How to See Who Is Online on a Minecraft Server

To see who is online, type list in the server console or /list in chat: that is the Minecraft list players server command, and it prints how many players are connected and their names. In game you can also hold Tab on Java to see everyone with their ping, and the server logs show who joined and left while you were away.

Below are the exact steps for the console, the in-game options for Java and Bedrock, how to check past sessions in the logs and what changes if you run a proxy network.

Minecraft list players server command from the console

The console is the quickest way, and it works even when you are not in the game. On TheGameHosting it is the Console tab of your server.

1. Open your server in the panel and go to Console.
2. Type list (no slash in the console) and press Enter.
3. Read the reply: the number of players online, the maximum allowed by max-players, and the names of everyone connected.
4. On Java, type list uuids if you also need each player's UUID, for example to edit a whitelist or ban file by hand.
5. To keep a record, open Files, go to the logs folder and open latest.log, which records joins and leaves.

list
list uuids

According to the Minecraft Wiki, list has permission level 0, so it always succeeds and any player can run /list in chat without being an operator. list uuids exists only on Java Edition (added in 1.8.1); Bedrock has just list.

See who is online from inside the game

The Java Tab list shows each player's face, name and a connection bar: more green bars means a lower ping, which makes it handy when someone says they are lagging. Spectators appear in gray italics. On Bedrock, the game menu lists every online player with their permission level, and from there you can open each profile.

Check who joined while you were away

list only shows the present. To know who played last night, read the logs. In the logs folder, latest.log is the current session, and older days are saved as compressed .log.gz files named by date. Each join and leave is a line like these:

[20:14:02] [Server thread/INFO]: Steve joined the game
[21:47:55] [Server thread/INFO]: Steve left the game

In the panel's file editor you can use your browser's search (Ctrl+F) to jump to a name. For a deeper look at logs, including errors and crashes, see our guide on how to read server logs.

Check before you restart or update

A good habit before any restart, update or plugin change is to run list first. If people are online, warn them with say Restarting in 5 minutes from the console so nobody loses a fight or a trip through the Nether. If the list is empty, you can restart right away. This matters most on servers where friends play at different hours, because the person who logs in at 2 a.m. is the one who gets kicked without warning.

On a Velocity network: /glist

If your players connect through a Velocity proxy, each backend server only knows about the players on it. Velocity has its own command for the whole network: /glist shows the total on the proxy, and /glist all lists players per server. The PaperMC docs note that its permission, velocity.command.glist, is granted to nobody by default, so you run it from the proxy console or give that permission to your staff. Setting up a network is covered in how to link servers with Velocity.

When the list does not match what you expect

• A player says they are online but is not in the list. They may be connected to another server of your network, or stuck on the loading screen. Ask them to reconnect.
• Bedrock players on a Java server. With Geyser and Floodgate they show up in list like everyone else, usually with the name prefix your Floodgate config sets. See how to set up Geyser and Floodgate.
• “Unknown command” in chat. A permissions plugin may have removed access to /list for regular players. Run it from the console.
• The server is full. The reply shows the limit from max-players. Raise it in server.properties and restart.

Keep an eye on your server with TheGameHosting

On TheGameHosting the Console tab is live in your browser, so you can run list from your phone without opening the game, and the Files tab gives you the logs folder whenever you need to check who was on. With Users you can give a moderator access to the console only, with the permissions you choose. Your server is ready about 60 seconds after payment, runs 24/7 without your PC and has unlimited slots, so max-players is your call.

Servers run on AMD Ryzen 9950X and 7950X3D processors with DDR5 memory and NVMe storage, with DDoS protection included and locations in Dallas and Amsterdam. Plans start at $1.90 a month for 2 GB, with unlimited slots and no setup fee, and support answers 24/7 by chat and tickets. Have a look at our Minecraft server hosting or go straight to plans and pricing, and use the code FULL2026 for 15% off for life.

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