Choose your Minecraft server software

Wispdock’s control panel isn’t built yet. Where a step says “in your control panel”, use whatever your host gives you for files, the console and start/stop. The Minecraft side works the same everywhere.

Match the software to your players: Java hosting covers Java server setups, while Bedrock hosting is for native Bedrock worlds.

The short answer

Pick by what you want to add to the game.

• Nothing, or only data packs: vanilla.
• Plugins, such as permission groups, land claims, shops, a web map or Bedrock crossplay through Geyser: Paper.
• A modpack: the loader and Minecraft version listed on the pack’s page. You don’t get a choice here, and that’s fine.
• A few server-side performance mods while your friends keep a vanilla game: Fabric.

If nobody in the group has asked for mods, start with Paper. Most players can’t tell it apart from vanilla, it uses less CPU on the same world, and it leaves plugins open for later.

The options side by side

Plugins and mods don’t mix

A plugin runs only on the server. It talks to the game through the Bukkit API, and players join with a normal, unmodded client. Plugins can add commands, protect land, run an economy or log every block change. What they can’t do is add a new block or mob, because the player’s game wouldn’t know how to draw it. They work with what vanilla already has.

A mod changes the game’s code directly. Content mods that add blocks, machines or dimensions have to be installed on the server and on every player’s game, at matching versions. Some mods are server-only, Lithium for example, and players can join without them.

The two systems don’t load each other’s files. Paper can’t load Fabric or Forge mods, and mod loaders can’t load plugins. Drop the wrong kind of jar in and it either does nothing or the log says it isn’t a valid plugin or mod.

Data packs are the exception. Vanilla, Paper and the mod loaders all load them from world/datapacks.

Vanilla

This is the official server.jar from minecraft.net. There’s nothing to configure beyond server.properties, and every mechanic behaves the way it does in singleplayer, including the bugs technical players build farms around.

The cost is everything plugins would give you. Permissions stop at op levels, there’s no land protection, and there’s no way to roll back a griefed base. Vanilla also uses more CPU than Paper on the same world. For two or three friends on a fresh map, none of that matters much.

Plugin servers: Paper and its relatives

Paper, Spigot and Purpur all run Bukkit plugins because they’re forks of each other. Spigot grew out of CraftBukkit, Paper started as a fork of Spigot, and Purpur is a fork of Paper. Each one runs the plugins written for the one before it.

Paper is the one we’d pick. It has the most active development, it carries performance work that Spigot doesn’t, and most plugin authors test against it. We don’t see a reason to choose Spigot for a new server. Purpur adds optional gameplay settings on top of Paper and is a fine choice if you want them.

The full comparison, including Folia and the config files each one adds, is in Paper vs Spigot vs Purpur. To start adding plugins, see Install plugins on a Paper server.

One thing to know first: Paper fixes some vanilla behaviour that technical players rely on, such as TNT duplication, and a few of its defaults change farm rates. If your group builds technical redstone, read the gameplay section of the comparison guide before switching.

Mod loaders: Fabric, Forge and NeoForge

Fabric is lightweight and usually supports new Minecraft versions quickly. Most Fabric mods also need Fabric API installed. It’s also the easy way to run server-side performance mods such as Lithium, FerriteCore and C2ME on a server that still feels like vanilla. Install Fabric server mods walks through it.

Forge is the older loader behind most big content packs up to 1.20.1.

NeoForge split from Forge at 1.20.1, when most of the Forge team left to start it. From 1.20.2 onwards the two aren’t compatible, and most new large packs use NeoForge. A mod needs a build for the loader you actually run. Setup for both is in the Forge and NeoForge server guide.

Running a modpack? Then use the loader and the exact version on the pack’s page. Install a modpack covers server packs and matching versions. Modded servers also need more memory than plugin servers; the RAM guide has rough sizes.

Hybrid servers, and why we avoid them

Projects such as Mohist and Arclight load Forge or NeoForge mods and Bukkit plugins in one server. In practice, plugins expect vanilla’s code and mods change it. You get plugins that half work, crashes that neither the plugin author nor the mod author will look at, and updates that trail behind both.

We don’t recommend them. If you want mod content plus things like land claims or permissions, look for mods that do the job. Many packs include a claims mod, and LuckPerms has Fabric, Forge and NeoForge versions.

Bedrock is a separate server

Everything above is Java Edition. Bedrock players on phones, consoles and Windows can’t join a Java server by themselves. You have two options. Mojang’s Bedrock Dedicated Server runs Bedrock natively, but it takes add-ons and behaviour packs, not Java plugins or mods. Or run Paper with Geyser and Floodgate so Bedrock players can join your Java world. Java, Bedrock and crossplay with Geyser explains the trade-offs.

Switching later

• Take a backup first. Back up and restore a world shows how.
• Never move an existing world to an older Minecraft version. Worlds upgrade; they don’t downgrade.
• Vanilla to Paper is safe. On first start Paper moves the Nether and the End into their own folders, world_nether and world_the_end.
• Paper back to vanilla needs those folders moved back by hand: world_nether/DIM-1 becomes world/DIM-1, and world_the_end/DIM1 becomes world/DIM1.
• Paper to Purpur, or back, is a jar swap. Purpur reads Paper’s config files and adds its own purpur.yml.
• Plugin server to mod loader keeps the terrain, but you lose what the plugins stored: claims, homes, economy balances. Mods can’t read plugin data.
• Adding mods to an existing world works. Removing a mod deletes its blocks and items from the world the next time those chunks load.
• In your control panel, change the server type or upload the new server jar. Start it once and read the log before anyone joins.

The draft plans on our pricing page are 4 GB for vanilla or Paper with plugins and 8 GB for modpacks. Prices aren’t final and ordering isn’t open yet.

Still stuck? Send us the details and your latest.log.