Fix Minecraft “Can't Keep Up” / Low TPS

What the message means

Console lines like “Can't keep up! Is the server overloaded?” mean the server is missing tick deadlines. That is server-side debt (entities, chunks, redstone, plugins), not a friend’s home Wi-Fi. On GlassHosting, start with graphs and recent changes before you resize the plan.

Triage order

1. Open resource graphs on panel.glasshosting.com for the lag window (CPU pegged? RAM thrashing?).
2. Scroll the console for error loops or a plugin repeatedly failing.
3. Temporarily lower view-distance / simulation distance in server.properties (backup first).
4. Inspect heavy farms, hoppers, and entity piles near where players congregate.
5. Remove or disable the most recent jars one at a time.
6. If the community is honestly larger than the plan, upgrade, after the above, not instead of it.

What usually helps

• Paper over Vanilla for busy SMPs (see Paper vs Spigot).
• Fewer always-loaded chunk machines; schedule mega-farms off-peak.
• Honest RAM for modpacks: starving heap looks like TPS death.

Verify / done

• During a play window, TPS stays near 20 or the console stops spamming keep-up warnings.
• You can point to the change that helped (distance, farm, plugin, or plan).
• A named backup exists before the next experiment.

Related: RAM guide, backups. KB: TPS and performance guides.