MINECRAFT HOSTING
GAME SERVERS
Game PanelA Minecraft server type is the software your server runs. All of them let players join and play, but they differ in what you can add and what your players have to install. The choice you make here decides whether you add plugins or mods, so it is worth a minute before you order or set up.
Plugins versus mods
- Plugins run only on the server. Players join with the normal game and install nothing. Plugins add things such as home commands, protection against griefing, permissions or minigames. Paper, Purpur, Spigot and Folia run plugins.
- Mods change the game itself, with new blocks, mobs and machines. Everyone who joins needs the same mods installed, so players need a mod loader on their own computer. Forge, NeoForge, Fabric and Quilt run mods.
A server type runs one kind, not both. The panel tells you when you look in the Modding tab: Paper, Spigot, Purpur and Folia run plugins, not mods, and Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt run mods, not plugins. Some hybrid types try to run both and are described below.
The server types in the panel
The setup screen lists these types. On an existing server, the Edit Server Type button opens the Change server type window, which sorts the types into groups by what players must do to join. The table uses the group names from that window.
| Type | Group | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Paper | Game plus server features | The popular choice: plugin support and strong performance. A good first server for most people. |
| Purpur | Game plus server features | A Paper fork that adds deeper gameplay and tuning options. It runs Paper plugins. |
| Spigot | Game plus server features | The long-established plugin server, widely supported. |
| Folia | Game plus server features | A Paper fork that spreads load across CPU cores. Most plugins do not work on it. Choose it only if you know your plugins support it. |
| Vanilla | Just the game | Minecraft exactly as Mojang ships it, with no additions. Loads neither plugins nor mods. |
| Forge | Mods | The long-standing mod loader, used by most large packs. |
| NeoForge | Mods | A modern Forge alternative with a growing mod ecosystem. |
| Fabric | Mods | A lightweight mod loader favoured by modern, fast packs. |
| Quilt | Mods | A Fabric-compatible loader with a modular toolchain. |
| Magma, Ketting | Mods and plugins together | Hybrids that run Forge mods and Bukkit plugins on one server. The panel marks this group as advanced and less stable than either kind on its own. |
| Sponge | Mods and plugins together | A plugin platform with its own API, built on Vanilla. It runs its own plugins, not Forge mods or Bukkit plugins, even though the panel files it in this group. |
| BungeeCord, Velocity, Waterfall | Proxies | A proxy links several servers into one network and hosts no world of its own, so nobody plays on it directly. Velocity is the modern proxy from PaperMC. Waterfall is no longer developed upstream, so new networks should prefer Velocity. |
| Custom Jar | Your own jar | You upload a server jar yourself and tell the server its file name. Nothing is managed for you. |
| Bedrock and Pocketmine | Bedrock Edition | Servers for Minecraft Bedrock Edition. Java Edition players cannot join them. They are two different programs: Bedrock is Mojang's own server and Pocketmine is a community server with plugins. See How to run a Minecraft Bedrock server. |
Spigot is built on your server while it installs, which needs a lot of memory. On small plans the panel therefore does not offer it. Paper runs Spigot plugins, so you lose nothing by choosing Paper instead.
On a new server, the first screen asks How do you want to play? The card named Vanilla there is not the Vanilla server type in the table. It means that you pick your own server software on the next screen, from Paper to Fabric. Choose Modded instead to search for a modpack. The pack decides the loader and the Minecraft version, so you do not choose them separately.
