Spigot server hostingBukkit plugins - on the faster Paper foundation

Bukkit, Spigot, Paper - how are they related?

In the beginning there was Bukkit - the API that made server plugins possible in the first place. Spigot is an optimized Bukkit fork and became the de facto standard for plugin servers for years. Paper, in turn, is a fork of Spigot with even more performance and configuration options - and fully compatible with the Bukkit/Spigot API.

In practice, this means: every plugin written for Bukkit or Spigot also runs on Paper. This is why we set up Paper by default when you want a Spigot server. You get the same plugin world as with plain Spigot, plus better TPS, more anti-lag options and regular updates. If you explicitly want plain Spigot, you switch the server type yourself in the panel - more on that below.

Moving from a plain Spigot server

If you bring an existing Spigot server to us, almost everything stays as you know it. The plugins/ folder, your world folder and the files server.properties, bukkit.yml and spigot.yml are reused unchanged - Paper reads them all. All that is added is Paper's own configuration: depending on the version, paper.yml or the newer files in the config/ folder. That is where the optimizations live that plain Spigot does not know.

In practice, the move therefore means: upload the world folder and plugins/ via SFTP or WebFTP, start the server, done. The world transfer process is described in Upload your own world. The way back is open to you as well - your data is not tied to Paper; you can switch back to Spigot in the panel at any time.

A tip from practice: after the move, it pays to go through the Paper configuration deliberately once instead of leaving the default values untouched. That is exactly where the controls sit that fix stutter on full servers - which symptoms point to which cause is explained in Understand lag and TPS. And because our plans do not include automatic backups, a first backup right after the move is part of it: Create backups yourself.

The most common error: a plugin does not match the version

Most startup problems on plugin servers go back to a single cause - a plugin does not match the server's Minecraft version. Plugins that reach deep into the server internals are particularly sensitive: anti-cheat, protocol libraries or extensions with their own items. They have to be updated after every version jump, while simple administration plugins often survive several versions.

How you recognize it: the server starts, but a plugin does not appear in the output of /plugins, or the console reports an error including the file name at startup. In both cases, a look at the log helps; then upload the plugin again in the release matching the server version. If the server does not start at all, Server does not start takes you through the causes step by step. If a version jump is due anyway, plan it with Change the Minecraft version.

Two more classics: two plugins bring the same function and get in each other's way - such as two permission systems - or a required library such as Vault or PlaceholderAPI is missing. If you add new plugins one at a time instead of in a batch and restart in between, you find the cause in minutes instead of hours. How to install and remove plugins cleanly is described in Install plugins and mods; to protect your world from other people's hands, griefing protection is also worthwhile.