This is a proactive checklist, for a server that is not necessarily struggling yet, but is growing, and you want to push TPS higher and build in headroom before it becomes a visible problem. Ranked roughly by impact per effort.
1. Confirm you're running Paper
If you are on vanilla or plain Spigot, Paper alone typically delivers a 30-50% TPS improvement through async chunk loading and dozens of internal optimizations, with zero configuration required. This is the highest-return step on the entire list.
2. Apply Aikar's flags
Aikar's flags tune the JVM's garbage collector specifically for Minecraft's memory patterns, reducing GC-related stutter that otherwise shows up as periodic MSPT spikes. See our GC lag guide for the full flag set and important caveats around RAM allocation.
3. Pre-generate your world with Chunky
Chunky eliminates live chunk-generation stutter entirely by generating terrain ahead of when players reach it. See our chunk lag guide for the full walkthrough.
4. Tune view-distance and simulation-distance
Dropping from the defaults (both 10) to view-distance 6-8 and simulation-distance 4-6 is a direct, immediate reduction in ongoing per-tick cost, with minimal visible impact to most players.
5. Tune entity-activation-range
Reducing how far away entities receive full AI processing (roughly 24 blocks for monsters, 16 for animals, 8 for misc as starting points) cuts ongoing entity processing cost without removing any entities outright. See our entity lag guide for more detail.
6. Run a spark profile under real load
Once the general-purpose fixes above are in place, spark profiling during normal peak usage will surface anything specific still worth addressing, a particular plugin, a specific world region, or a scheduled task consuming more time than expected.
7. Right-size RAM, don't just max it out
An oversized heap increases garbage collection pause times rather than helping. A RAM calculator gives you a number based on your actual player count and plugin list.
Tracking your progress
Check /tps and MSPT via spark before and after each change, so you know which steps actually moved the number for your specific server rather than applying all of them blindly and not knowing what helped.
Building on solid ground
Tick Hosting's plans apply tuned JVM flags and give you the panel tools (Chunky-ready file manager, resource graphs) to work through this checklist directly from the dashboard. Available on every plan, including the free tier, from Tick Hosting's plans page.