Minecraft Beta was a development phase of the game that started on December 20, 2010 and lasted until November 18, 2011, when the full 1.0.0 version was released. During this time the game got beds, pistons, weather, wolves, and eventually hunger, sprinting, villages, and endermen. You can still legally run most Beta releases today in the Minecraft Launcher.

  • Beta 1.0 was released on December 20, 2010, and the last version was Beta 1.8.1 from September 15, 2011.
  • Entering Beta meant a 50% price increase, from 9.95 to 14.95 euros.
  • Key additions: beds (1.3), wolves (1.4), weather (1.5), pistons (1.7), and the Adventure Update (1.8).
  • You can run Beta in the launcher by enabling historical versions, but you need a purchased copy of Java Edition.

When Beta lasted and what it changed

Mojang announced the move from the Alpha to the Beta phase on December 11, 2010, and Beta 1.0 reached players on December 20. As described on the Java Edition Beta page on Minecraft Wiki, the game's price rose 50% at that point. We wrote about it back then in our article about the price increase from 9.95 to 14.95 euros.

Beta was a huge step for players. The game stopped being an experiment with isolated mechanics and started to resemble the Minecraft we know today. Each new version added blocks, mobs, and systems that have survived to this day, and the final stage of Beta, the Adventure Update, was split into two parts: Beta 1.8 and version 1.0.0.

You can find the full background of that period, from Classic to the first console releases, on our Minecraft history timeline.

What each Beta version added

  • Beta 1.2: new blocks, squid, new sheep variants, and additional tree species.
  • Beta 1.3: beds, Redstone Repeaters, and new types of pressure plates.
  • Beta 1.4: cookies, wolves, and a new logo.
  • Beta 1.5: weather, charged creepers, and cobwebs.
  • Beta 1.6: new types of tall grass, trapdoors, and maps.
  • Beta 1.7: shears and pistons.
  • Beta 1.8 from September 14, 2011: the hunger bar, sprinting, experience points, villages, strongholds, mineshafts, ravines, endermen, and the return of Creative mode.

According to the description of Beta 1.8, sprinting was activated by double-tapping the W key, and experience points didn't actually do anything yet. Their purpose only arrived with version 1.0.0 on November 18, 2011, the second part of the Adventure Update. It added the Enchanting Table, Brewing Stand, Cauldron, The End, and the Ender Dragon.

Beta 1.8 also changed what the world looked like. The new terrain generator created much larger and flatter biomes, added mountain, ocean, and river biomes, and from then on steep mountains only appeared in one biome. That's why worlds generated in Beta 1.7.3 look completely different from ones generated in Beta 1.8.

How to play Minecraft Beta in the launcher

Old versions are available in the standard Minecraft Launcher, but hidden by default. The launcher description on Minecraft Wiki gives these instructions:

  1. Open the launcher settings and in the Java Edition section enable showing historical versions ("Show historical versions of Minecraft: Java Edition in the Launcher").
  2. Go to the installations tab and create a new installation.
  3. From the version list, pick a Beta release, marked with an identifier like b1.7.3 or b1.8.1.
  4. Set a separate game folder for this installation and launch it with the "Play" button.

A separate folder protects your current worlds, and the wiki's authors also recommend making a backup before running an old version. Historical versions aren't supported and may have bugs. You also won't see your skin or cape in them: according to the wiki, versions older than 1.7.6 launched from the launcher don't display them.

You need a purchased copy of Java Edition to play. Multiplayer in an old version requires a server running the same version, since old releases don't connect to today's servers. General rules for switching versions are covered in our guide how to change your Minecraft version, and individual releases, like Beta 1.2, have their own pages on our site describing the changes.

Beta today: Minecraft Preview and snapshots

The word "beta" still comes up with Minecraft, but it means something different now. In Bedrock, new features get tested before release in the Minecraft Preview app, available since 2022 on Windows, iOS, iPadOS, and Xbox, and since 2024 also on PlayStation. On Android, test versions go out to people signed up for the beta program.

In Java, that role is filled by snapshots, usually weekly development versions you install in the launcher alongside the stable version. If you're just starting your adventure with the game on PC, also check out our guide Minecraft on PC.

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