Updated 2026-10-16 · All guides

The best plugins for a Minecraft server with friends

A small server doesn't need dozens of plugins. A handful of well-known ones cover almost everything a friend group wants. All of these run on Paper and Purpur, and are popular, actively maintained projects you can find on Modrinth or Hangar, Paper's plugin site. Always download the version that matches your Minecraft version.

Quality of life

EssentialsX

The classic toolbox: /home, /sethome, /tpa to request a teleport to a friend, /spawn, warps, kits, nicknames and more. You'll probably only use a few commands, and that's fine. It's still the easiest way to add them.

LuckPerms

Controls who can use which commands. Without it, players either can't use plugin commands or you have to make everyone an operator, which also gives them creative mode and /give. With LuckPerms, you might give everyone homes and teleports while only admins can kick or ban.

Protecting your world

CoreProtect

Records who placed, broke or took what, and lets you roll back griefing in seconds. Even among friends, the ability to undo an accident like a lava mishap or a creeper in the storage room is worth it. It's lightweight and quietly logs in the background.

GriefPrevention

Lets players claim land with a golden shovel so others can't build or open chests there unless trusted. Great once friends-of-friends start joining. If you only play with people you trust, CoreProtect alone may be enough.

Building and the world

WorldEdit

Copy, paste, fill and reshape huge areas with commands or a wand. Ideal for spawn builds, flattening land, or fixing mistakes fast. Give it only to people you trust, because it can change a lot of blocks at once.

Chunky

Pre-generates your world ahead of time, for example a 5,000-block radius around spawn. Generating new terrain is one of the heaviest things a server does, so doing it in advance means far less lag when players explore. Run it overnight once and forget about it.

Letting everyone join

Geyser + Floodgate

Lets Bedrock players (phone, tablet, Windows Bedrock and, with a workaround, consoles) join your Java server. Floodgate lets them join without a Java account. HostCraft can install both for you; see our Bedrock crossplay guide.

ViaVersion

Lets players with a newer Minecraft version join your server, handy when the game updates and not everyone sticks to the same version. Its add-ons ViaBackwards and ViaRewind let older clients join too.

Staying connected

DiscordSRV

Links in-game chat to a Discord channel. Friends can chat with players from Discord and see when someone joins, even when they're not playing.

Simple Voice Chat

Proximity voice chat: you hear people nearby, quieter the further away they are. Every player needs the matching mod installed in their own game too, and you'll need to forward its UDP port (24454 by default) as well as your Minecraft port.

Tips