players reaches the web app.
• BlueMap, selective. hide-vanished: true is the default; hide-sneaking: true gives every player a manual hide button (crouch); hidden-game-modes takes a list, so spectators and staff in creative can be excluded; hide-different-world: true keeps players off maps of worlds they are not in.

Whatever you pick, say it in your rules. Players who know the map hides them while sneaking will use it. If your server is aimed at younger players, hiding positions by default is the only sensible setting; our guide on servers for kids covers what parents look for.

Put the map where players will find it

A live map is one of the few things a server can show a stranger before they join, so do not bury it. There is no map field on a 9MinecraftServer listing, but three places on it carry the link: the description (250 or more characters earns 2.5 of the 12 listing strength points, and on our list servers with a long description have a median of 20 players online against 11), the website link, and your Discord. On our list only 14% of servers have a website at all, and they run a median of 57 players against 10 for those without. That is a correlation, not a promise, but a map page is the easiest reason to have a website.

• Claim your listing from its server page (the code goes in your MOTD) so you can edit the description and links yourself.
• Embed the map on your site with an <iframe> pointing at the subdomain, above a short paragraph on what the server is. The website guide has the rest of the page.
• Add a /map command that prints the link, and a sign at spawn. New players ask "where is everyone?" and the map answers it.
• Post screenshots from the map in Discord when someone finishes a big build. It is content you did not have to make.

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