Paper vs Purpur vs Folia: which Minecraft server software should you run?

Picking server software is one of the first decisions you make, and one of the hardest to undo later. Paper, Purpur and Folia are the three most popular choices for plugin servers today. They share a lot, but they are built for different jobs.

The short answer

• Paper if you want the safe, well-supported default. Almost every plugin is tested on it.
• Purpur if you want Paper plus hundreds of extra gameplay switches in its config files.
• Folia if you run a very large server where players spread across the world, and every plugin you need supports it.

Paper: the default for a reason

Paper is a fork of Spigot focused on performance and fixing long-standing bugs. It adds faster chunk loading, a large set of tuning options and a modern plugin API that most developers now build against. When a plugin page says it supports "Paper", this is what it means.

Choose Paper when you want stability and the widest plugin compatibility. For most survival, SMP, SkyBlock and minigame servers it is the right starting point.

Purpur: Paper with more switches

Purpur is built on top of Paper, so Paper plugins work on it. What it adds is configuration: rideable mobs, tweaks to farming, mob behaviour, combat details and many small quality-of-life options, all toggled in purpur.yml instead of needing extra plugins.

Choose Purpur when you want to customise gameplay without installing a plugin for every small change. Keep in mind that a few of its options change vanilla behaviour, so read each one before turning it on.

Folia: built for scale

Folia splits the world into regions that tick on separate threads. Players far apart from each other no longer share one main thread, which lets a single server hold far more players spread across a big map.

The catch is compatibility. Plugins must be written for Folia's threading model, so many older plugins simply do not load. Folia makes sense for large, open survival worlds and anarchy-style servers. For a lobby or minigame network where everyone stands in the same place, it brings little benefit.

Side by side

• Plugin support: Paper widest, Purpur nearly the same, Folia only plugins that declare support.
• Performance: Paper and Purpur are close; Folia scales further when players are spread out.
• Gameplay options: Purpur has the most built in.
• Updates: Paper usually supports new Minecraft versions first; Purpur follows closely; Folia can take longer.

How to decide in five minutes

1. List the plugins you cannot run without.
2. Check each plugin page for Paper, Purpur or Folia support.
3. If anything important lacks Folia support, rule Folia out.
4. If you want built-in gameplay tweaks, pick Purpur; otherwise pick Paper.
5. Test on a copy of your server before switching a live one.

Plugins that run on all three

Some plugins are written to support every one of them. EliteSpawner, for example, runs on Paper, Paper forks such as Purpur, and Folia, so you can move between them without replacing your spawner setup. Browse the store for more plugins and configs built for modern server software.