Choose Vanilla if you want the exact, unmodified Minecraft experience and play with a small group. Choose Paper if you want better performance at higher player counts, plus the ability to install plugins for things like protection, ranks and minigames.
What's the difference?
Vanilla is Mojang's original server software. Paper is a high-performance fork of Spigot (itself a fork of the vanilla server) that optimizes how the game processes chunks, entities and redstone, and it loads plugins. The core gameplay is the same — the same worlds, the same blocks — but Paper runs smoother under load and supports the huge plugin ecosystem.
Vanilla: when it makes sense
- ✓You play with a handful of friends (roughly 1–10 players).
- ✓You want the game exactly as shipped — no mods or plugins.
- ✓You value automatic updates matching the latest Minecraft release.
Paper: when it makes sense
- ✓You expect more than ~10 concurrent players.
- ✓You want plugins for permissions, land protection, economy or minigames.
- ✓You want performance optimizations (better chunk and entity handling).
- ✓You want to run a long-term community server that needs to stay smooth.
What about mods (Forge / Fabric)?
Plugins (Paper) and mods (Forge/Fabric) are different systems. If you want gameplay-changing mods or full modpacks, you need Forge or Fabric — those trade some of Paper's performance for a much larger feature set. If you mainly want protection, ranks and QoL plugins, Paper is usually the better starting point.
NodeHarbor offers Vanilla, Paper and Forge software templates, so you can switch the style that fits your community — just keep in mind that switching software means a fresh world unless you migrate your data.
Still not sure?
Start with Paper on a small plan. It runs vanilla-style gameplay, performs well, and lets you add plugins later without re-installing anything.