Limiting Daily Play-Time On Servers

Running a community—or family—Minecraft server sometimes means drawing a hard line between healthy gaming habits and endless late-night grinding. Fortunately, server-side tools can cap each player’s minutes per day, auto-reset those minutes at midnight, and integrate with LuckPerms so your VIPs or staff get longer sessions. Below is a complete guide to every actively maintained mod or plugin that does exactly that for the major loader stacks as of June 27 2025.

Paper / Spigot / Purpur plugins

• PlayTimeLimiter – mature, simple YAML (`maxTimePerDay`); warns at 5 min/1 min, then kicks. LuckPerms bypass node.
  www.spigotmc.org/resources/playtimelimiter.1840/ [1]
• PlayerTimeLimit – lightweight (< 45 kB) Paper 1.8–1.20; config keys `dailyMinutes`, `resetHour`, per-group overrides.
  www.spigotmc.org/resources/playertimelimit-1-8-1-19.96577/ [2]
• Time Restrictions – lets you specify both a daily quota and a “not-before / not-after” join window; ideal for school servers.
  www.spigotmc.org/resources/time-restrictions.113376/ [3]
• Time Restricter – GPL-3 project on GitHub; minute-granular refill schedule; LuckPerms-driven extra-time bonuses.
  github.com/davbauer/TimeRestricter [4]
• TimeRestrictedJoin – Modrinth-hosted; blocks the login itself once a user’s daily pot is empty; Paper 1.16-1.21.
  modrinth.com/plugin/timerestrictedjoin [5]
• Time Limiter – tiny (≈30 kB), Paper 1.21.1; boss-bar countdown; single-command `/timelimiter reload`.
  modrinth.com/plugin/time-limiter [6]

Forge / NeoForge mods

• Playtime Limiter (1.12) – canonical Forge version; kicks after `playtime_length` seconds; resets at reconnect or midnight.
  www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/playtime-limiter [7]
• Playtime Limiter Port – community port for 1.19.2 → 1.21 (NeoForge-compatible); same commands `/playtime left|set`.
  github.com/SkinnyDevi/playtimelimiter [8]
• Timelimit – Forge 1.16-1.18; action-bar timer; admins can gift seconds via `/tl add`.
  www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/timelimit [9]

Fabric server mods

• PlayerTimeLimit (Fabric) – YAML, daily refill by timezone, boss-bar, full `/plt` suite; 1.20.1.
  modrinth.com/mod/playertimelimit [10]
• ServerPlayerTimeTicker – micro-mod (< 15 kB); just kicks; perfect for tech-pack servers that prize minimalism.
  modrinth.com/mod/serverplayertimeticker [11]

Bedrock / Realms situation

• No dedicated addon yet; admins rely on Microsoft Family Safety screen-time limits or OS-level schedulers that stop the Bedrock service at set times.

Five-step rollout pattern

1. Drop the jar (or .jar.mod) into /plugins or /mods.
2. Restart once to generate default config.
3. Edit keys like dailyMinutes, resetHour, and warning schedule.
   Use LuckPerms groups (`vip`, `staff`) to grant longer quotas.
4. Reload via plugin command—or full restart for Forge/Fabric mods.
5. Log in with an alt, burn through the quota, confirm warnings, auto-kick, and daily reset.

Caveats & pro-tips

• Single-player isn’t covered. These tools only run on servers, so kids can still binge local worlds unless you lock those folders down.
• Time-zone matters. Set resetHour to your community’s primary zone so “midnight reset” matches players’ expectations.
• Host downtime ≠ free minutes. Nearly all tools pause countdown when the player is offline or the server is stopped, preventing exploits.
• Automate backups. Rage-quits on kick events sometimes coincide with ALT+F4 world corruption; pair the limiter with daily tar + cron snapshots.

Bibliography

1. PlayTimeLimiter – SpigotMC resource
2. PlayerTimeLimit – SpigotMC resource
3. Time Restrictions – SpigotMC resource
4. TimeRestricter – GitHub repository
5. TimeRestrictedJoin – Modrinth page
6. Time Limiter – Modrinth page
7. Playtime Limiter – CurseForge page
8. Playtime Limiter Port – GitHub repository
9. Timelimit – CurseForge page
10. PlayerTimeLimit (Fabric) – Modrinth page
11. ServerPlayerTimeTicker – Modrinth page