Paper vs Purpur vs Pufferfish — Which Minecraft Server Software in 2026?
Four Paper-family server jars compete for your jar slot. Here's the honest breakdown of when each one wins, with real benchmark numbers from a 50-slot test server.
Quick recommendation
Default for everyone: Paper. Don't overthink it.
Want to tune vanilla mechanics: Purpur. Drop-in upgrade from Paper.
Running 100+ slots and squeezing TPS: Pufferfish. Same configs as Paper, more performance.
Specialized large-scale deployment: Folia. Experimental — only if you control the plugin stack.
Paper
based on Spigot· GPL/MIT (mixed)
The default choice. The fork everyone else forks.
Pros
Largest community and documentation
Async chunk loading and entity ticking
All Bukkit/Spigot plugins work unmodified
Updated within hours of every Mojang release
Sensible default config — works great out of the box
Cons
Less per-knob tuning than Purpur
No client-facing customization (gravity, entity behavior tweaks)
Some "nerf-this-vanilla-feature" requests are declined for being out of scope
Use it for
Almost every server. SMP, factions, towny, plot worlds, hub/proxy backends.
Typically 5-15% better TPS than vanilla Paper on busy servers
Same Paper config + a small set of additional perf-only knobs
Drop-in compatible with all Paper plugins
Cons
No gameplay configuration additions (perf-only fork)
Smaller community — less documentation, fewer 'I had this exact issue' threads
Some optimizations are trade-offs (e.g., async chunks may slightly affect chunk-saving consistency)
Use it for
Large servers (100+ slots) where every TPS percent matters. Networks running multiple busy backend servers on shared hardware.
Folia
based on Paper (separate experimental project)· MIT
Paper rewritten to use multiple cores. Experimental but exciting.
Pros
Multi-threaded by region — chunks tick in parallel
Massive scaling for low-density worlds (huge factions servers, MMORPG-style)
From PaperMC, so future-proof
Cons
Most plugins don't support it yet — they assume single-threaded Bukkit
Complex regions (lots of entities concentrated in one area) get no benefit
Still considered alpha — bugs do appear
Server-list / world generation behaviors differ from Paper
Use it for
Specialized large-scale deployments where you control the plugin stack. Not a general-purpose pick yet.
Benchmark comparison
Numbers from our internal test rig: Ryzen 9 7950X3D, 32 GB DDR5, 8 GB heap, MC 1.21.4, view-distance 8, simulation-distance 5. Each result is a 30-minute average.
Metric
Paper
Purpur
Pufferfish
Folia
TPS at 50 concurrent players, vanilla survival
20.0
20.0
20.0
20.0
TPS at 150 concurrent players, vanilla survival
18.5
18.5
19.6
20.0*
TPS at 50 players + Towny + 30 plugins
19.6
19.5
19.9
16-20**
Tick time (ms) during chunk load burst
~25 ms
~26 ms
~18 ms
~12 ms*
Plugins that work out of the box
100%
100%
100%
~30%
Time to update after MC release
Hours
1-3 days
2-5 days
1-2 weeks
*Folia results assume players are spread across regions. **Folia's plugin support is the wide variance — many plugins fall back to single-region behavior or break entirely.
FAQ
Is Paper faster than Spigot?+
Yes, significantly — typically 30-50% better TPS on busy servers. Paper adds async chunk loading, optimized mob AI, fixed memory leaks and dozens of other patches. There's essentially no reason to run vanilla Spigot in 2026; Paper is a drop-in replacement that runs all Spigot plugins.
Will my Spigot plugins work on Paper, Purpur and Pufferfish?+
Yes. All three are downstream of Paper, which is downstream of Spigot. Any Bukkit/Spigot plugin works on all three without changes. Paper-API plugins work on Purpur and Pufferfish too. Only Folia breaks plugin compatibility (because of its multi-threaded model).
When should I choose Purpur over Paper?+
When you want to tune vanilla mechanics — disabling phantoms, adjusting mob AI, making mobs ridable, tweaking raid behavior. Purpur exposes hundreds of config options Paper doesn't. If you don't need any of that, Paper's smaller config surface is easier to manage.
Is Pufferfish actually faster than Paper?+
On busy servers, yes — typically 5-15% better TPS. The gain comes from async pathfinding, async entity tracking and hopper optimizations. On a quiet 5-player SMP you won't notice the difference; on a 100-slot server with mob farms and busy hoppers, it's clear.
Should I use Folia for my Minecraft server?+
Probably not yet, unless you have a very specific use case (massive low-density world, controlled plugin stack). Folia's multi-threaded model breaks most existing plugins, and it only helps when activity is spread across regions — concentrated activity (lobby, spawn) gets no benefit. Watch the project; revisit in 12 months.
Can I switch from Paper to Purpur or Pufferfish without losing my world?+
Yes — all three use the same world format. Stop the server, replace the .jar, start it back up. Your world, plugins, configs and player data all stay intact. Switching the other direction (Purpur → Paper) also works, but any Purpur-specific config options become inert.
Switch jars in one click
CoalHost lets you swap between Paper, Purpur, Pufferfish, Forge, Fabric and NeoForge from the panel — your world stays put. From €6/month.