25 Best Minecraft Plugins for a Friends Server (Paper 26.3)

These are the best Minecraft plugins for a small server with friends, chosen by evidence rather than taste: each one is a Paper plugin on Modrinth with a high download count, a build tagged for Minecraft 26.3 (two exceptions are marked) and nothing to install on the players' side. Below: what each does, and how to install it.

Plugins need a server running Paper. If you host with us, that is a template you pick when you create your Minecraft Java server; if you have no server yet, start with our free Minecraft server guide. Plugins are not mods: for Fabric or Forge, read our guide to installing mods instead.

• Start with four: LuckPerms (permissions), HuskHomes (homes and /tpa), GriefPrevention (land claims) and Chunky (pre-generate the world).
• On 26.3 today: EssentialsX and CoreProtect have no Modrinth build for 26.3 yet. Create the server on 26.2 or 26.1.2 if you cannot play without them.
• Version mismatch with friends: ViaVersion and ViaBackwards let slightly older or newer clients join.
• Left out on purpose: voice chat and web maps need an extra port, which our servers do not open.
• Install: the Plugins tab installs in one click from Starter; on Free and Casual, upload the .jar to plugins through Files or SFTP.

1. How this list was chosen

Every pick passed four checks, run against the Modrinth API on 2026-10-13:

1. It is on Modrinth with the Paper loader. That is the catalogue our Plugins tab searches, and one of the sources PaperMC's own guide names next to Hangar and BukkitDev.
2. It has a Paper build tagged for 26.3, the default version in our wizard. EssentialsX and CoreProtect fail this check today and are flagged. Where the newest 26.3 build is a beta or alpha, the table says so, because our panel installs the newest compatible build whatever its release channel.
3. It runs on the server only. Players join with a normal Minecraft client; no mod on their side.
4. It fits 2 to 10 friends. No proxy, network or anti-cheat plugins built for public servers.

Download counts are Modrinth's total for the project, across every version and loader it ships, so a plugin that also ships as a Fabric mod or datapack (VeinMiner, Chunky) counts those too. They show that a project is widely used, not that it is better than a smaller one.

2. Admin and permissions

1. LuckPerms. Decides what each player may do by putting them in groups with permissions, through "commands, directly in config files, or using the web editor", says its page. Almost every other plugin here checks permissions, so this is the one to install first. EssentialsX's own page "strongly recommend[s] LuckPerms".

2. EssentialsX. The classic suite, "over 130 commands" for homes, warps, kits, nicknames and more. The catch today: its 2.22.0 release of 2026-05-31 supports "Minecraft 26.1.2 and 1.21.11", and Modrinth has no build tagged for 26.2 or 26.3. On a 26.3 server our catalogue shows "No version for 26.3".

3. HuskHomes. The 26.3 answer to the EssentialsX gap for the commands friends actually use: "/sethome, /home, /tpa, /rtp", public homes and warps. Its newest 26.3 build is an alpha, so take a backup before you rely on it.

4. TAB. An "all-in-one plugin for displaying information" in the tab list, above heads and on the sidebar. Nice for showing ping or group prefixes.

5 and 6. ViaVersion and ViaBackwards. ViaVersion lets "newer Java Edition clients connect to older servers", and ViaBackwards lets "older Java Edition clients connect to newer servers". With both, a friend still on 26.2 can join your 26.3 world. The team warns that new versions are released "a day or so after a Minecraft update", so give them time after a drop.

7. Maintenance. A maintenance mode that keeps out players without permission, with a custom message and timers. Useful while you install the rest of this list.

3. Protection and anti-grief

8. CoreProtect. A "data logging and anti-griefing tool": inspect who broke or took what, then roll it back. Its v24.1 release of 2026-09-24 "Added support for Minecraft 26.2", and that is the newest version tagged on Modrinth, so the catalogue offers it on a 26.2 server but not on 26.3.

9. GriefPrevention. For friends who build apart, this is the low-effort choice: it "stops grief before it starts automatically", with "very little (self service) effort from players", as its README puts it. The README recommends version 16 for live servers; the 26.3 build is 16.18.7.

10. WorldGuard. Admin-drawn regions where only some players can build, plus flags to turn off PvP, TNT or mob damage in an area. It needs WorldEdit (pick 13).

11. InvSee++. Lets you "view and edit other players' inventories and enderchests", and it works when the player is offline. The quickest way to give back items a friend lost to a bug.

12. Orebfuscator. Hides blocks players cannot see, so X-ray clients and texture packs show stone. Only worth it if someone in the group cheats.

4. Building and world tools

13. WorldEdit. "A Minecraft Map Editor... that runs in-game!": selections, copy and paste, schematics and brushes. The 26.3 build is a beta.

14. FastAsyncWorldEdit. A WorldEdit fork with "huge speed and memory improvements". Install WorldEdit or FAWE, not both; FAWE also serves plugins that depend on WorldEdit, such as WorldGuard.

15. Chunky. "Pre-generates chunks, quickly and efficiently", and you can pause and resume the task. Generating the world before everyone explores it removes one of the biggest sources of lag, which our server lag guide covers in detail.

16. Chunky Border. Adds a world border to the area Chunky generated, so nobody wanders into fresh terrain and grows the world file.

17 and 18. Multiverse-Core and Multiverse-Portals. Run a creative or minigame world next to your survival world, and link them with portals. The 26.3 build of Core is a pre-release (5.8.2-pre), so take a backup before you add worlds.

5. Quality of life

19. VeinMiner. Breaks a whole vein when you mine one ore. It "works server side, so all clients are supported". Its huge count includes the datapack and mod versions.

20. AxGraves. Your items wait in a lootable grave instead of despawning, which saves arguments after a creeper.

21. GSit. /sit, /lay and /crawl, and right-click a stair to sit on it. Its page lists support up to 26.3.

22. AxShulkers. Open a shulker box "anywhere, you don't even need to place them". The smallest pick here by downloads; it is in because it is something every survival group wants.

23. FancyHolograms. Text, item or block holograms built on display entities, for signs at spawn or shop labels. Paper only, no Spigot. The 26.3 build is an alpha snapshot.

24. AuraSkills. Skills that level up as you play, with menus under /skills. It turns a vanilla world into a light RPG without a client mod.

25. PlaceholderAPI. Does nothing alone. It lets plugins show each other's data, such as a skill level in TAB, and some plugins refuse to load without it.

6. Install them on your server

On any host the step is the same, per PaperMC: put the .jar in the plugins folder and restart. Paper's warning applies too: plugins get "full and unrestricted access" to the server, so only install from trusted sources. On 1up you have two routes.

From the Plugins tab (Starter and up)

1. Open the Plugins tab of a Paper server. The header reads "compatible with Paper 26.3", and the six plugins the panel marks with ★ are EssentialsX, LuckPerms, WorldEdit, WorldGuard, CoreProtect and Chunky.
2. Search a plugin. Each card says "Compatible with 26.3" or "No version for 26.3".
3. Press Install. The panel checks the file against Modrinth's signature and puts it in plugins.
4. Restart: the toast reads "Plugin installed · applies on restart". Update all later moves every catalogue plugin to its newest build.

The catalogue does not install dependencies. Install WorldEdit before WorldGuard, and PlaceholderAPI before anything that asks for it; Paper's guide shows the "Unknown/missing dependency plugins" line you will see in the log otherwise. On Free and Casual the tab shows "Plugins come with Starter."

By hand through Files or SFTP (every plan)

Our plan table lists "Your own jars via Files or SFTP; no one-click catalogue" for Free and Casual. That is also the route for a jar the catalogue does not offer, such as a CoreProtect build from its own site.

1. Stop the server.
2. Open Files, go into plugins and press ↑ Upload; for many files, use SFTP access on the same page.
3. Start the server.

A Vanilla server ignores jars, and the template cannot change later: the panel tells you to create a Paper server and import the world from Worlds.

Check that it loaded

Type plugins in the Console: our console accepts it on Paper, and PaperMC says a loaded plugin shows "in green", a failed one in red. Plugin commands such as /lp or /co rollback are not in the console's list ("That command is not in the list of the console."), so make yourself an operator on the Players page and run them from game chat. More on that in our Minecraft server commands guide.

7. What we left out, and why

• Voice chat (Simple Voice Chat, Plasmo Voice). Simple Voice Chat "requires special setup on the server", namely its own UDP port. Our Java servers open one port to players, the game's TCP port, so the voice port is unreachable.
• Web maps (BlueMap, Dynmap, squaremap). They serve the map from a web server on another port, which is closed for the same reason.
• Geyser and Floodgate. Our panel runs the Bedrock bridge for you, up to Java 26.2. See our Java and Bedrock crossplay guide.
• spark. Paper already bundles it, so there is nothing to install. Our RAM guide shows how to read it.
• Discord bridges (DiscordSRV). Our servers reach only a short list of download hosts (Modrinth, PaperMC, Mojang and a few more), so we cannot promise a plugin that calls Discord will connect.

Plugins use memory. On the Free plan's 2 GB, add a few at a time and watch the RAM figure on the overview; Starter gives 4 GB and 10 slots.

NOT AN OFFICIAL MINECRAFT SERVICE. NOT APPROVED BY OR ASSOCIATED WITH MOJANG OR MICROSOFT.

Tested on Paper for Minecraft: Java Edition 26.3, the default version in our wizard, 2026-10-13. Downloads and build versions were read from the Modrinth API that day; descriptions are quoted from each project's page. We did not run all 25 plugins together on one server: check each one's page before a big update.

Change log

• 2026-10-25: plan figures updated from the live plans list.
• 2026-10-13: first version.