Paper vs Spigot vs Purpur: Which Server Software to Use

If you’re running a plugin server, you’ll choose between a family of related server programs: Spigot, Paper and Purpur. They share a lineage and run the same plugins, but differ in performance, configurability and how closely they stick to vanilla behaviour. This article compares them so you can choose with confidence.

The family tree

Vanilla (Mojang)
  └─ CraftBukkit / Bukkit API
       └─ Spigot        — adds performance options, the Spigot API
            └─ Paper    — large performance and stability improvements, the Paper API
                 ├─ Purpur — extra configuration and gameplay options
                 └─ Folia  — regionized multithreading (special use)

Each fork builds on the one above. That’s why plugins written for Bukkit or Spigot generally run on Paper and Purpur too.

Spigot

Spigot is the long-established base that most of the plugin ecosystem grew up around. It adds configuration options for performance over CraftBukkit and defines the Spigot API.

Strengths: the reference platform many older plugins were written for; stable and familiar.

Weaknesses: noticeably slower than Paper under load, fewer optimisations, and fewer fixes for exploits and bugs. Builds are produced with the BuildTools utility rather than downloaded directly.

Choose it if: a specific plugin genuinely requires Spigot and breaks on Paper — which is rare.

Paper

Paper is a fork of Spigot focused on performance, stability and fixing bugs and exploits. It’s the most widely used plugin-server software today.

What it adds:

• Many performance improvements — chunk loading and generation, entity handling, lighting and more.
• Extensive configuration (paper-global.yml and per-world paper-world-defaults.yml) for tuning performance and behaviour.
• Fixes for duplication exploits and long-standing vanilla bugs.
• The Paper API, with features plugin developers use to build better plugins.
• Fast updates to new Minecraft versions, typically following an experimental period.

Compatibility: runs Bukkit and Spigot plugins. A small number of plugins that rely on unusual internals or on bugs Paper fixed may behave differently.

Choose it if: you’re running a plugin server of any kind. It’s the right default.

Purpur

Purpur is a fork of Paper that keeps all of Paper’s performance work and adds a large number of extra configuration options, mostly for gameplay: rideable and controllable mobs, per-mob tweaks, extra commands, and toggles for vanilla behaviours that Paper leaves untouched.

Strengths: everything Paper has, plus fine-grained control over gameplay without extra plugins.

Weaknesses: more options means more to understand; updates for new Minecraft versions arrive after Paper’s, since Purpur builds on Paper.

Choose it if: you want Paper’s performance and enjoy customising gameplay, or you’d otherwise install several small plugins to change mob behaviour and similar details.

Folia

Folia, from the Paper team, splits the world into regions ticked in parallel on multiple threads. It can serve very large player counts spread across a big world.

The catch: most plugins aren’t compatible, because they assume a single main thread. Folia is for large, specialised servers with plugins written for it — not a general upgrade.

What about vanilla?

Mojang’s vanilla server runs exactly as the game intends, with no plugins. It’s slower than Paper and has no plugin support. Choose it only if you want a pure vanilla experience and value exact vanilla mechanics over performance. Technical players who rely on precise redstone or farm behaviour sometimes prefer vanilla or Fabric with performance mods for this reason.

Performance comparison

In practice, performance ranks roughly:

Paper ≈ Purpur > Spigot > Vanilla

Paper and Purpur are close, since Purpur inherits Paper’s optimisations. The gap to Spigot and vanilla widens as player counts, entity counts and exploration increase. On a busy server, Paper’s improvements often make the difference between holding 20 TPS and struggling. See fixing Minecraft server lag for measuring it on your own server.

Vanilla behaviour: the one real trade-off

Paper fixes some vanilla behaviours that technical players rely on — certain duplication mechanics, TNT duping and some farm designs. Paper’s configuration can re-enable several of these (under “unsupported settings”) if your community depends on them. If exact vanilla mechanics matter above all, consider Fabric with performance mods such as Lithium, which aim to keep vanilla behaviour intact.

Comparison table

Switching between them

Moving between Spigot, Paper and Purpur is usually simple, because they share world format and plugin APIs:

1. Back up everything first.
2. Stop the server and replace the server JAR.
3. Start it and check the console for plugin errors.

Going “down” the tree (Purpur → Paper → Spigot) is also possible, though you’ll lose the configuration options of the fork you left. Moving to Folia requires Folia-compatible plugins.

Our recommendation

• Default: Paper.
• Want more gameplay knobs: Purpur.
• Pure vanilla mechanics: vanilla or Fabric with performance mods.
• Huge, specialised server with compatible plugins: Folia.

Kerit Cloud’s Minecraft hosting supports Paper, Spigot, Purpur, Fabric, Forge, Velocity and BungeeCord, and the team can set up the software for you as part of your custom-quoted server. The broader setup is in how to start a Minecraft server.

Summary

Spigot is the historic base, Paper is a faster, more stable fork with many exploit fixes, and Purpur is Paper plus extra gameplay configuration. All three run the same plugins, and switching is as simple as replacing the JAR after a backup. Choose Paper by default, Purpur if you like customising, vanilla or Fabric if exact vanilla mechanics matter, and Folia only for very large servers with compatible plugins.