Vanilla, Paper, and Fabric are not interchangeable — they are three different philosophies. Choosing the wrong one at the start means redoing your setup later, so the five minutes spent deciding up front are worth it.
Vanilla — the pure experience
Vanilla is the simplest option and the least flexible. No plugins, no mods, and unoptimized performance. It is fine for a small group of friends who just want to play, but it gives up a lot of headroom.
Paper — the hosting default
Paper is what we install on most Axro servers. It keeps the vanilla feel while fixing hundreds of performance issues and supporting the plugin ecosystem — from land claims to anti-grief. If you are not sure what you need, Paper is the safest choice.
Fabric and Forge — for modded packs
- ▸Fabric — lightweight, modern, great for performance mods
- ▸Forge — the biggest mod library, best for heavy content packs
- ▸Most modpacks dictate the platform for you — read the pack page first
A quick decision tree
Just want to play with friends? Paper. Want a specific modpack? Whatever it needs. Building something ambitious with custom plugins? Paper plus a proxy like Velocity, and more RAM than you think.
