Realms

Minecraft Realms is an official subscription-based server hosting service that allows players to create and manage their own private Minecraft servers. Hosted by Mojang, Realms provides an easy and fast way to create servers and allows the owner to manage them from inside the game, without prior knowledge of the concepts for hosting on the Internet. Realms are not intended for large public servers, but for groups of friends or as a family server.

Requirements
Realms is a service that can only be used by players that meet these requirements :


 * You must have a Mojang account and must have a premium copy of Minecraft or Minecraft: Pocket Edition
 * You must have a working internet connection
 * You must be age 13 years or older to join the Minecraft Realms community

Subscriptions

 * Manage your Realms subscriptions here.

Realms is a subscription-based service. The link above will take you to your Mojang account page and will allow you to extend a current Realm or buy a new one ($8 per month for PC/Mac, and $4 per month for Pocket).

There are two types of subscriptions: Auto-renew and manual-renew. Auto-renew subscriptions automatically renew the Realms subscription every 30 days without you having to do a thing (this can be canceled). Manual-renew subscriptions need to be renewed manually and come in 30-day, 90-day, and 180-day packages for PC/Mac, as well as two-friend and ten-friend packges for Pocket.

All players are able to have a 30-day free Realms trial, providing they have not had a free trial on their Mojang account before.

Available maps & templates
Within the realms service users can elect to temporarily replace their regular world for a "minigame" or permanently replace their regular world with a map template or adventure map. You also cannot use most of the commands or options while your realm is using a preset minigame.

Minigames

 * Memory Battle by K1ll1er, Huntondoom, Quazymoodo, and ImLeeRii
 * Build-off Parkour by slicedlime
 * Labyrinth by samasaurus6, buckingirl4, MineyCow
 * Bubble Shooter by slicedlime
 * 3D Minesweeper by TheAl_T
 * Entrapment by slicedlime
 * Half Heart Race by TeamWooloo
 * Carrot Catcher by Gemoz
 * Replica by Mlakuss
 * Western Dodge by Gemoz
 * Minecar Racing by McMakistein
 * Sunburn Phoenix by yrsegal and destruc7i0n
 * ZeGame by JesperTheEnd

Adventure maps

 * Random Skies by Dragnoz
 * UHC Blox by gerrybrano
 * The Genius Machine by The VoxelBox
 * Total House Bombover by TeamWooloo
 * G.A.T.O.S. by TeamWooloo
 * We are the Rangers by Dragnoz, samasaurus6, and Blockworks
 * Don't Go Insane by Datenegassie
 * Oscilight - The Light Shadow by Dwittyy and CaffeineBoost
 * Terra Swoop Force by The Noxcrew
 * The Present Factory by QwertyuiopThePie, NateT_Bird, and Wiskeyweasel
 * Infinity Dungeon by Jigarbov Productions
 * Captive Minecraft: Winter Realm by The Farlanders

Survival spawns

 * Winter Stronghold by Blockworks
 * Raider's Refuge by Blockworks
 * Spindlewood by The VoxelBox
 * A Tremendous Spawn by The VoxelBox
 * Silent Ville by Springstof
 * Desert Ruins by AKAMc
 * Skylight by Springstof
 * Sparrenhout by Springstof
 * Flower Mountain by Emoluvjd2
 * Tranquil Temple by K1ll1er, ImLeeRii & Mouldy_Burrito
 * Staalhamer by Springstof and Jaapie172
 * Zanafar Salt Mines by Pixelbat
 * Winter's Hearth by Nobleman, Vek, and Paaaaaaat
 * Jungle Retreat by Nobleman, Vek, and Paaaaaaat
 * Amrath by Gemoz
 * Desert Nook by Nobleman, Vek, and Paaaaaaat
 * Floral Ranch by Pe3tr and Twett
 * Elleroth by Pe3tr and Twett
 * Stellar Impact by Springstof
 * Dragon's Roost by Inryft, Floodplain, and Nobleman

Realms version history
As of Minecraft 1.7.10, Realms has its own versioning system. Below is a changelog of all those updates:

Minecraft version history
Originally, Realms updates were tied into regular Minecraft updates, until the release of Minecraft 1.7.10. Below is a changelog of all those updates.

Availability
The following chart shows when Realms was introduced in the respective countries.

Trivia

 * The Mojang blog closing signature was signed // The Minecraft and Minecraft Realms teams instead of the usual // The Minecraft team starting with the blog Minecraft Snapshot 13w09a.