Starting a Minecraft server is easier than you think. You need three things: a hosting provider, a plan that fits your player count, and a few minutes.
For a small group of friends, the Sparrow plan ($8.99/mo, 4 GB RAM) handles 5–15 players comfortably. For a community of 10–25, step up to Raven with 6 GB. For a busy public server, Owl (8 GB) or higher. The current price of every tier is shown on the order page.
With Lyrebird Hosting, deployment is automatic. After purchase you get an IP address and port within a few minutes, and an email as soon as the server is up. No configuration needed.
Open Minecraft → Multiplayer → Add Server → paste your IP:port → Done.
Go to your control panel → Plugins tab → search for EssentialsX → Install. Restart your server and you're done.
Your server is live. Share the IP with your friends and start playing.