Paper and Fabric are both excellent Minecraft server platforms, but they solve different problems. Paper is built for plugins and server administration. Fabric is built for mods that change gameplay. Here is how to choose.
What PaperMC is for
Paper is a Spigot fork optimized for performance and stability. It uses the Bukkit/Spigot plugin API, which means it runs the thousands of plugins available on SpigotMC, Hangar, and Modrinth.
Paper excels at:
- Survival and SMP servers with plugins (homes, warps, economy, protection).
- Large player counts (Paper's async chunk loading and entity optimizations shine here).
- Server administration (extensive configuration, Timings/Spark integration).
- Stability (Paper patches many vanilla exploits and duplication bugs).
Paper does not support Fabric mods or Forge mods.
What Fabric is for
Fabric is a lightweight mod loader. It runs Fabric mods that change how Minecraft works at a deeper level than plugins can.
Fabric excels at:
- Modded gameplay (new blocks, items, dimensions, mechanics).
- Client-side performance mods (Sodium, Lithium, Iris) that also run server-side.
- Technical Minecraft (Carpet mod, Lithium optimizations).
- Modpacks that require Fabric (Better MC Fabric, Cobblemon, All of Fabric).
Fabric does not run Bukkit/Spigot plugins. You need Fabric-specific server-side mods for permissions, protection, and economy.
Performance comparison
Both are fast, but for different reasons:
- Paper: optimized for large vanilla or plugin-heavy servers. Async chunk loading, entity activation range, and hundreds of config tweaks make it handle 50+ players smoothly.
- Fabric + Lithium: Lithium optimizes vanilla game logic (pathfinding, block ticking, entity collisions) at a lower level. For small to medium servers, Fabric with Lithium can match or beat Paper on raw TPS.
For a pure vanilla or plugin server, Paper is faster because its optimizations are broader. For a modded server, Fabric is the only option.
Can you run both?
Not directly. Paper runs plugins, Fabric runs mods. There are bridge projects (like Cardboard or Banner) that try to load Bukkit plugins on Fabric, but they are experimental and break things. Do not use them on a production server.
If you need both plugins and mods, consider a proxy setup: run a Velocity proxy in front of both a Paper server and a Fabric server, and let players switch between them.
How to choose
- You want plugins (EssentialsX, LuckPerms, WorldGuard): use Paper.
- You want mods (Cobblemon, Create, Sodium server-side): use Fabric.
- You want both: run two servers behind a Velocity proxy.
- You are not sure: start with Paper. It has the largest ecosystem and is the easiest to manage.
The short answer
Paper is for plugins and large vanilla servers. Fabric is for mods and modpacks. They do not run each other's content. Choose based on what your community plays.
Space-Node supports Paper, Fabric, Forge, NeoForge, and Purpur on all Minecraft plans. See the Minecraft hosting page or the PaperMC hosting page.