As an administrator or OP of your server you must manage all of the banned players. This is different than using a whitelist as a banned player will never have access to the server. We recommend that you use this only in the event of someone that you are sure you do not want on the server anymore.
As a server owner you will be faced with the task of managing your player base to ensure stable game play for the rest of your community. So in the event a player acts unruly, you can take swift action by issuing a ban on them. With console access or OP in-game you can ban and unban players through the vanilla commands ban and pardon. These commands apply to Java Edition; if your server runs Bedrock, skip ahead to the Bedrock and Plugin Options section below. And if you have not made yourself an operator yet, our guide on how to OP yourself walks through each permission level first.
Understanding the Difference
When banning a player you have a couple options. You can either ban based on the name or IP of the player.
Player based bans are effective at preventing the respective player (the Minecraft account) from accessing the server, but does not stop the user (the physical person) from accessing it with an alternative account.
IP based bans will ban the user based on the player’s last known IP. This is effective at preventing alternative accounts from joining the server but fails if the user is using a dynamic IP.
With this in mind, it’s best to ban using both methods.
Player Ban
To ban a player from the console, enter in ban player, replacing player with the name of the player you wish to ban. With OP, enter in /ban player, replacing player with the name of the player you wish to ban. Both commands also accept an optional reason at the end, for example /ban AshKetchum Griefing spawn, which gets stored in the ban list and shown to the player if they try to reconnect.
#In Game Admin Command /ban AshKetchum #In Control Panel Console Command ban AshKetchum
IP Ban
To ip ban a player from the console, enter in ban-ip player, replacing player with the name of the player you wish to ban based on their last known IP. With OP, enter in /ban-ip player, replacing player with the name of the player you wish to ban based on their last known IP.
#In Game Admin Command /ban-ip AshKetchum #In Control Panel Console Command ban-ip AshKetchum
View Ban List
Player Bans
To view the player ban list from the console, type in banlist players. If you are in game with OP, type in /banlist players.
#In Game Admin Command /banlist players #In Control Panel Console Command banlist players
IP Bans
To view the player ban list from the console, type in banlist ips. If you are in game with OP, type in /banlist ips.
#In Game Admin Command /banlist ips #In Control Panel Console Command banlist ips
Unbanning
To unban a player you can use the pardon command either on the console or in-game.
To unban based on a player’s name, enter in the pardon command
#In Game Admin Command /pardon AshKetchum #In Control Panel Console Command pardon AshKetchum
To unban based on a players IP, enter in pardon-ip
#In Game Admin Command /pardon-ip AshKetchum #In Control Panel Console Command pardon-ip AshKetchum
In both cases the pardon will remove the player and or their IP from the banlist when used.
Bedrock and Plugin Options
Bedrock Edition does not support /ban or /pardon as in-game chat commands. If your server runs Bedrock, banning and unbanning is console or panel-only, using the same ban, ban-ip, banlist, pardon, and pardon-ip commands shown above from the control panel console rather than in-game chat.
Vanilla bans are permanent until someone runs pardon, which is fine for a small community but limiting once a server grows and staff need more flexibility. Larger servers commonly add a moderation plugin to fill that gap. EssentialsX adds a /tempban command for time-limited bans that expire on their own, so you are not stuck manually tracking when to pardon someone. LiteBans goes further, logging ban reasons and history and supporting combined IP and UUID bans, which is useful if you run a team of moderators and want a shared record of who banned whom and why. Either plugin can also work alongside your existing permission structure so you can hand ban privileges to trusted moderators without giving them full OP access.
FAQ
How do I temporarily ban a player in Minecraft?
Vanilla ban and ban-ip are permanent until pardoned; there is no built-in time limit. To ban someone for a set period, install a moderation plugin such as EssentialsX and use its /tempban command, which lifts the ban automatically once the time expires.
What is the difference between kick and ban?
Kick disconnects a player immediately but lets them rejoin right away. Ban prevents the player (or their IP) from reconnecting at all until you run pardon or pardon-ip, so use ban when you want the restriction to stick.
Can I ban a player on Bedrock Edition?
Yes, but not with an in-game chat command. Bedrock does not support /ban or /pardon in-game, so you need to run ban, ban-ip, pardon, and pardon-ip from your control panel console instead.
How do I remove a player from the ban list?
Run pardon player from the console, or /pardon player in-game with OP, replacing player with their name. Use pardon-ip instead if they were banned by IP. Either command removes them from the ban list immediately.
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