Purpur vs Paper: Should You Use Purpur Instead?

Purpur is a fork of Paper. They're nearly identical for most servers, but Purpur adds hundreds of extra config options. Here's when to choose which.

Quick verdict

• Use Paper if you don't need fine-grained gameplay tweaks. It's the standard.
• Use Purpur if you want extra config options for things like ridable mobs, anvil tweaks, totem balance, or per-world settings.

Performance

Purpur runs as fast as Paper. It inherits all of Paper's optimizations and doesn't add any meaningful overhead. There's no performance reason to choose one over the other.

Plugin compatibility

100% identical. Every Bukkit, Spigot, and Paper plugin works on both. Purpur uses the same APIs.

What Purpur adds

• Ridable mobs (chickens, cows, pigs, wolves, etc.)
• Anvil tweaks (remove the prior-work penalty, allow colored item names)
• Totem of Undying configuration
• Per-world gameplay rules
• Mob AI tweaks (passive mobs, breeding rules, head rotation)
• Item merge radius (combine nearby item drops to reduce entities)
• Custom death messages
• Hundreds of other small toggles

What Purpur doesn't change

• Plugin API — exactly the same as Paper
• Bukkit compatibility — exactly the same
• Server performance — exactly the same
• Memory usage — exactly the same

When Purpur shines

• Mini-game servers needing custom mob behavior
• SMP servers wanting unique quality-of-life tweaks
• PvP servers tuning totems, anvils, or potion effects
• Any server admin who likes having more configuration options

When Paper is fine

• You don't use any of Purpur's extra features
• You want the most "standard" platform with the best documentation
• You want guaranteed updates the moment Paper releases (Purpur lags by a few hours/days)

Switching between them

It's trivial — they share the same plugin format, world format, and configuration. To switch, just create the new server type on FreeMCServers.org and copy your world over via the file manager.

Can I run both?

Yes — they're separate server types. Try them side by side and see which suits you.

Bottom line

If "more configuration" is appealing, pick Purpur. If you don't care, pick Paper. Both are equally fast and equally compatible.