Essential plugins for a new Minecraft server
A starter set of trusted Paper plugins for a new Minecraft server: permissions, commands, protection, world editing, economy and performance tools.
Updated · 2 min read
A new Paper server usually needs only a handful of plugins: a permissions plugin, a core commands plugin, something to protect builds, and a performance tool. Start small and add more as your community needs them.
The core set
| Need | Common choice | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Permissions | LuckPerms | Groups, ranks, prefixes, and who can use which command. |
| Core commands | EssentialsX | Homes, warps, spawn, teleport requests, kits, messaging, nicknames and a simple economy. |
| Economy bridge | Vault | Lets shop, rank and job plugins talk to your economy and permissions plugins. |
| World editing | WorldEdit | Fast building and terraforming for staff. |
| Region protection | WorldGuard | Protects spawn and other areas, controls PvP, mob spawning and more. Needs WorldEdit. |
| Profiling | spark | Finds what causes lag. Recent Paper versions include it. |
| Pre-generation | Chunky | Generates the world ahead of time to prevent lag while players explore. |
These are all long-running, widely used projects. Download them from Hangar, Modrinth, SpigotMC or the project's own site, and pick builds that match your Minecraft version.
Optional additions by server type
Survival servers
- A grief protection plugin that lets players claim land themselves (several popular "claims" plugins exist), as an alternative to staff-managed WorldGuard regions.
- A logging and rollback plugin (such as CoreProtect) so you can see who broke what and undo griefing.
Community servers
- EssentialsX Chat for chat formatting and showing LuckPerms prefixes.
- A Discord bridge plugin to link in-game chat with a Discord channel.
Cross-play
- Geyser and Floodgate let Bedrock players join your Java server.
Version flexibility
- ViaVersion lets players on newer clients join an older server. See outdated client or server errors.
Install order
- Install LuckPerms and Vault first, since many plugins hook into them on startup.
- Add EssentialsX (and EssentialsX Chat or Spawn if you want them).
- Add WorldEdit, then WorldGuard.
- Restart and confirm all show green with the
pluginscommand. - Set up groups and permissions. See LuckPerms basics.
Things to keep in mind
- Resources. Your team shares 6 GB of memory and 150% CPU across all servers on the free package. A lean plugin list leaves more headroom for players.
- Databases. Some plugins prefer MySQL. Schokr does not provide MySQL, but most popular plugins (LuckPerms and CoreProtect included) work with built-in file storage such as SQLite or H2. See plugins that need MySQL.
- Overlap. Avoid installing two plugins that do the same job, such as two homes plugins. They fight over the same commands.