The best Minecraft server software: Paper, Leaf, Purpur, Folia and the rest

Short answer. Running plugins? Use Paper: it's the standard, and it runs Bukkit, Spigot and Paper plugins. Want more optimizations and happy to switch them on one at a time? Leaf is a Paper fork with the same plugin compatibility. Purpur is Paper with a huge set of gameplay options. Folia is only for very large player counts with plugins that support it. Need mods? That's Fabric or NeoForge — a different setup.

What server software actually is#

Server software is the jar you start with java -jar. It decides what you can install (plugins or mods), what settings you get and how much work lands on the main thread. The Minecraft world is the same everywhere; the rules for running it are not.

Most popular options are one family. Bukkit is the plugin API, CraftBukkit is the server that implements it, Spigot is a fork of CraftBukkit, Paper grew out of Spigot, and Purpur, Leaf, Pufferfish and Folia are forks of Paper. That's why a plugin written for Spigot usually runs further down the chain too. Fabric, Forge and NeoForge are a separate branch: they're mod loaders, and Bukkit plugins don't run there.

• Vanilla — Mojang's official server, no plugins.
• CraftBukkit → Spigot — the original servers with the Bukkit API.
• Paper — grew out of Spigot, an independent project since 1.21.4.
• Purpur, Leaf, Pufferfish, Folia — forks of Paper.
• Fabric, Forge, NeoForge — mod loaders, a separate branch.

All the options in one table#

Vanilla — the official server#

Vanilla is Mojang's server, downloaded from minecraft.net. It behaves exactly like singleplayer, which is why technical players like it: farms and contraptions work as designed. The only way to extend it is data packs.

For a public server that isn't enough: no plugins means no land claims, permissions, block logging or anticheat, and nothing hides ores from X-Ray. For a couple of friends who want pure gameplay it's fine. Moving to Paper later is easy: according to Paper's docs, it converts the world to its own layout on first start.

Spigot and CraftBukkit#

Spigot is a fork of CraftBukkit and Paper's ancestor. There's no ready-made Spigot jar on the official site: after a DMCA takedown in 2014, you build it yourself with BuildTools. It downloads Mojang's server and the Bukkit, CraftBukkit and Spigot sources and compiles them on your machine — you need Git and Java for that.

java -jar BuildTools.jar --rev 1.21.11

Since 1.14 BuildTools doesn't build CraftBukkit by default (you need --compile craftbukkit): the Spigot team doesn't want people running it instead of Spigot. Today Spigot only makes sense if a plugin you need officially runs on Spigot alone.

Since 1.21.4 Paper no longer pulls in Spigot's changes and evolves on its own. Plugins built for Spigot keep working on Paper; trouble is only possible with API Spigot added after the split. The other direction is worse: a plugin built on the Paper API may not load on Spigot.

Paper — the default for plugin servers#

Paper's docs describe it as a server designed to greatly improve performance and offer more advanced features, and for most owners it's the right default. It runs Bukkit, Spigot and Paper plugins, fixes vanilla mechanics bugs and gives you flexible settings in config/paper-global.yml and config/paper-world-defaults.yml, with per-world overrides. It ships ore obfuscation against X-Ray and, since 1.21, the bundled spark profiler.

Paper isn't 100% vanilla: because of how the Bukkit API works and because of bug fixes, some mechanics differ. TNT, carpet and rail duping with pistons, for example, is off by default. For technical servers Paper has a Vanilla-like experience page with settings that bring behavior closer to vanilla — though, as the docs say themselves, Paper can't be made fully vanilla.

Installation, files and useful settings are in a separate guide: Paper.

Purpur — Paper with gameplay options#

Purpur is built on Paper, and its authors call it a drop-in replacement for Paper. Bukkit, Spigot and Paper plugins work. The idea is to make everything configurable: purpur.yml has options ranging from riding mobs to an on-screen TPS bar.

Purpur suits you if you want unusual gameplay without a pile of extra plugins. Just remember that every option you turn on moves the server away from vanilla, and players used to normal mechanics will notice. More in the Purpur guide.

Leaf — Paper with a focus on performance#

Leaf is a Paper fork by Winds-Studio. Its docs put the goal as a balance between performance, vanilla behavior and stability, aimed at large networks under heavy load. Leaf collects patches from Gale, Pufferfish, Purpur and other forks, plus its own optimizations.

On top of Paper it adds async mob pathfinding, mob spawning and entity tracking, parallel world ticking (experimental), the Linear region format to save disk space (Leaf's own docs don't recommend it: it's experimental and can lose chunk data) and Sentry integration for error tracking. All of Purpur's patches are in Leaf too — some of their options moved into the Gale and Leaf configs. Per the project's FAQ, plugin compatibility is exactly the same as Paper's.

Async pathfinding, the async entity tracker and parallel world ticking are off by default (async mob spawning is on): you turn them on deliberately, one at a time, and measure. New Minecraft versions arrive in Leaf as experimental builds first, which the project advises against running in production. How to move over from Paper is in the Leaf guide.

Folia — regionized multithreading#

Folia is a Paper fork by the same PaperMC team. It groups nearby loaded chunks into independent regions, and each region runs its own tick loop at 20 TPS. Regions tick in parallel on a thread pool — there's no main thread anymore.

Servers where players spread out across the world benefit most — survival and SkyBlock with a sizeable player count. The authors recommend at least 16 CPU cores (cores, not threads) and a pre-generated world. Minigames where everyone is on one small map gain the least.

The price is plugins. Folia only loads plugins whose authors explicitly marked them folia-supported: true, and the project's README says to expect zero compatibility: almost every plugin needs changes. DGuard does not support Folia.

Pufferfish: where it stands now#

Pufferfish is a Paper fork by the Pufferfish Host hosting company, built for large servers: entity optimizations, partial async processing, Sentry integration. Paper plugins run on it.

As of October 2026, though, the newest version on its downloads page is 1.21.8 — there are no builds for 1.21.11 or 26.x. Its ideas live on in other forks; Leaf, for example, takes patches from Pufferfish. For a new server on a current version, look at Paper or Leaf.

Fabric, Forge and NeoForge — when you need mods#

Mods and plugins are different things. A plugin runs on the server through the Bukkit or Paper API; a mod changes the game itself through a loader. Fabric is a lightweight, modular loader (most mods also need Fabric API). Forge is the oldest loader, and NeoForge is its fork, started in 2023 by almost the entire former Forge team.

Mods that add blocks, items or mobs must be installed by players as well. Paper doesn't support mods, and Paper's docs call hybrids that promise both mods and plugins fundamentally flawed and not recommended. How to set up a modded server is covered in modded server.

What to choose, by situation#

A small server for friends

Go with Paper: it's very close to vanilla but lets you add a backup plugin, land claims and block logging. If you build technical farms and every mechanic matters, work through the Vanilla-like experience page or stay on Vanilla.

Public survival and anarchy

Paper or Leaf. Turn on anti-xray — the setup is covered in X-Ray protection. Leaf also has a secure seed option: it protects the seed from cracking, but it changes where ores and structures generate, so it's for new worlds only and can't be turned back off. How to keep cheaters off an anarchy server is in anticheat for anarchy servers.

A minigames or BedWars network

A network is a proxy (usually Velocity) with several Paper game servers behind it: lobby, BedWars arenas, SkyWars. The proxy isn't game-server software but a separate program; see Velocity or BungeeCord. Plugins, the anticheat and settings go on each game server separately.

Hundreds of players online

Don't switch software blind. First take a profile with the bundled spark while the lag is happening and find the cause — often it's farms, entities or chunk generation rather than the server software; see why your server lags. Then your options are Leaf with async modules, splitting into several servers behind a proxy, or Folia — if every plugin you need supports it and the world is pre-generated.

Switching server software without losing the world#

1. 1

   Take a full backup

   Stop the server and copy the worlds, configs and plugins. Paper and Leaf both put this step first in their instructions. Details in server backups.

2. 2

   Stay on the same Minecraft version

   Change the software without changing the game version, so you know exactly what broke if something does. And remember: once a world is upgraded to 26.1, Paper won't let you downgrade it.

3. 3

   Swap the jar

   Download the new software from its official site only, drop it into the server folder and update the file name in your start script.

4. 4

   Start and read the log

   The new software creates its own configs next to the old ones. Check /plugins: red plugins failed to load, and logs/latest.log tells you why.

Three directions need extra care: Spigot to Paper from 26.1 on — only via the Vanilla layout; Paper back to Vanilla — some files have to be moved by hand following Paper's guide; Fabric or Forge to Paper — Paper can't load blocks and items added by mods.

Server software and your anticheat#

An anticheat plugin depends on the server software too. DGuard runs on Paper and Leaf 1.21–26.3. The main version is 1.21.11: DGuard is tested on it and runs on it on production servers; the other versions are supported but haven't been checked on production servers yet. The current list is on the supported versions page.

DGuard is made for Paper and Leaf: Purpur, Spigot and modded servers aren't on its official list, and Folia isn't supported. If you're picking software with protection against KillAura, Speed and Scaffold in mind, choose Paper or Leaf.

DGuard's checks run in network threads rather than the server's main thread, so TPS stays at 20 on either. DGuard runs on top of the PacketEvents plugin and needs its latest release. For how to choose an anticheat in general, see the best Minecraft anticheat.

FAQ#