🛠️ Minecraft Server Types Explained: Vanilla, CraftBukkit, Spigot, PaperMC, Forge, and Fabric

Quick Tip: Looking for a Minecraft server? Visit Empower Servers and use coupon code GETSTARTED for 50% off your first month.


When setting up a Minecraft server, the amount of different server versions can feel overwhelming. Let's break down six of the most popular options: Vanilla, CraftBukkit, Spigot, PaperMC, Forge, and Fabric.

🌾 Vanilla

Vanilla is the original, unmodified version of Minecraft provided directly by Mojang. It offers a pure, unaltered gameplay experience without any plugins or custom modifications. Because it’s developed by Mojang themselves, Vanilla servers are updated instantly when a new Minecraft version is released. However, despite being the “purest” version, Vanilla servers are not the best in terms of performance, especially when more players join. Vanilla is a great choice for simple survival servers or multiplayer custom maps among friends, but for larger public servers, it can quickly become limiting.

🛠️ CraftBukkit

CraftBukkit was the first major modification of Vanilla, introducing plugin support to Minecraft servers. It allowed server owners to customize their worlds with extra features through plugins. However, because CraftBukkit is not maintained by Mojang, updates can be delayed by days after a new Minecraft version is released. Additionally, CraftBukkit lacks BungeeCord support, which makes it less ideal for larger server networks. While CraftBukkit opened the door to server customization, it's now considered outdated compared to newer options like Spigot and Paper.

⚙️ Spigot

Spigot builds upon CraftBukkit and is widely used across public Minecraft servers today. It retains full compatibility with almost all CraftBukkit plugins while offering additional performance improvements and settings through spigot.yml. Spigot servers can also connect together through BungeeCord, allowing for large, scalable server networks. Minor gameplay changes are made to optimize performance, such as adjusting mob spawning behavior. Although Spigot offers a noticeable upgrade over CraftBukkit, it’s no longer the most optimized choice available.

🚀 PaperMC

PaperMC (formerly PaperSpigot) is a fork of Spigot that focuses heavily on performance, stability, and server customization. It offers all the plugin compatibility of Spigot and CraftBukkit, while adding its own improvements and fixes. Many players and server owners use PaperMC even without plugins because of how much smoother gameplay feels compared to Vanilla. Paper is fully compatible with BungeeCord and is completely open-source, with an active development team that constantly pushes updates.

For most users — especially if you want the best possible performance, plugin support, and stability — PaperMC is the recommended choice. Unless you have a specific need for a Forge or Fabric modded server, PaperMC will suit almost every other use case.

🧪 Forge

Forge is a modification platform that allows servers to load mods instead of plugins. Mods can make huge changes to gameplay, introducing new blocks, mobs, machines, dimensions, and much more. Forge servers are great if you want a completely custom Minecraft experience with mods like Pixelmon, SkyFactory, or RLCraft. However, Forge servers typically use more memory and require players to have matching mods installed on their client, which makes them more complicated to set up for casual players.

🧵 Fabric

Fabric is another mod loader, designed to be lightweight and fast. It became popular due to its quicker update times after Minecraft versions are released and its generally lower performance overhead compared to Forge. Fabric mods tend to be smaller and more focused on specific improvements rather than full gameplay overhauls. Fabric is great if you want to run a small modded server with quality-of-life mods without the heavy demands of Forge.

🎯 Conclusion

Choosing the right server version depends heavily on your goals:

- If you want the pure, unmodified Minecraft experience for small groups, Vanilla works.
- If you want plugin support with maximum performance and ease of use, PaperMC is almost always the best choice.
- If you're setting up a fully modded experience, use Forge or Fabric depending on the type of mods you want to run.

Updated on: 25/04/2025