Spigot vs Paper vs Purpur vs Forge: Which Should You Use in 2026?

Around 10 years ago, choosing your Minecraft server software was simple: Vanilla Minecraft for a native experience or Spigot for plugins.

Today, it’s a completely different story. You are left with all these different options: CraftBukkit, Bukkit, Spigot, Paper, Purpur, Forge… honestly, all these options are overwhelming.

If you try to get advice from anyone, all you’ll receive is a bunch of opinions, I know.

In this article, we’ll be going over how to actually choose the right Minecraft server software in 2026 for your specific use case.

Minecraft Spigot vs Paper vs Purpur vs Forge: Overview

For people who want a quick answer, here is a table that compares each Minecraft server software in this article.

Name	Good for	Notes
Spigot	Stability/compatibility	Spigot is the standard for Minecraft plugins.
Paper	Performance	Drop-in replacement for Spigot with major performance improvements.
Purpur	Performance and customisation	Requires advanced knowledge about Minecraft servers for best experience.
Minecraft Forge	Mods/modpacks	Forge doesn’t support Minecraft plugins.

How we got here

In order to understand how we got here, we’ll have to go over why each software exists.

Minecraft Forge

Also known as simply Forge, it is the Minecraft server software for modpacks and one of the best choices for modded Minecraft servers.

Modpacks are completely unrelated to plugins, which is why Minecraft Forge comes before any of the listed server software.

Vanilla Minecraft

Vanilla Minecraft is the classic server software created by Mojang itself. The purpose is to allow players to play together.

CraftBukkit

This is probably the oldest of them all. Before CraftBukkit was a thing, your only option was Vanilla Minecraft. CraftBukkit introduced the Bukkit API, allowing plugin developers to write custom commands and create cool features like world protection.

Spigot

Spigot is a fork of CraftBukkit which focuses on optimizing performance and customisation. This meant that you could easily change settings that you couldn’t change in CraftBukkit. It soon became the most popular Minecraft server software, even forked and then used by popular Minecraft servers like Hypixel.

Paper

Paper is a fork of Spigot which mainly focuses on improving performance and adding further customisation options than Spigot. Later on, they started implementing their own custom features, while remaining backwards-compatible.

Purpur

Purpur is a fork of Paper which implements advanced customisation features you can use to optimise your server. Server administrators get the most out of these advanced customisation options, but Purpur also works with default settings. If you don’t plan on using Purpur’s additional features, Paper becomes the better choice.

Minecraft Spigot vs Paper vs Purpur vs Forge: what should you actually use in 2026?

Now that we have the backstory of each Minecraft server software in mind, we can finally answer the question: which server software should I use in 2026?

Servers that require Minecraft mods or modpacks should use Forge.

If your server focuses on stability and legacy compatibility, use Spigot. This is because Spigot is the standard for Minecraft plugins due to its age and the impact it has left on the Minecraft community.

If your focus is on performance, you should use PaperMC. It is the performance-focused fork of Spigot and acts as an easy drag-and-drop replacement. In other words, migrating from Spigot to Paper is an easy way to win performance for your Minecraft server in 2026.

Servers which focus on customisation should use Purpur. If you are an advanced user, Purpur is the best choice as it provides advanced customisation options that you can tailor according to your needs.

Conclusion

There are many options when it comes to choosing your Minecraft server software, as each variant has its own purpose. Spigot wins at stability, Paper is best for performance, Purpur should be used if your server requires advanced optimisation, and Minecraft Forge is the right choice when hosting mods or modpacks.

Is Paper better than Spigot?

In most cases, Paper is the better choice over Spigot, as it offers numerous performance improvements while remaining compatible with most Spigot plugins. Unless you specifically need Spigot, Paper is usually the better choice.

Is Purpur better than Paper?

Not necessarily. Purpur is built on top of Paper and includes many additional gameplay tweaks and configuration options. If you don’t need those extra features, Paper is the simpler choice.

Can Paper run Spigot plugins?

Yes. Paper is designed to remain compatible with most Spigot plugins, making it an easy upgrade for existing servers.

Can Minecraft Forge run plugins?

No. Forge is designed for mods rather than plugins. If you need plugins, use software like Spigot, Paper, or Purpur instead.

Which Minecraft server software is the fastest?

For most servers, Paper offers the best balance between performance and compatibility. Purpur can also provide excellent performance, especially when you take advantage of its additional configuration options.

Should I use Vanilla Minecraft?

Although Vanilla Minecraft is a good choice if you want the original gameplay experience without plugins or mods, most Minecraft servers benefit from the performance improvements offered by Paper or Purpur.

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