I totally get your struggle — finding a reliable and affordable Minecraft host can be tough. For 8–12 players running vanilla 1.21 with a few plugins, around 3–4GB of RAM should be enough. If you use CoreProtect or light management plugins, that setup will run smoothly. I’d recommend checking out community feedback in this
top minecraft server hosting thread on Reddit. It’s full of real user reviews comparing uptime, support, and price. Many people there mention hosts like Apex, PebbleHost, and BisectHosting as solid budget options.