Paper vs Purpur vs Pufferfish vs Spigot: Which Server Software Should You Use?
A practical comparison of the most popular Minecraft server software forks — performance, plugin compatibility, and which one fits your server.
Paper vs Purpur vs Pufferfish vs Spigot: Which Server Software Should You Use?
All four run Bukkit-API plugins, but they differ meaningfully in performance and configurability. Here's how to pick.
Spigot — The Original Fork
Spigot is the base that Paper, Purpur, and Pufferfish all build on. It's still maintained and widely plugin-compatible, but generally has the weakest raw performance of the four — most server owners today pick one of its descendants instead unless a specific plugin requires vanilla Spigot compatibility.
Paper — The Standard Choice
Paper is a performance-focused Spigot fork and the default recommendation for the overwhelming majority of servers — significant performance improvements over Spigot, excellent plugin compatibility (virtually everything built for Spigot runs on Paper), and active, frequent updates. If you're not sure which to pick, start here.
Purpur — Paper Plus Extra Configuration
Purpur is a fork of Paper that adds a large number of additional configuration options and gameplay tweaks (some vanilla-breaking if you enable them) — same core performance as Paper, with more knobs to turn. Good choice if you specifically want features like configurable mob behavior or extra gameplay toggles Paper doesn't expose.
Pufferfish — Maximum Performance Focus
Pufferfish is a fork of Purpur that pushes performance further, aimed at server owners running large, high-player-count networks who need every bit of extra headroom. The trade-off is a smaller community and less battle-tested stability than Paper for less demanding use cases — most small-to-mid servers won't notice the difference Pufferfish provides over Paper.
Quick Decision Guide
| If you want... | Use |
|---|---|
| The safest, most compatible default | Paper |
| Paper's performance plus extra config options | Purpur |
| Maximum performance for a large/high-traffic server | Pufferfish |
| Compatibility with an older plugin that specifically requires it | Spigot |
Switching Between Them Later
Since all four share the same Bukkit plugin API, switching between them (say, from Paper to Purpur) is usually just a server jar swap — your world and most plugins carry over without issue, though it's always worth backing up first per the Minecraft backup guide.
Check real, current stable builds for all of these directly in RepublicNodes' Server Versions tab in your server's management panel — live data, not a guess.