Enchanting gear, repairing tools with an anvil, and using the mending enchantment all require XP. Grinding mobs by hand is slow and boring. The smart move is building an XP farm that generates experience automatically while you AFK or do something else. Here are the best Minecraft XP farms in 2026, organized by game progression stage so you can build the right farm at the right time.
Early Game XP Farms (Day 1-3)
Mob Spawner Farm (Best Early Farm)
XP Rate: 15-25 levels per hour | Difficulty: Easy | Requirements: Find a dungeon spawner
If you find a zombie, skeleton, or spider spawner in a cave or dungeon, you’ve struck XP gold. Spawner farms are the best early-game XP source because they require almost no materials to build.
How to build it:
1. Find a dungeon spawner (zombie or skeleton preferred)
2. Place torches on the spawner to stop spawning temporarily
3. Dig a room around the spawner (9x9x4 blocks minimum)
4. Create water channels that push mobs to a central collection point
5. Build a drop chute (22 blocks tall for one-hit kills) at the collection point
6. Remove the torches to start spawning
7. Stand at the bottom and one-hit kill the mobs for XP
Tips:
– Stay within 16 blocks of the spawner for it to activate
– Don’t light up the room — mobs need darkness to spawn
– Add a hopper system below the kill zone to auto-collect drops
– Skeleton spawners are the best — they drop bones (bonemeal) and arrows
Kelp Smelting Farm
XP Rate: 10-15 levels per hour | Difficulty: Easy | Requirements: Kelp, furnaces, hoppers
Kelp farms are fully automatic and work while you’re completely AFK. The farm grows kelp, harvests it, smelts it into dried kelp, and stores the XP in furnaces for you to collect later.
How to build it:
1. Build a kelp growing column (place kelp in water, pistons break the top)
2. Route harvested kelp through hoppers into furnaces
3. Use dried kelp blocks as fuel (self-sustaining loop)
4. When ready to collect, pull items from furnaces manually to receive stored XP
The beauty of this farm is it’s completely self-sustaining — kelp fuels itself. Build it near your base and collect XP every time you pass by.
Mid Game XP Farms (After the Nether)
Gold/Piglin Farm (Nether)
XP Rate: 30-40 levels per hour | Difficulty: Medium | Requirements: Access to the Nether roof or a large platform
Zombie Piglins spawn in massive numbers in the Nether. Building a farm that aggros and kills them produces XP and gold nuggets/ingots at an incredible rate.
How to build it:
1. Build a large platform in the Nether (at least 24×24)
2. Use turtle egg mechanics to lure zombie piglins to a central kill zone
3. Build a drop chute to soften them for one-hit kills
4. Use trident killers or manual killing for XP
Tips:
– Building on the Nether roof (above bedrock) maximizes spawn rates
– Gold from this farm is useful for golden apples and bartering
– Trident killers count as player kills, meaning they drop XP
Double Furnace Auto-Smelter
XP Rate: 10-20 levels per hour | Difficulty: Easy | Requirements: Furnaces, hoppers, raw materials
Connect automatic animal farms (cow, chicken, pig) to furnaces via hoppers. The furnaces cook the meat automatically and store the XP for you. When you’re ready, pull the cooked meat out manually to collect all accumulated XP at once.
This isn’t the fastest farm, but it’s extremely easy to build and provides food + XP simultaneously.
Late Game XP Farms (After Killing the Dragon)
Enderman Farm (Best Overall)
XP Rate: 50-80+ levels per hour | Difficulty: Easy-Medium | Requirements: Access to the End, enderpearls
The classic Enderman farm is the single best XP farm in Minecraft for the effort required. Building it is straightforward, and the XP output is absurd.
How to build it:
1. Travel to the outer End islands (throw an enderpearl at the void gateway)
2. Build a platform at Y=1 in the End
3. Place an Endermite in a minecart on the platform (Endermen are attracted to Endermites)
4. Build a 43-block drop below the platform
5. Endermen teleport to the platform, get aggroed by the Endermite, walk off the edge, and fall 43 blocks
6. One-hit kill them at the bottom for XP and enderpearls
Why it’s the best:
– Endermen give the most XP per mob in the game
– Spawn rates in the End are massive
– The farm is simple to build (no redstone required)
– You get infinite enderpearls as a bonus
Guardian Farm
XP Rate: 60-100+ levels per hour | Difficulty: Hard | Requirements: Ocean Monument, extensive draining
Guardian farms are the absolute peak of Minecraft XP farming. They require draining or disabling an Ocean Monument, which is a massive project, but the results are worth it.
How to build it:
1. Find an Ocean Monument
2. Drain the water from the monument area (or build spawning platforms)
3. Create kill chambers with bubble columns
4. Route Guardians to a central kill zone
Tips:
– This is a major build project — allocate several hours
– The reward is the highest XP rate in the game
– Guardian drops (prismarine, sea lanterns) are excellent building materials
– Consider watching a tutorial video for your specific Minecraft version
Bonus: Cactus and Bamboo Smelting Farms
For fully AFK XP collection, cactus and bamboo smelting farms work similarly to kelp farms:
– Grow cactus/bamboo automatically
– Route to furnaces via hoppers
– Smelt using bamboo as fuel (bamboo farm fuels itself)
– Collect stored XP when needed
These farms aren’t fast, but they run completely unattended. Build several in parallel to multiply the output.
Which Farm Should You Build?
| Game Stage | Build This | XP/Hour | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1-3 | Spawner farm (if found) | 15-25 | Low |
| Day 1-3 | Kelp farm (always available) | 10-15 | Low |
| Post-Nether | Gold/Piglin farm | 30-40 | Medium |
| Post-Dragon | Enderman farm | 50-80+ | Low-Medium |
| Endgame | Guardian farm | 60-100+ | High |
For optimal Minecraft performance while running these farms, check our Minecraft best PC settings guide. And if you haven’t tried Minecraft yet, it’s one of the best free games on Steam (Java Edition trial available).
Final Thoughts
The best Minecraft XP farm depends on where you are in the game. Early game, find a spawner or build a kelp farm. Mid game, head to the Nether for a gold farm. Late game, the Enderman farm is the clear winner — easy to build, insane XP output, and free enderpearls. Don’t grind mobs by hand when you can build a machine that does it for you. That’s what Minecraft is all about.
