Java Edition and Bedrock Edition

Minecraft ships as two separate codebases that are not compatible with each other. Java Edition runs on Windows, macOS and Linux and is what mods and the large plugin servers are built for. Bedrock Edition is everything else: consoles, phones, tablets and the Microsoft Store version on Windows. They share a name, a look and most of their content, and almost nothing else.

Why the address matters

The two editions speak different network protocols. A Java client cannot join a Bedrock server and a Bedrock client cannot join a Java one, even with the right address typed correctly. Every listing here is tagged with its edition, and the edition filter on the server list narrows to one or the other.

Ports differ too. Java servers default to 25565 over TCP; Bedrock servers default to 19132 over UDP. That is also why we ping them differently — Java uses the server list ping handshake, Bedrock a RakNet unconnected ping — and why a Bedrock server listed as Java will never show as online no matter how healthy it is.

What actually plays differently

Combat. Java 1.9 introduced the attack cooldown, so hits have to be timed. Bedrock kept the older click-speed combat. Anybody moving between the two finds PvP feels wrong for a week.
Redstone. Java has quasi-connectivity, the quirk that lets a piston fire from a block it is not directly powered by. Bedrock does not, so a large share of Java farm designs simply do not function there, and the reverse is true as well.
Mob behaviour and spawning. The rules are close but not identical, which is why an items-per-hour figure from a Java tutorial rarely holds on Bedrock.
Add-ons against mods. Java has Forge, Fabric and NeoForge and a mod ecosystem measured in tens of thousands of projects. Bedrock has add-ons, behaviour packs and a paid Marketplace, which is curated and much narrower.
Performance. Bedrock is written in C++ and generally runs better on weak hardware; Java benefits from optimisation mods that Bedrock has no equivalent of.

Servers that accept both

Plenty of networks run Geyser alongside their Java server. Geyser sits in front and translates Bedrock connections into Java ones, so Bedrock players join a Java world; a companion plugin called Floodgate lets them do it without owning a Java account. It works well but is not seamless — some custom GUIs, custom items and resource-pack features do not survive the translation.

Networks doing this usually publish two addresses, or the same hostname on a Java port and a Bedrock port. Those appear here as two listings, one per edition, because each address has to be pinged separately and each reports its own player count.

Which one do I have?

If you launch from the Minecraft Launcher and the title screen says "Java Edition", it is Java. If you bought it on a console, a phone or from the Microsoft Store, it is Bedrock. Since 2022 a single PC purchase gives you both and the launcher shows both, so a lot of players own Java without realising it. Console, phone and tablet players own only Bedrock and cannot buy Java for those devices.

Which should you play?

Play Bedrock if you are on a console or a phone, if the friends you want to play with are, or if your PC is weak. Play Java if you want mods, if you want the large public networks with deep plugin ecosystems, or if you follow technical tutorials, most of which assume Java. If you own a PC copy you own both, so the honest answer is to look at the servers you actually want to play on and let those decide it for you.

Whichever you land on, check the version a server runs before you try to join, and how to join a server covers the steps for both editions.