What are Timings in Minecraft? Everything You Need to Know.

Timings is a built-in performance profiling tool for Spigot and Paper servers that tracks and reports which plugins, tasks, and server processes are consuming the most resources. It monitors everything happening during server ticks and compiles detailed reports showing exactly where your CPU time is going.

Whether a plugin is causing lag, entities are overwhelming the server, or chunk loading is taking too long, timings reveals the bottlenecks.

What Is Timings?

Timings measures how long different server operations take during each tick. Since Minecraft servers run at 20 ticks per second (50 milliseconds per tick), any operation taking more than its fair share causes lag. Timings records these durations over several minutes and generates a web-based report with colorful graphs and percentages showing what's eating your performance.

The tool is built into Spigot, Paper, and their forks. It requires no plugin installation. Just enable it with a command and let it collect data while your server runs normally.

Reading a Timings Report

When you open the timings URL, you'll see several sections:

• Server information: Shows your server version, player count, TPS, CPU usage, and RAM. This confirms what hardware and software you're running.
• Lag indicators: Timings highlights obvious problems at the top. Look for red or orange warnings about low TPS, high tick times, or misconfigured settings. These are your starting points.
• Plugin timings: Lists every plugin and how much CPU time each consumed. Plugins are sorted by percentage of total tick time. If one plugin uses 40% of your tick time, that's your problem.
• Entity timings: Shows how much time entity processing took. Broken down by entity type (mobs, items, projectiles). If entity ticking uses 30%+ of your tick, you have too many entities loaded.
• Chunk operations: Tracks time spent loading, generating, and saving chunks. High numbers here mean players are exploring too fast or you haven't pre-generated your world.
• Full server tick breakdown: The most detailed section. Shows every internal server operation with exact millisecond measurements. This is where experienced admins dig deep to find subtle issues.

What the Numbers Mean

Timings uses percentages and milliseconds:

Percentage of tick: What portion of the 50ms tick budget this operation consumed.

• 5% = Healthy
• 10% to 20% = Noticeable
• 30%+ = Major problem

Time per tick: Average milliseconds this operation took per tick.

• Under 5ms = Normal
• 5ms to 10ms = Watch it
• 10ms+ = Serious concern

Count: How many times this operation happened during the recording period. High counts explain why seemingly fast operations still cause lag (happens thousands of times per second).

Look at the combination. A plugin taking 0.5ms per operation isn't bad unless it runs 100 times per tick.

Common Issues Timings Reveals

Plugin causing lag:

If one plugin dominates the timings (20%+ of tick time), that plugin is your bottleneck. Check if:

• The plugin is outdated
• You misconfigured something (database connections, update intervals)
• The plugin is fundamentally laggy and needs replacement

Entity overload:

If "Entity Tick" shows 25%+, you have too many entities. Look at the entity breakdown to see if it's mobs, items, or something else. Clear items, reduce spawn limits, or use entity stacking plugins.

Chunk generation lag:

High "Chunk Provider" or "Chunk Generation" percentages mean real-time chunk creation is killing performance. Pre-generate your world or set a world border to stop infinite exploration.

Redstone lag:

"Redstone" consuming significant tick time means too many active circuits or overly complex contraptions. Simplify or spread out your redstone across more chunks.

Tile entities (hoppers, furnaces):

"Tile Entity Tick" at 15%+ means too many hoppers, furnaces, or other tile entities running. Reduce hopper checks, optimize item sorting systems, or remove unnecessary tile entities.

Comparison: Timings vs Spark

Timings has competition. Spark is a newer profiling plugin that many consider superior:

Paper developers have discussed replacing timings with Spark. As of 2025, timings still works but Spark is recommended for advanced troubleshooting.

For beginners, timings is easier to understand. For experienced admins, Spark provides more actionable data.

Enabling Plugin Profiling

For more detailed plugin timings, enable plugin profiling in bukkit.yml:

plugin-profiling: true

This makes timings track individual methods within plugins instead of just overall plugin performance. Useful when you know which plugin is lagging but not which part of that plugin.

After changing this setting, restart your server and generate a new timings report.

Timings Best Practices

• Record during peak hours: Timings during low activity shows nothing useful. Record when your server experiences actual lag with normal player counts.
• Run for at least 10 minutes: Shorter recordings miss patterns. 10 to 15 minutes captures enough cycles to identify consistent issues.
• Don't run timings 24/7: Timings adds overhead. Only enable it when troubleshooting. Turn it off once you have your report.
• Compare before and after: Take a timings report before making changes, implement fixes, then take another report to confirm improvements.
• Share timings links when asking for help: When seeking support, always include your timings report URL. Support staff can't help without seeing your actual data.

Timings Limitations

Timings can't catch everything:

• Client-side lag: Timings only measures server performance. If players lag due to low FPS, poor internet, or client issues, timings won't show it.
• Network lag: Packet loss and connection issues don't appear in timings. Use ping tests and network monitoring tools instead.
• Hardware limitations: Timings shows what's slow but can't tell you if your CPU is simply underpowered for your workload.
• Random crashes: Timings records performance, not crash causes. For crashes, check crash reports and logs instead.