ArchiSteamFarm
Game ServersTool for farming Steam cards from multiple accounts
Replaces Idle Master
Best Plugins Game Servers for self-hosting
The 26 best Plugins game servers you can self-host, ranked by community traction.
Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot
Game ServersHigh-performance Minecraft server software
Replaces Vanilla Minecraft server
Prism Launcher
Game ServersOpen-source Minecraft launcher for managing instances and modpacks
Replaces Official Minecraft Launcher, CurseForge app
AzerothCore
Game ServersOpen-source MMORPG server framework for World of Warcraft
Replaces official WoW servers
CTFd
Game ServersOpen-source capture the flag framework for hacking competitions
Replaces HackerRank CTF
VCMI
Game ServersOpen-source engine for Heroes of Might and Magic III with multiplayer
Replaces Heroes of Might and Magic III original
GeyserMC
Game ServersBridge that lets Bedrock players join Java Minecraft servers
Replaces Minecraft cross-play workarounds
Cuberite
Game ServersLightweight, extensible Minecraft-compatible game server
Replaces Minecraft Server, Spigot
Terasology
Game ServersOpen-source voxel world game and engine
Replaces Minecraft
WorldEdit
Game ServersIn-game map editor for Minecraft single-player and servers
Replaces commercial map editing tools
BlueMap
Game Servers3D web-based map renderer for Minecraft worlds
Replaces Dynmap
Purpur
Game ServersHighly configurable drop-in replacement for Paper Minecraft servers
Replaces Vanilla Minecraft server
EssentialsX
Game ServersEssential commands and tools plugin for Minecraft servers
Replaces commercial server management plugins
Velocity
Game ServersModern high-performance Minecraft server proxy
Replaces BungeeCord
Nukkit
Game ServersLightweight Java server software for Minecraft Bedrock Edition
Replaces Minecraft Bedrock Dedicated Server
sourcemod
Game ServersServer modification platform for Source engine dedicated servers
Replaces Vanilla Source dedicated server
Leaf
Game ServersPerformance-focused Paper fork for Minecraft servers
Replaces Vanilla Minecraft server
Plan
Game ServersSelf-hosted analytics plugin for Minecraft servers
Replaces Commercial game analytics
TES3MP
Game ServersMultiplayer server for The Elder Scrolls III via OpenMW
Replaces Morrowind single-player
Waterfall
Game ServersBungeeCord fork for proxying Minecraft Java multiplayer networks
Replaces BungeeCord
Citizens
Game ServersNPC plugin for Bukkit, Spigot and Paper Minecraft servers
Replaces commercial NPC plugins
Oolite
Game ServersOpen-source space trading and combat game inspired by Elite
Replaces Elite
SoulFire
Game ServersAdvanced Minecraft server stress-testing and bot framework
Replaces commercial load-testing tools
Flying Squid
Game ServersJavaScript Minecraft server implementation built on Node.js
Replaces vanilla Minecraft server
Sponge
Game ServersModding API and plugin platform for Minecraft servers
Replaces Bukkit
piqueserver
Game ServersExtensible Python server for Ace of Spades and OpenSpades
Replaces Ace of Spades official server
No apps match these filters.
At a glance
| App | Deploy effort | Difficulty | Min. RAM | License | ★ Stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ArchiSteamFarm | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 256 MB | Apache-2.0 | 13,752 |
| Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 1,024 MB | GPL-3.0 | 12,731 |
| Prism Launcher | Read-the-docs project | Easy | 256 MB | GPL-3.0 | 10,648 |
| AzerothCore | Under-an-hour setup | Hard | 4,096 MB | AGPL-3.0 | 9,035 |
| CTFd | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 512 MB | Apache-2.0 | 6,876 |
| VCMI | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 512 MB | GPL-2.0 | 5,940 |
| GeyserMC | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 256 MB | MIT | 5,908 |
| Cuberite | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 512 MB | Apache-2.0 | 5,454 |
| Terasology | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 1,024 MB | Apache-2.0 | 3,898 |
| WorldEdit | Read-the-docs project | Easy | 256 MB | GPL-3.0 | 3,519 |
Quick picks
- Most adopted: ArchiSteamFarm (13,752 GitHub stars).
- Lightest footprint: ArchiSteamFarm (from 256 MB RAM, against 4,096 MB for the heaviest here).
- Licensing: 11 of 26 use GPL-3.0; check the rest individually if you plan to modify and redistribute.
Every option here is open-source and self-hostable, tagged Plugins within the game servers category. Deploy effort is graded from published container recipes, not vendor claims — see the methodology.