Top 10 Minecraft Server Plugins
Updated on by Maddy Miller
Originally posted on
In Minecraft with tags Bukkit, Minecraft Servers
833 words, 3 minutes to read
The Minecraft server plugin ecosystem has changed a lot over the years. This article is an always up to date list of the most useful recommended plugins to have on your Minecraft server.
https://madelinemiller.dev/blog/top-minecraft-server-plugins/The Minecraft server plugin ecosystem has changed a lot over the years, but the essential plugins have been relatively consistent. I've been a large part of the community for over ten years now and have a lot of knowledge surrounding server administration.
This article is an always up to date list of the most valuable and recommended plugins to have on your Minecraft server. The list is compiled mostly from external data sources, as well as consultation with large server owners to keep it both up to date with current trends.
#1 - WorldEdit
WorldEdit is a powerful building tool that adds hundreds of commands and brushes. You can do anything from creating mountains, generating forests, to copying and pasting builds. You can even export your builds to share with others or import builds you've downloaded online. WorldEdit has been the go-to tool for build teams and server administrators for over a decade, with thousands of online guides to teach you how to build nearly anything.
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Me4502 joined the game
7781 blocks have been replaced.
0.226s elapsed (history: 7781 changed; 34429 blocks/sec).
//replace near 40 oak_leaves diamond_blockDescription
First-person Minecraft view looking across a small valley with grassy slopes, a pond in the foreground, and a hillside to the left under a bright square sun and scattered clouds. Many tree canopies have been transformed into bright cyan, reflective diamond blocks, forming chunky, blocky “leaf” clusters on top of trunks; some nearby trees still show dark green leaves and white birch trunks. The player’s pale blocky hand is visible at the lower right, with the crosshair centered on the scene and the hotbar along the bottom. In the lower-left chat overlay, system messages report that thousands of blocks were replaced and show the WorldEdit command used to replace nearby oak leaves with diamond blocks within a radius of 40.
#2 - LuckPerms
LuckPerms is a permissions plugin that lets you create permission groups and assign users and permissions to them. It includes a web editor for simplicity, where you can control what features users and groups have access to by giving permissions. A permissions plugin gives you fine-grained control over what each player can do on your server and what commands they can access.
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LuckPerms
Filter groups/users
TRACKS (0)
GROUPS (2)
default
test
USERS (2)
41e53440-2d72-35c9-aca2-f85e7124e884
me4502
Web Permissions Editor
User: me4502
Parent groups
default ×
Permission nodes (1)
Permissions Value Expiry Contexts
group.default true never none
Add permissions
Enter permissions or paste many
Value
true
Contexts
+
Expiry
never
+
Add
HOME
DOWNLOAD
WIKI
TOOLS
Save
LuckPermsWeb @ dd56ed8
Copyright © 2017-2021 LuckPerms contributorsDescription
A dark-themed LuckPerms “Web Permissions Editor” page is shown with a left sidebar listing Tracks, Groups, and Users, and the user “me4502” selected. In the main panel, the header reads “User: me4502” with a small square avatar icon, and a “Parent groups” section shows the tag “default” with a close (×) button and a green plus button to add more. Below, a table titled “Permission nodes (1)” has columns for Permissions, Value, Expiry, and Contexts; the single row is “group.default” with a green “true” value, “never” expiry, and “none” contexts, plus a delete (×) icon at the far right. At the bottom, an “Add permissions” area includes a text field (“Enter permissions or paste many”), dropdowns/fields for Value (true), Expiry (never), and Contexts, and a large “Add” button with a plus icon. The top navigation bar includes HOME, DOWNLOAD, WIKI, TOOLS, and a green “Save” button on the right.
#3 - WorldGuard
WorldGuard lets you protect your server by creating protected regions. A powerful flags system can customise these regions to allow or prevent whatever you need. The plugin also comes with various configuration options to enable or disable game features such as creepers blowing up blocks.
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Flags for no_tnt
block-trampling Allow Deny
firework-damage Allow Deny
use-anvil Allow Deny
item-pickup Allow Deny
item-drop Allow Deny
exp-drops Allow Deny
mob-damage Allow Deny
creeper-explosion Allow Deny
enderdragon-block-damage Allow Deny
ghast-fireball Allow Deny
other-explosion Allow Deny
wither-damage Allow Deny
enderman-grief Allow Deny
snowman-trails Allow Deny
ravager-grief Allow Deny
entity-painting-destroy Allow Deny
entity-item-frame-destroy Allow Deny
mob-spawning Allow Deny
Click to set
Default value
<<< Page 2 of 6 >>>Description
A Minecraft in-game GUI overlay shows a WorldGuard-style flag configuration menu titled "Flags for no_tnt" over a rainy grassy landscape. The menu is a semi-transparent dark panel with a yellow title line and a vertical list of flag names in orange on the left, each paired with "Allow" and "Deny" options in gray on the right. A purple tooltip box near the middle-right reads "Click to set" with "Default value" beneath it, indicating the cursor is hovering over a setting. At the bottom of the panel, a yellow pagination control shows "<<< Page 2 of 6 >>>". Behind the overlay, green grass blocks and tall grass are visible with blue rain streaks and a red block edge in the lower-right corner.
#4 - EssentialsX
EssentialsX adds many essential commands and functions to a Minecraft server. The plugin provides moderator commands, welcome messages, kits, shop signs, warps, teleport requests, and more. Essentials even comes with some basic world protection that can be useful on simpler servers.
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[Warp]
Prison
Everyone
[Warp]
Prison2
EveryoneDescription
A close-up, pixelated game screenshot shows two light wooden signboards mounted side-by-side on a darker vertical wood surface. Each sign has three centered lines of text: a blue "[Warp]" header, a black destination name ("Prison" on the left and "Prison2" on the right), and a green "Everyone" access label. The signs are framed by blocky brown dirt-and-stone textures on both sides and above, suggesting they are set into a carved-out wall or corridor. The overall palette is earthy browns with high-contrast colored text typical of Minecraft-style UI signage.
#5 - CoreProtect
CoreProtect logs what players do, allowing you to rollback any griefing easily. The plugin can rollback actions in selective ways, such as all block places by a particular player in the past seven days. CoreProtect lets you rest easy, knowing that you can roll any malicious player actions back with the click of a button.
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TrekCraft✦Announcer «
Want to make cool custom art? You can! /Artmap for more
CoreProtect - Rollback started on "Momshroom"
CoreProtect - Found 6 chunk(s) to modify.
CoreProtect - Modified 1/6 chunk(s).
CoreProtect - Modified 2/6 chunk(s).
CoreProtect - Modified 3/6 chunk(s).
CoreProtect - Modified 4/6 chunk(s).
CoreProtect - Modified 5/6 chunk(s).
CoreProtect - Modified 6/6 chunk(s).Description
A Minecraft first-person screenshot shows a wooden-and-stone structure with multiple streams of bright blue water cascading down from upper platforms, partially obscuring the building. In the foreground are gray stone-brick walls and pillars with colorful vertical banners inset between them, plus tall grass, a small fenced area, and a torch near the bottom right. The white crosshair sits near the center of the screen, aimed at the stone-brick section. At the bottom left, the in-game chat overlay displays a TrekCraft announcer message and several CoreProtect status lines indicating a rollback on “Momshroom,” finding 6 chunks to modify and progressing through modified 1/6 to 6/6.
#6 - Dynmap
Dynmap is Google Maps for your Minecraft server. It creates a website where players can see a view of the Minecraft world, making a cool way to show off a server's structures without joining the game. As your players manipulate the terrain, dynmap will background render the map and make it available almost in real-time.
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No legible text is visible.
Description
An isometric Dynmap-style view shows a dense Minecraft city built around waterways, with many tall white and gray skyscrapers clustered near the center. A large, square, stadium-like gray structure sits by the water, and a colorful cargo ship is docked nearby. Elevated roads or rail lines cut diagonally across the scene, connecting the downtown area to surrounding forests and snowy terrain. In the upper left, a long cylindrical, tube-like structure spans over water, while in the upper right a bright orange circular platform with evenly spaced dark dots stands out against green land and blue water. The map is highly detailed with bridges, smaller buildings, and patches of snow and ice around the edges of the urban core.
#7 - Geyser
Geyser lets players from Minecraft Bedrock Edition connect to a Java Edition server. People playing on consoles or mobile devices can connect to your server when you're using Geyser. Having access to the expanded player base provided by Bedrock Edition can set your server apart from the rest.
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Position: 40, 56, 43
This server is running Paper version git-Paper-391 (MC: 1.16.4) (Implementing API version 1.16.4-R0.1-SNAPSHOT)
Previous version: git-Paper-"3c74388e" (MC: 1.16.4)
You are 25 version(s) behindDescription
A Minecraft first-person screenshot shows a sandy, flat area under a bright blue sky with blocky white clouds. In the foreground, a minecart sits on rails with a furnace block inside it, and the player’s hand holds a green slimeball; the hotbar is visible along the bottom. To the right, more minecarts line the track, including one with a grass block, and a chest sits farther back. In the middle distance, fenced pens contain villagers and animals, with additional fences and small structures scattered around. A debug-style text overlay in the top-left lists the player’s coordinates and Paper server version information.
#8 - CraftBook
CraftBook makes your server more fun by adding new gameplay mechanics. With an entirely modular design, it loads only the features you want. With everything from chairs you can sit on, redstone activated bridges and gates, pipes to transfer items, working elevators, and complex redstone integrated circuits, there's something for everyone. CraftBook was also the first plugin to provide commonplace features on modern servers, such as player or mob head drops and chairs that allow players to sit.
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oak fence
[Gate]
0Description
A Minecraft screenshot shows a large gate made from oak fence pieces arranged in a grid, set inside a thick rectangular stone frame like a doorway. To the left of the opening, a wooden sign mounted on the stone reads “oak fence”, “[Gate]”, and “0”. In the foreground, a short stone block has a bright red redstone dust line running down its face and onto the grass, leading toward a lever placed on the ground nearby. The scene is outdoors on green grass under a blue sky with blocky clouds, with a long gray brick wall and a leafy tree in the background and a small grassy hill to the right.
#9 - MultiVerse
MultiVerse lets you have more worlds on your server. Want a separate world for mining to keep the main world looking clean? Want a plot world? MultiVerse is the go-to plugin to make all this possible. MultiVerse is also a great way to try out more diverse server gameplay without setting up a fully-fledged network.
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====[ Multiverse World List ]====
Page 1 of 1
world_the_end - THE_END
world - NORMAL
world_nether - NETHER
world_normal - NORMAL
test_world - NORMALDescription
A Minecraft first-person screenshot shows a semi-transparent dark overlay on the left listing available Multiverse worlds, with the title in bright magenta and the page line in cyan. Each world name appears in white, followed by a hyphen and its dimension type in colored text (cyan for THE_END, red for NETHER, and green for NORMAL). Behind the overlay is a grassy plains scene under a blue sky with scattered clouds; a pig stands to the right and a cow is visible to the left, with a small pond and a few lamp-like posts in the distance. The crosshair is centered, and the bottom HUD shows hearts, hunger icons, level “10,” and a hotbar with various blocks and items, including a selected green grass block in hand.
#10 - Holographic Displays
Holographic Displays lets you create floating text holograms, a great way to show information in your spawn. As these are much more visible than text on signs, it's easy to see why it's so popular.
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VENTURE KRAFT
Hours Since Last
garathnor - 7
GeeVeeDee - 13
Nikatto - 81
PhileasFogg3 - 0
kitty_DIY28 - 0
ItsGeppy - 1
King_Hector - 0
AlchemyHunter - 0
--- - ---
--- - ---
Times Slept
PhileasFogg3 - 10
garathnor - 0
King_Hector - 0
kitty_DIY28 - 0
Nikatto - 0
ItsGeppy - 0
GeeVeeDee - 0
AlchemyHunter - 0
--- - ---
--- - ---Description
A Minecraft screenshot shows two black, glassy hologram-style leaderboard panels mounted in a wooden frame made of oak planks and vertical log pillars. The left panel is titled “Hours Since Last” and the right panel is titled “Times Slept,” each listing player names and numbers in bright orange and white pixel text. The structure sits on a wooden floor with a strip of glowing orange lava visible at the far left edge, and a stone-and-wood building facade in the background. The words “VENTURE KRAFT” appear in small block letters along the top beam above the panels.
Conclusion
These are the plugins that, for one reason or another, can benefit every Minecraft server. Of course, there are more plugins than this, and some are essential for some server types. For example, running a skyblock server without a skyblock plugin would be a difficult time. Or a factions server without factions. There are other plugins that I deem essential yet omitted due to not providing anything on their own, such as Vault or NuVotifier.
Of course, with any top 10 list, you don't need to use all of these plugins. This list is just a combination of the ten most useful free plugins for all servers, based on discussions with server owners and my own experience.
