Purpur is a drop-in replacement for Paper servers designed for configurability, and new fun and exciting gameplay features.
A fork of Paper that keeps its plugins and configuration, adding gameplay and configuration options.
alternatives to
Paper
The most widely used, high performance Minecraft server that aims to fix gameplay and mechanics inconsistencies
Purpur, Pumpkin, Cuberite and more. 7 alternatives to Paper, in Java, Rust, C++, Shell. Compare fit, licence, stars and the latest signed release. Drop-in: Purpur.
Side by side
| Tool | Fit | Stars | Licence | Terms | Self-hosted | Language | Latest | Last push |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purpur | Drop-in | 2.4k | MIT | Open source | Yes | Java | 1.20.6 | 2026-11-12 |
| Pumpkin | Partial | 13k | GPL-3.0 | Open source | Yes | Rust | 0.2.2+26.3-26.60 | 2026-11-12 |
| Cuberite | Partial | 5.5k | Other | Open source | Yes | C++ | 1.7EOL | 2026-04-25 |
| Folia | Partial | 4.7k | GPL-3.0 | Open source | Yes | Shell | none | 2026-10-30 |
| Minestom | Partial | 3.3k | Apache-2.0 | Open source | Yes | Java | 2026.10.07-26.2 | 2026-11-08 |
| Glowstone | Partial | 2k | Other | Open source | Yes | Java | 2021.8.0 | 2026-10-26 |
| SteelMC | Partial | 989 | AGPL-3.0 | Open source | Yes | Rust | v0.17.0+mc26.3 | 2026-11-11 |
Every alternative
7 alternatives
Empowering everyone to host fast and efficient Minecraft servers
Written from scratch in Rust with its own plugin API, so Bukkit plugins do not carry over.
- Language
- Rust
- Licence
- GPL-3.0
- Stars
- 13k
- Latest
- 0.2.2+26.3-26.60
- Last push
- 2026-11-12
A lightweight, fast and extensible game server for Minecraft
A C++ server with a Lua plugin API rather than Bukkit's.
Fork of Paper which adds regionised multithreading to the dedicated server.
Regionised multithreading, so plugins written against a single main thread need porting.
26.2 Lightweight Minecraft server
A library for building a server, with no vanilla worlds or gameplay unless you write them.
- Language
- Java
- Licence
- Apache-2.0
- Stars
- 3.3k
- Latest
- 2026.10.07-26.2
- Last push
- 2026-11-08
A fast, customizable and compatible open source server for Minecraft: Java Edition
Implements the Bukkit API from scratch instead of patching Mojang's server.
A Minecraft server in Rust focused on a strong foundation and performance
A Rust implementation meant to be used as a library, with its own API rather than Bukkit's.
- Language
- Rust
- Licence
- AGPL-3.0
- Stars
- 989
- Latest
- v0.17.0+mc26.3
- Last push
- 2026-11-11
Head to head
- Cuberite vs Folia
- Cuberite vs Glowstone
- Cuberite vs Minestom
- Cuberite vs Pumpkin
- Cuberite vs Purpur
- Cuberite vs SteelMC
- Folia vs Glowstone
- Folia vs Minestom
- Folia vs Pumpkin
- Folia vs Purpur
- Folia vs SteelMC
- Glowstone vs Minestom
- Glowstone vs Pumpkin
- Glowstone vs Purpur
- Glowstone vs SteelMC
- Minestom vs Pumpkin
- Minestom vs Purpur
- Minestom vs SteelMC
- Pumpkin vs Purpur
- Pumpkin vs SteelMC
- Purpur vs SteelMC
About Paper
- Language
- Java
- Licence
- Other
- Stars
- 13k
- Last push
- 2026-11-11