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Mods and plugins

Should I use plugins or mods on my Minecraft Java server?

Updated 23 October 20263 min readMinecraft server hosting

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Plugins if you want to change how the server runs: homes, land claims, ranks, shops. Mods if you want new things in the game itself: blocks, mobs, machines, whole new dimensions. Plugins run on Paper and your friends join with the normal game. Mods run on Fabric or NeoForge, and for most modpacks every player installs the same mods.

Pick one, because they don’t mix

Paper runs plugins and won’t run mods. Fabric and NeoForge run mods and won’t run Paper plugins. Fabric mods and NeoForge mods aren’t interchangeable either, so a mod has to be built for the loader your server uses.

  • Paper: plugins for permissions, protection, economy and the like. Players need nothing extra.
  • Fabric: a lightweight mod loader, good for a handful of mods you’ve picked yourself.
  • NeoForge: a loader many big modpacks are built on. The pack tells you which loader and version it needs.

Whatever you add has to match your server’s Minecraft version exactly. Mods and plugins are made for particular versions, and one built for an older version may not work on a newer one.

Warning

Download a backup from your Game Panel first, before every change to your plugins or mods. If the world won’t load afterwards, you can put it back the way it was.

Adding a plugin on Paper

  1. Get the plugin from Hangar (Paper’s own plugin site), Modrinth or BukkitDev, and check it supports your server’s version.
  2. Make sure the file ends in .jar.
  3. Upload it to the plugins folder with your Game Panel’s file manager.
  4. Restart your server from the Game Panel.
  5. Type plugins in the live console to check it loaded.

Not in the list? Look in logs/latest.log. The usual culprits are a missing dependency (it needs another plugin installed too) or a “plugin” that turns out to be a Fabric or Forge mod, which won’t run on Paper.

Adding mods on Fabric

  1. Check each mod is made for Fabric and for your server’s Minecraft version.
  2. Add Fabric API as well. Most Fabric mods need it.
  3. Upload the .jar files to the mods folder.
  4. Restart your server from the Game Panel.
  5. Each player installs Fabric and the same mods on their own game, unless a mod’s page says it only runs on the server.

Running a NeoForge modpack

  1. Use the pack’s own server files if it has them. They’ve already had the client-only mods taken out.
  2. Make sure the server runs the NeoForge version and Minecraft version the pack asks for.
  3. Upload the pack’s folders, such as mods, config and any others it comes with, using your Game Panel’s file manager. On NeoForge, the mods folder appears after the server’s first start.
  4. Restart your server from the Game Panel.
  5. Everyone installs the same pack at the same version through their launcher.

Tip

Mods that only change how the game looks, such as shaders, can stay on a player’s own game. Anything that adds blocks, items or mobs needs to be on the server and on every player’s game.

Things that catch people out

  • Restart after every change. Plugins and mods load when the server starts, so a file you’ve just uploaded does nothing until you restart.
  • Stick to trusted sites. Modrinth and CurseForge check that mods are what they claim to be, and Hangar is Paper’s own plugin site. A random download page makes no such check.
  • Mismatched mod lists. If a friend’s mods don’t match the server’s, they may get an error when joining, often “Internal Server Error”. Compare versions mod by mod.
  • Memory. Modpacks can need far more RAM than plain Paper. See how much RAM your server needs.

Support

Still stuck?

Ask the assistant in your Game Panel. It can read your server's console, logs and config to find what's wrong, and changes nothing until you approve it. For anything that needs a person, email us.

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