SHSelfHostIndex

Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot vs Sponge

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?
PA Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot High-performance Minecraft server software VS SP Sponge Modding API and plugin platform for Minecraft servers
FeaturePaper Note - PaperMC server alt SpigotSponge
CategoryGame ServersGame Servers
LicenseGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageJavaJava
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB2,048 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, binarybare-metal
GitHub stars★ 12,564★ 434
First released20142014
ReplacesVanilla Minecraft serverBukkit

Why pick each one

Choose Paper Note - PaperMC server alt Spigot if…

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

Choose Sponge if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Written in Java
Sponge details

Frequently asked questions

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

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

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

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

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