They are not interchangeable
A common mistake with a first server is treating these as nearly identical options. They are not. Each has a different purpose, and with the wrong one you end up fighting your server the whole time.
Vanilla: for testing only
Vanilla is the official, unmodified server. No plugins, no optimisations, no mod support. It is fine as a reference or for a tiny server with two or three friends. For anything more, it is the wrong choice.
Spigot: the old standard
Spigot added plugins and optimisations on top of vanilla. For years it was the default. It still works but has largely been replaced by Paper. Choose Spigot only if you have plugins that work exclusively on it, which is rare.
Paper: the right choice for most servers
Paper is built on Spigot but with much better performance, more settings and faster fixes. It runs all Spigot plugins. If you run a plugin-based server (survival, SkyBlock, Factions, economy), Paper is the right choice.
Paper loads chunks more efficiently, handles entities better and has dozens of settings for fine-tuning. At 50 players the difference from Spigot is noticeable. At 100 players it is the difference between playable and unplayable.
Forge: for modpacks
Forge loads mods, meaning code that changes the game: new items, new dimensions, new mechanics. Most CurseForge modpacks are built for Forge.
Forge does not support Spigot or Paper plugins. It is a completely separate world. If you want mods, use Forge. If you want plugins, use Paper. Having both requires a hybrid server, which brings complexity and instability.
Fabric: the modern mod loader
Fabric is a lighter alternative to Forge with faster updates. It is popular for performance mods like Lithium and increasingly for gameplay mods. If you play a recent Minecraft version and want mods, Fabric is often better than Forge precisely because it updates quickly.
Quick choice
- Plugins only, no mods: Paper
- CurseForge modpack: Forge (or whatever the modpack requires)
- Recent version, light mods: Fabric
- Players on Bedrock too (phones, consoles): Paper with Geyser
Minecraft at Wiptor
On Wiptor Minecraft servers you pick Paper, Spigot, Forge, Fabric or BungeeCord with a one-click install, without touching files by hand. Everything runs on NVMe storage, which matters most for modpacks, where server startup reads a lot from disk. Plans start at €4/month with 4 GB RAM.
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