Choosing the Right Minecraft Server Software

Setting up a Minecraft server is one of those projects that sounds simple on paper but quickly becomes a headache the moment you open the file browser. You just want to play with your friends, but suddenly you are staring at a dropdown menu asking if you want Vanilla, Spigot, Paper, Forge, Fabric, or something called Pufferfish.

It feels like walking into a mechanic’s shop when you don’t know anything about cars. You know you need an engine, but you don’t know if you need a diesel truck, a race car, or a hybrid.

In Minecraft terms, that “jar” file is your engine. It dictates everything: how the game runs, how much lag you experience, which mods you can install, and crucially, who can actually join your server. Making the wrong choice here doesn’t just mean a slower server; it often means restarting your world from scratch later because you realized you needed features your software doesn’t support.

Here is a deep dive into the current ecosystem to help you pick the right engine for your specific group.

The Great Divide: Java vs. Bedrock

Before looking at specific files, you have to answer one question: what device is everyone using?

Minecraft is essentially two different games masquerading as one. Java Edition is the original version written in Java, played only on PC (Windows, Mac, Linux). Bedrock Edition is the newer version written in C++, running on everything else—PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and mobile phones.

Because they are written in different coding languages, they are naturally incompatible. A Bedrock player cannot join a Java server, and vice versa—unless you use specific tools to bridge the gap (which we will cover later).

Option Group 1: The Java Ecosystem

If you are hosting for PC players, you have the most options. The Java community has had over a decade to tear the game apart and rebuild it, resulting in some incredibly high-performance software.

The “Vanilla” Experience (But Better)

Technically, you can download the official Vanilla server software directly from Mojang. However, almost no experienced server admin recommends this. The official software is unoptimized. As soon as you have more than three or four people exploring the world or building Redstone machines, the server will start to struggle. You will experience “rubber-banding” (where you walk forward and get snapped back) and block lag.

Instead, the community relies on Paper.

Paper is the industry standard for a reason. It is a modified version of the game that rewrites inefficient code to make the server run faster. It doesn’t change the gameplay; it just fixes the plumbing. If you are running a standard survival world, Paper is almost always the correct choice. It also allows you to use plugins—small add-ons that let you protect land from griefers or allow players to set “homes” they can teleport to.

If you are the type of person who likes to tinker, you might look at Purpur. Purpur is built on top of Paper, meaning it includes all the performance boosts, but it adds a menu of “fun” configuration options. Want to let your players ride polar bears? Want to change how fast crops grow or how villagers behave? Purpur exposes these settings so you don’t need a mod to change them.

For the serious power users running massive networks with 50 or 100 players, there is Pufferfish. This is a fork of Paper designed purely for enterprise-level performance. It aggressively optimizes the game to keep the “Ticks Per Second” (TPS) high even when the server is crowded. For a small group of friends, it is overkill, but it is good to know it exists.

The Modded Experience

If plugins aren’t enough and you want to add new dimensions, nuclear reactors, or magic spells, you are entering the world of mods. Here, the community is split into three camps.

Forge is the classic choice. It has been around forever. If you are looking at a massive “kitchen sink” modpack that has 300+ mods and changes every aspect of the game, it is likely running on Forge. However, Forge is heavy. It takes a long time to start up, and it requires a decent amount of RAM to run smoothly.

Fabric is the modern challenger. It was built to be lightweight and modular. Fabric updates incredibly fast—often on the same day a new Minecraft version is released. It is generally preferred by technical players because of performance mods like Sodium and Lithium, which can triple your frame rate and make the server run significantly smoother than Forge.

Then there is NeoForge. This is a relatively new development caused by a split in the original Forge team. Think of NeoForge as the “modernization” of Forge. It cleans up a lot of the old, clunky code to make it easier for developers to work with. While it is still gaining traction, many new mods are being written specifically for NeoForge. It is essentially the successor to the Forge legacy, aiming to be more stable and user-friendly.

Option Group 2: The Bedrock Ecosystem

If your friends are playing on consoles or phones, your options are more limited, but they are distinct.

The default choice is the Bedrock Dedicated Server (BDS). This is the official software from Mojang. It is effectively a “black box”—you run it, and it works. The physics, Redstone, and mob behaviors will perfectly match what your players see in single-player. The downside is that you have very little control over it. You can’t really add complex plugins or change deep settings.

The alternative is PocketMine-MP. This is a fascinating piece of software because it isn’t actually Minecraft—it is a server built from scratch in the PHP programming language that pretends to be a Minecraft server. Because it strips out all the heavy code, it is blazing fast. However, because it is an imitation, features are often missing. Redstone might not work, and mobs might not move or attack correctly. It is fantastic for “hub” servers or minigames, but for a pure survival experience, it can be frustratingly buggy.

Option Group 3: The Crossplay Solution

Here is the scenario most people face today: You have a powerful PC, but your brother plays on an iPad and your friend plays on a Switch. How do you play together?

For a long time, this was impossible. Now, we have Geyser.

Geyser is not a server software itself; it is a bridge. The best way to set this up is to run a Java server (using Paper), and then install Geyser as a plugin.

When a Bedrock player connects to your server, Geyser intercepts their data. It translates the Bedrock “language” into Java “language” in real-time. To the server, the Bedrock player looks like a Java player. To the Bedrock player, the Java server looks like a Bedrock realm.

This is widely considered the best way to host a mixed server. You get the stability, performance, and plugin support of the Java ecosystem (Paper), but you don’t have to exclude your console friends. It requires a little more setup than a standard server, specifically regarding network ports, but the payoff is a single world where literally anyone can join, regardless of what device they are holding.

So, what should you do?

If you are feeling overwhelmed, here is the simplified path:

If you are playing with a mix of PC and Console players, set up a Paper server and install Geyser. This gives you the best performance and ensures nobody is left out.

If you are strictly on PC and want to play a heavily modded game with machines and magic, check the modpack you want to play. If it’s an older, massive pack, use Forge. If it’s a newer, lighter pack, use Fabric or NeoForge.

And if you are strictly on Bedrock and want a vanilla survival experience without any hassle, stick to the official Bedrock Dedicated Server.

What to do next?

If you have your server software picked, and it is not Vanilla, the next thing is to find mods or plugins for it. The best way to do that is by checking out our guide on modpacks, or checking out our guide on finding plugins and mods. If you are unsure which plugins to pick, luckily, we have a guide for that too.