Top 16 Minecraft Plugins for Servers

Are you looking for the best Minecraft plugins for your Minecraft server? Well, you are at the right place, as our recommendations can skyrocket your server and bring more players.

Minecraft plugins can help your server become more functional and popular amongst players.

You can find all kinds of Minecraft Plugins for your server. From basic world protection, they extend to more complex – custom NPC’s, custom weapon creations, trading, and much more.

What is a Minecraft plugin

Minecraft Plugins are files that allow the player to change the way Minecraft behaves. They can be used to make new worlds, affect gameplay, or modify textures.

Currently, there are more than 61,000+ Minecraft plugins created, which can enhance your Minecraft Server and bring a different vibe to the game.

Although Minecraft plugins can enhance the gameplay, they can only be added on a Bukkit or Spigot server.

You cannot install Minecraft plugins on a LAN game or offline games. Minecraft plugins are meant and can only be installed on servers.

The installation process is very basic and requires you to create a Minecraft server before you start downloading any plugin.

Best Minecraft Plugins for Minecraft Servers

Finding the most suitable Minecraft plugins has never been easier without our list. The whole thing is crafted based on user experience, votes, and mainly testing.

After all, there are some incompatible with the current Minecraft version plugins, so we created an easy and fast-to-track list with the most up-to-date working ones.

EssentialsX

EssentialsX is one of the best and most used Minecraft plugins, which gives you over 130 commands, such as:

• Basic ranks, which are changeable.
• Setting user permissions.
• Kit creations.
• Payment options and the use of /pay.
• Messages to other players and returning them.
• The use of /AFK. It means Away From Keyboard.
• Warp signs – teleport players to a certain destination.
• Payment signs – players can right-click to buy or left-click to sell an item and much more.

EssentialsX is a basic core plugin, which can enhance your Bukkit/Spigot Minecraft server and maintain a peaceful environment without slowing it down.

As a recommendation to this Minecraft plugin, the dev team of EssentialsX recommends players to use Luck Perms and Vault in order to get the best out of the plugin.

Holographic Displays

Holographic Displays is unique and yet simple recommended Minecraft plugin to have on your server.

If you have been checking out the popular Minecraft servers, they all have these holographic displays, which showcase custom MOTD’s or players online.

Yet this is done through the Holographic Displays Minecraft plugin. You can set basic text information, or go all the way to creating changeable texts.

The plugin is regularly updated and kept top-notch. It has no requirements and does not need any extra plugins to work.

As a con about Holographic Displays, the text can be seen through the wall and is facing the players. It works individually and no player can see what the other one sees, so you do not get distracted.

World Guard

Have you ever had issues with players griefing your Minecraft server? World Guard is an essential plugin and top-performing in the category of Minecraft world protection.

With World Guard, you can protect any area that you like on your Minecraft server, but not only that.

With the World Guard Minecraft plugin, you have the full capabilities to:

• Create protected areas and set permissions to certain players or ranks for editing.
• Prevent certain blocks or items to be used by players in certain zones.
• Prevent fire spreading or TNT damage in a certain area or whole world.
• Create any rules that players will follow.
• Create zones in your world and much more.

Citizens

If you would like to create an amazing server, Citizens can enhance and bring the ultimate gameplay for you and your players.

With Citizens, you can create custom NPC’s with unlimited commands, such as:

• Quests.
• Citizen shoppers.
• Guarding NPC’s.
• Attacking NPC’s.
• Make paths for your NPCs so they can walk.
• Create NPC teleporters, which take you to certain destinations and much more.

Citizens can be used in many different ways and comes with many plugin addons. Citizens are compatible with all of the best Minecraft plugins from this list.

If you wish to convert your Citizens to Citizens 2.0, you can do so here.

Citizens regularly update the NPC characters and you can find all of these characters here.

Auth Me

Every Minecraft server needs protection. AuthMe is the greatest Minecraft plugin for protecting your server and player accounts.

With Auth Me, you can set custom registering options and require any kind of special combinations for players to use.

The login and registering messages can be fully customized by your liking and be displayed to players in any language.

Auth Me is fully compatible with any permissions plugin and does not interfere with any server settings.

Players who have not registered on the server will be asked to register in a certain time period. If the period time is not met, the players will be kicked and given another chance to log in and register.

Simple Voice Chat

Simple Voice Chat lets Minecraft players communicate through a Voice Chat system, which can be triggered in many ways.

With Simple Voice, Chat players can talk directly in a certain world automatically or through a button set for Push-to-talk.

Simple Voice Chat offers password-protected voice chats and player open chats, which can be used to communicate with all existing players in a world or server.

Grief Prevention

Another great Minecraft plugin for servers is Grief Prevention. Without the need for a database or saves on your world.

It can run smoothly without slowing down your server and keeps the player base nice and calm.

Minecraft servers usually get griefed by some players, which can be annoying and will require you to restore the broken parts.

Grief Prevention is one of the best Minecraft plugins for this job, as it can fully protect your Minecraft server without the need for too many commands or extra space on your server.

Marriage Master

Relationships in games are cool. But what if you could get married inside one? Marriage Master offers Minecraft players the unique experience to pick their half in-game and experience unique ways of playing.

Marriage Master has simple, yet effective functions, which lets players choose their half and start a marriage together.

But not only this. With Marriage Master you also get:

• XP boost when you are near your partner in the game.
• No gender specifications. You can marry any type of person.
• You can kiss your partner.
• Use any kind of surnames.
• Increased health regeneration when you are near your partner.
• Send gifts to your partner and much more.

With Marriage Master you can turn any basic Minecraft server into a real-life adventure and share unforgettable experiences while playing.

DynMap

DynMap is a unique Minecraft plugin, which lets people create a map of their server and showcase it on their website.

As one of the best Minecraft plugins, DynMap is extremely lightweight and does not take any server space or slow it down.

With DynMap you also gest:

• Real-time World sync on your website.
• Players and their locations are shown.
• Player messages can be seen as chat bubbles.
• Map viewers can chat on the website.
• Real-time weather and world time are shown.

DynMap is the best Minecraft plugin for a server, which has a high player base, or big worlds with many buildings.

Drop Heads

Drop Heads is a simple and perfect Minecraft plugin for players who would like to add more custom blocks to the game.

Simply said you receive player heads as blocks, and the rules to the head drops can be specified within the plugin.

With Drop Heads, once a player gets defeated, he will drop his skin’s head. These heads are placeable and can be used for decorations or trading.

If you plan to use the heads for trading, you can do so with any player-to-player trading plugin, but if you seek a server trading option, you will need some customizations done.

Skript

Minecraft is cool with all the plugins and best plugin categories for Minecraft. But what if you could create your own plugins with zero knowledge in the field?

Skript may look outdated and not compatible, but is the best Minecraft plugin for creating your own rules in Minecraft.

With Skript you can code by using basic sentences and create all types of plugins in Minecraft hassle-free.

LuckPerms

LuckPerms is a useful permissions plugin, which receives regular updates and is the best Minecraft plugin that every server needs.

While other plugin developers leave their plugins, LuckPerms is the total opposite. It receives its updates very often and is even promoted by BisectHosting.

They currently offer the massive 25% off your first purchase, if you are a LuckPerms user!

LuckPerms is an easy to manage and develop Minecraft server plugin, which is recommended by the best (servers and players).

With LuckPerms you can set permissions fast and efficiently, while maintaining server peace, without any plugin interruptions.

ViaVersion

Most of the server owners have their Minecraft server version updated to the latest one. Even though players prefer to play on the newest updates, you can still find others, who can’t or wish not to update their Minecraft client’s version.

Nobody would want to lose access to his favorite server and stop playing, because of a version. That’s where ViaVersion takes place as the best Minecraft server plugin, which saved hundreds of thousands of players from updating their server version.

With ViaVersion Minecraft players can choose to play and of the older versions of Minecraft and join a Minecraft server, which holds the plugin, without having to update their client.

What ViaVersion does, is simply to let players with older Minecraft versions to play on your Minecraft server, without interference or errors.

Matrix AntiCheat

Server owners as well as other players hate cheaters. That’s for sure! Matrix AntiCheat is a all in one solution to keep the pesky cheaters away from your server.

Matrix AntiCheat can detect many of the hacks that a player uses, and prevents them from applying them on the server by directly kicking or banning the player.

Hacks such as botting, auto clicking, x-ray, chat spam and login spam are prevented and punished, depending on the server options.

With Matrix you can easily keep your server clean, without worrying about pesky hackers or spammers.

Residence

Residence is the perfect Minecraft plugin for players who would like to protect their areas and builds, which prevents builders to harm their property.

Along with the building they have protected, animals receive a non kill protection too.

If a player tries to damage your crops, they will get destroyed, but immediately respawn and tell the player that he doesn’t have permission to destroy.

Residence gives players multiple flags and commands, which they can utilize to protect their homes and property.

Some of the most used residence commands are:

• Pushing player away from the protected zone.
• Displaying the name of the residence created by players.
• Protecting animals from burning damage if players try to set them on fire.
• Give certain permissions to players, such as door opening, passing through your area or use a door/button/trapdoor and others.

Residence may be a great plugin, but it also comes with a downside. Once you point the edges of the area you wish to protect, you have to use a command, which will protect from top most to the lowest block in the world.

This feature may prevent from players digging mines, passing through mines or get trolled and pushed back to the mobs, if such appear at night.

Jobs Reborn

Jobs Reborn lets Minecraft players to choose jobs based on their interest. Whether you like to have a farm and grow it, dig the caves or simply go kill players with your team.

Jobs Reborn functions in a way that every player with a hobby in the game can benefit from it.

They all get paid from doing it! Even if you are a farmer or animal breeder, you will receive a certain amount of cash, which can help you shop on the server you are playing.

Jobs Reborn can pay you if you are working as:

• Enchanter
• PVP Player
• Monster Slayer
• Woodcutter
• Miner
• Builder
• Animal Breeder and much more

Each of the jobs has its own pricing for the item you are placing/removing or player/mob that you had killed.