Minecraft Server Software Compared: Paper vs Spigot, Purpur, Fabric, Forge and Bedrock (2026)

Go looking for Minecraft server software and you'll get a wall of names: vanilla, Bukkit, Spigot, Paper, Purpur, Folia, Fabric, Forge, NeoForge, Bedrock Dedicated Server, Geyser. A lot of the "best server software" lists out there end with a hosting company's sign-up button, so here's the version without one.

The short answer: if you want plugins on a Java server, run Paper. If you want mods, you're picking a mod loader like Fabric or Forge instead, and that's a different decision. If your friends play on consoles or phones, it's Mojang's Bedrock Dedicated Server, or Paper plus Geyser if you want Java and Bedrock players together. Everything below is as of October 2026, when the current releases are Java Edition 26.3 (out September 15, 2026) and Bedrock Dedicated Server 1.26.52.3.

Best Minecraft server software: the decision table

One thing to clear up before going further: vanilla and Bedrock Dedicated Server are Mojang's, but Paper, Fabric, Forge and Geyser aren't. PaperMC, Fabric and GeyserMC all post "not an official Minecraft" notices on their own sites. They're community projects, and very good ones.

Bukkit vs Spigot vs Paper: the family tree

Most of the names you're tripping over are one family. Read it in order and it stops being confusing:

1. Bukkit is where it started.
2. Spigot came next, built on Bukkit.
3. Paper is built on Spigot. Its maintainers describe it as "a Minecraft game server based on Spigot, designed to greatly improve performance and offer more advanced features and API."
4. Purpur and Folia branch off Paper, each for a narrower job.

Paper's API is an expanded version of the Bukkit/Spigot one, which is why you'll hear people call Paper a drop-in replacement for Spigot.

Paper vs Spigot: which one should you run?

Paper. For almost everyone, that's the whole answer.

Paper's own pitch is concrete: async chunk loading, plus optimizations to the light engine, hoppers and entities, on top of a bigger API for plugin developers. It has its own plugin repository, Hangar (hangar.papermc.io), which listed 3,731 plugins when I checked in October 2026. And it keeps up with Mojang. PaperMC's docs already point at builds for 26.3.

You'll see hosting blogs quote exact "Paper is X% faster" numbers. Ignore the precise figures. The direction is right, but how much faster it feels depends on your world, your plugins and your player count. The thing to actually watch is your TPS (ticks per second).

So when does Spigot vs Paper go Spigot's way? Basically one case: you've got a plugin you can't live without that breaks on Paper. That's the trigger people actually hit in practice, not some abstract performance debate. If that's you, run Spigot for that server. If it isn't, there's no reason to pick it today.

Paper vs Spigot vs Purpur

Purpur is a fork built on Paper, and it's the one server admins point to for gameplay tinkering. The usual advice is that you don't pay a real performance price for its extras. If you don't know what you'd change, stick with Paper. If you're already wishing you could tweak how the game plays without writing a plugin, try Purpur.

Folia, Velocity and Waterfall

PaperMC's own lineup is Paper, Folia, Velocity and Waterfall. Folia is an experimental, multithreaded take on Paper meant for very big single worlds with lots of players at once. The catch is plugin compatibility, which is limited, so only go there if your plugins explicitly support Folia and a normal Paper server is genuinely struggling. Velocity and Waterfall aren't game servers at all. They're proxies, so you can ignore them while you're picking one.

Mod loaders: Fabric vs Forge and NeoForge

This is the fork in the road that matters more than Paper vs Spigot. Plugins run on the server. Mods change the game itself, so on a Fabric, Forge or NeoForge server every player has to run the same mods as the server. That's why modded servers hand out a modpack.

Fabric runs servers through its own installer. As of October 2026 the universal installer is fabric-installer 1.1.2, and there's a dedicated server setup path at fabricmc.net/use/server, separate from the client install. Most Fabric mods also need the Fabric API mod alongside them, so grab that too.

Forge and NeoForge are the other two loaders, with their own downloads at files.minecraftforge.net and neoforged.net. Which loader you pick usually comes down to which one your favourite mods or modpack are built for, so start from the mods and work backwards. Check the loader's own page for which Minecraft version it supports before you build a world on it.

The rule that saves people a weekend: you pick one family per server. A Paper server doesn't load Fabric mods, and a Fabric server doesn't load Paper plugins.

Minecraft Bedrock server software

If your group plays Bedrock (Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, phones, the Windows Bedrock client), the answer is Mojang's own Bedrock Dedicated Server. It's free from minecraft.net/en-us/download/server/bedrock, and as of October 2026 the current build is 1.26.52.3. Players on Windows, Xbox, PlayStation, mobile and Switch or Switch 2 can all join the same server with the same IP and port.

Its limits are mostly about where it runs. Mojang builds it for 64-bit Windows and Ubuntu Linux only, and on Linux you need Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or later.

Crossplay: Geyser and Floodgate

Want Java and Bedrock players in the same world? Run a Java server (Paper is the easy pick) and add Geyser. It translates between Bedrock clients and a Java server, so someone on a phone, a console or Windows 10/11 can join a Java server. It runs as a plugin or standalone and works with any modern Minecraft version. Add Floodgate too. Without it, Bedrock players would need a Java Edition account. With it, they sign in with their Xbox account and that's it. Both are at geysermc.org/download.

Minecraft server software download: official sources only

Every project above has its own download page, and those are the only places you should get a server jar from:

• Vanilla Java: minecraft.net/en-us/download/server
• Bedrock Dedicated Server: minecraft.net/en-us/download/server/bedrock
• Paper (and the rest of PaperMC): papermc.io/downloads/paper, docs at docs.papermc.io
• Purpur: purpurmc.org
• Fabric: fabricmc.net/use/server
• Forge / NeoForge: files.minecraftforge.net, neoforged.net
• Geyser and Floodgate: geysermc.org/download

A server jar is code you run on your machine, so a random mirror is a bad bet even when the file name looks right.

Hardware, RAM and Java basics

Mojang's spec block for Bedrock Dedicated Server (October 2026) lists 4 GB of RAM, an Intel Core i3-3210 or AMD A8-7600 APU-class CPU, and 180 MB to 1 GB of disk. The same page's FAQ says a small server can get by on 1 GB, so read 4 GB as the comfortable number and 1 GB as the floor for a couple of friends.

Java servers (vanilla, Paper, Purpur, Fabric, Forge) all run as a jar, so take the Java version and memory advice from the project's own docs for the Minecraft version you're running, and keep an eye on TPS once people start playing. If you don't have a spare machine at all, my guide to free Minecraft server hosting covers Aternos, Minehut, your own PC and Oracle's free cloud tier.

Not sure Minecraft is even the right base for your server? My Minecraft vs Luanti comparison covers the free, open-source alternative. And if you'd rather browse what other admins have built first, check out my picks for the best Minecraft SMP servers.