SHSelfHostIndex

Citizens vs Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted game servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
CI Citizens NPC plugin for Bukkit, Spigot and Paper Minecraft servers VS PA Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot High-performance Minecraft server software
FeatureCitizensPaper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot
CategoryGame ServersGame Servers
LicenseISCGPL-3.0
LanguageJavaJava
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM256 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentbare-metaldocker, bare-metal, binary
GitHub stars★ 722★ 12,564
First released20112014
Replacescommercial NPC pluginsVanilla Minecraft server

Why pick each one

Choose Citizens if…

  • Released under the ISC license
  • Written in Java
  • Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Citizens details

Choose Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot if…

  • Excellent performance
  • Massive plugin ecosystem
Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot details

Frequently asked questions

Is Citizens or Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot better?

Neither is universally better. Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Citizens and Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot free and open-source?

Yes. Citizens is licensed under ISC and Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Citizens and Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot with Docker?

Citizens: check the project docs for container support. Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot: yes.

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