Paper vs Spigot vs Vanilla: Which One Should Your Server Run?
The real differences between Vanilla, Spigot, Paper, and Purpur for performance, plugin compatibility, and gameplay. Plus recommendations per use case.
The first decision that shapes everything is not RAM or price: it is your server software. Vanilla, Spigot, Paper, Purpur all run Minecraft worlds, but their characters differ wildly. Choose wrong at the start and you sign up for a painful migration later. Here is the map.
Vanilla: purity with a performance price tag
Mojang official server. Strengths: behavior is 100 percent as designed, day-one updates, zero complexity. Weaknesses: limited optimization, no plugins, and giant mob farms can drag TPS. Best for: small groups playing pure survival without extra commands.
Spigot: the gateway to plugins
A CraftBukkit fork supporting Bukkit plugins. Its ecosystem is legendary (EssentialsX, LuckPerms, thousands more). Performance beats Vanilla thanks to basic optimizations. Downsides: some redstone and mob mechanics change slightly, and its optimizations were long surpassed by its children. Best for: legacy servers or specific plugins missing elsewhere.
Paper: today industry standard
A Spigot fork with hundreds of performance patches and bugfixes. Smoother ticks, async chunk loading support, granular config (paper-world-defaults.yml), and full Bukkit/Spigot compatibility. Almost every major Indonesian and global network stands on Paper. Best for: serious SMP, towny, economies, minigames: 95 percent of needs.
Purpur: Paper plus options
A Paper fork adding hundreds of gameplay toggles (change mob behavior, vanilla feature switches, etc). Performance matches Paper. Best for: admins who want fine control without writing plugins. Caveat: slight risk of incompatibility with plugins relying on pure Paper behavior.
Fabric and NeoForge: the modding road
Not competitors to Paper; a different path. If your goal is modpacks (ATM, Create, performance mods), you need Fabric or Forge/NeoForge. Plugins will not run here; mods speak instead. Many large hybrid servers run a modpack backend behind a Velocity proxy.
Quick recommendations
- 3-5 friends, keep it simple: Vanilla or Paper
- Public SMP with economy and claims: Paper, eyes closed
- Extreme tuning itch: Purpur
- Modpack with friends: Fabric or NeoForge, matching the pack
All of these are one click away in the Arqonara panel: pick a version, deploy, play. Since Paper is our default, even the cheapest plan (IDR 24k/month) runs on it. See the full list at arqonara.com/en/games or ask which software fits your plan at discord.gg/arqonara.