Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot vs Purpur

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?
FeaturePaper Note - PaperMC server alt SpigotPurpur
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score92 · Excellent83 · Excellent
CategoryGame ServersGame Servers
LicenseGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageJavaJava
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, binarydocker, bare-metal, binary
GitHub stars★ 12,675★ 2,415
First released20142019
ReplacesVanilla Minecraft serverVanilla Minecraft server

What are Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot and Purpur?

Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot

Paper is a high-performance fork of the Spigot Minecraft server that significantly improves server performance and stability while maintaining plugin compatibility. It is one of the most widely used self-hosted Minecraft server platforms.

  • Optimized Minecraft performance
  • Bukkit/Spigot plugin support
  • Async chunk loading
  • Configurable game mechanics

Read the full Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot guide →

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

Read the full Purpur guide →

Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot vs Purpur: key differences

Both projects are written in Java. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot versus MIT for Purpur. Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot is the more established project (first released 2014), while Purpur arrived in 2019. Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot has the considerably larger community, at 12,675 GitHub stars versus 2,415.

Why pick each one

Choose Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot if…

  • Excellent performance
  • Massive plugin ecosystem

Watch out for

  • Requires Java tuning
  • Mojang license caveats
Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot details

Choose Purpur if…

  • Very customizable
  • Easy migration from Paper

Watch out for

  • Niche audience
  • Same Java tuning needs
Purpur details

Frequently asked questions

Is Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot or Purpur 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 Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot and Purpur free and open-source?

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

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

Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot: yes. Purpur: yes.

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