MOTD Generator

Minecraft MOTD Generator

Design your server MOTD with color codes, hex colors and formatting — with a live preview of exactly how it will show up in the server list.

MOTD Editor

Colors

Formatting

Hex Color

Paper/Spigot 1.16+ only

Pick any color you like. Vanilla servers ignore hex codes and show the MOTD without that color.

Live Preview

This is how your MOTD will look in the Minecraft server list.

Your formatting does not end with §r (reset) — this can bleed into the version display.

The plain § codes, for example to paste into plugins or other tools.

Already escaped for the motd= line in your server.properties.

Color Code Reference

All 16 classic Minecraft color codes and formatting codes at a glance — with preview, name and hex value.

Colors (§0–§f)

Code	Name	Hex	Preview
§0	black	#000000	Minecraft
§1	dark blue	#0000AA	Minecraft
§2	dark green	#00AA00	Minecraft
§3	dark aqua	#00AAAA	Minecraft
§4	dark red	#AA0000	Minecraft
§5	dark purple	#AA00AA	Minecraft
§6	gold	#FFAA00	Minecraft
§7	gray	#AAAAAA	Minecraft
§8	dark gray	#555555	Minecraft
§9	blue	#5555FF	Minecraft
§a	green	#55FF55	Minecraft
§b	aqua	#55FFFF	Minecraft
§c	red	#FF5555	Minecraft
§d	light purple	#FF55FF	Minecraft
§e	yellow	#FFFF55	Minecraft
§f	white	#FFFFFF	Minecraft

Formatting

Code	Name	Hex	Preview
§k	Obfuscated	—	Minecraft
§l	Bold	—	Minecraft
§m	Strikethrough	—	Minecraft
§n	Underline	—	Minecraft
§o	Italic	—	Minecraft
§r	Reset	—	Minecraft

What is a Minecraft MOTD?

The MOTD (Message of the Day) is the line of text players see in the server list before they even join. It lives in your server's server.properties file and can be styled with color codes, bold, italic and even hex colors. A good MOTD is often the first advertisement for your server — it can be the difference between a click and a scroll-past. This generator shows you live how your MOTD will look in the real server list before you save anything.

How to add the MOTD to server.properties

Design your MOTD in the editor above, either through the color palette or by typing § codes directly into the text field. Then click "Copy for server.properties" — the button builds the correctly escaped motd= line, including \n for the line break, automatically. Open server.properties on your server (via FTP, a file manager or our server panel), replace the existing motd= line with the copied text and save the file. Restart your server afterwards so the new MOTD shows up in the server list.

Hex colors: what actually works where

Since Minecraft 1.16, Paper and Spigot servers support real hex colors (§x§R§R§G§G§B§B) with over 16 million possible shades instead of just the 16 classic § codes. Vanilla servers and older Spigot versions do not recognize this sequence and simply ignore it — the MOTD then shows up without that hex color, or in whatever classic color was set last. Check which server software you are running before copying: game-serverhosting offers both vanilla and Paper templates, and only Paper/Spigot 1.16+ renders hex colors reliably.

Frequently Asked Questions about MOTDs

The MOTD (Message of the Day) is the short line of text shown in the server list under the server name, before a player joins. It is set in the server.properties file via the motd= key and can include color codes and formatting.

Copy the generated text using the "Copy for server.properties" button and paste it after motd= in your server.properties file. Save the file and restart the server — the new MOTD will appear in the server list immediately.

No. Hex colors (§x§R§R§G§G§B§B) only work on Paper or Spigot servers running version 1.16 or later. Vanilla servers ignore the hex sequence entirely and show the MOTD without that color — in that case, stick to the 16 classic § color codes.

A MOTD is limited to 2 lines, and each line only fits around 45 visible characters in the server-list window — this can vary slightly depending on character width. Color codes themselves do not count toward the visible character total, only the actual text does.

The §k code makes text rapidly cycle through random characters (an obfuscated/scrambled effect). It stays active until it is ended by §r (reset) or another formatting code — without §r, the effect can bleed into the version display.

A MOTD can have at most 2 lines. In the editor you simply create the line break with the Enter key; when copying for server.properties, the generator automatically converts it into the required \n escape sequence.

MOTD ready — time for your own server?

With your own Minecraft server at game-serverhosting you get full control over server.properties, plugins and mods — including panel access to edit your MOTD directly.

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