Leaf vs Purpur
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted game servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Leaf | Purpur |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 83 · Excellent | 83 · Excellent |
| Category | Game Servers | Game Servers |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Java | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, binary | docker, bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,086 | ★ 2,415 |
| First released | 2023 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Vanilla Minecraft server | Vanilla Minecraft server |
What are Leaf and Purpur?
Leaf
Leaf is a performance-oriented fork of the Paper Minecraft server software, applying additional optimizations and patches. It is a drop-in replacement aimed at large self-hosted Minecraft servers.
- Optimized Paper fork
- Drop-in replacement
- Extra performance patches
- Plugin compatibility
Purpur
Purpur is a fork of the Paper Minecraft server that adds extensive gameplay configuration options and additional features. It is a drop-in replacement for Paper with hundreds of toggleable settings for self-hosted servers.
- Hundreds of config options
- Drop-in Paper replacement
- Extra gameplay tweaks
- Plugin compatibility
Leaf vs Purpur: key differences
Both projects are written in Java. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Leaf versus MIT for Purpur. Purpur is the more established project (first released 2019), while Leaf arrived in 2023. Purpur has the considerably larger community, at 2,415 GitHub stars versus 1,086.
Why pick each one
Choose Leaf if…
- Good performance gains
- Easy migration
Watch out for
- Newer project
- Same Java requirements
Choose Purpur if…
- Very customizable
- Easy migration from Paper
Watch out for
- Niche audience
- Same Java tuning needs
Frequently asked questions
Is Leaf or Purpur better?
Neither is universally better. Purpur has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Leaf and Purpur free and open-source?
Yes. Leaf is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Purpur under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Leaf and Purpur with Docker?
Leaf: yes. Purpur: yes.