Best Starter Plugins for a Friends Paper Server (2026)

Why a friends SMP wants Paper or Purpur

Campfire is the free Vanilla try: one server, 2 GB, about five players online, no credit card. It cannot run Paper, and it cannot run plugins. Plugin servers need a paid plan. If the group wants Essentials-style commands, the engine is Paper or Purpur. Getting started says it in one line: for plugin survival, choose Paper or Purpur.

Friends do not install those plugins. They join with Minecraft Java at the server’s version. /docs/software draws the split: plugins handle economy, land protection (WorldGuard), rollback (CoreProtect), and permissions (LuckPerms) on the server. Mods add blocks and dimensions, and every friend installs the same pack. Ordinary Minecraft for the group means plugins. New mobs mean Forge, Fabric, or NeoForge, and those loaders need Kingdom.

Paper is the usual plugin server, the common target for Bukkit and Spigot jars. Purpur is a Paper fork with extra gameplay toggles. Use Paper for the common target. Use Purpur when you want those knobs. You add the jars yourself after the world exists. /docs/software and /paper-server-hosting describe the engines.

Village Budget is €0.85 per GB per month and runs Vanilla, Paper, and Purpur. Kingdom Premium is €1.90/GB and adds the mod loaders and a Velocity proxy. A friends plugin world is Village unless that Paper world should already be running, or a modpack is next. Friends join name.play.chunkly.net, Java port 25565, hostname alone. The walkthrough is /blog/how-friends-join-chunkly-server and /docs/connect. Whitelist first. The private-server page is /minecraft-server-for-friends.

A short starter stack, by job

Use jars the docs already treat as ordinary friends-SMP tools, and match each build to your Paper or Purpur version. Getting started documents engines from 1.7.10 through 1.21.4 and points plugin survival at Paper or Purpur, with 1.21.4 as the release that guide recommends. If a friend’s client is one version behind, ViaVersion is the optional plugin /docs/connect names. Install it only when the versions differ.

Homes and basic commands belong to one toolkit. EssentialsX is the one the RAM guide and /paper-server-hosting name for homes, warps, and everyday commands. The plan picker says the same thing: want Essentials, pick Paper. A second chat suite on night one only duplicates those commands.

Land is WorldGuard, the protection plugin /docs/software names. /paper-server-hosting pairs it with WorldEdit when you draw regions. Who may connect stays on the whitelist, on /docs/whitelist. Rollback is CoreProtect, so a grief or a bad selection is a log you can undo. Keep a panel snapshot beside it. /docs/backups: Backups tab, Create Backup Now, a name like the page’s “Pre-1.21.4-Update”. Village and Kingdom include rolling backups of chunks, inventories, plugins, and configs. Restoring overwrites newer progress.

LuckPerms waits until op is too coarse. Operators can use /gamemode, /tp, /give, and /stop, per /docs/whitelist. A friend SMP is the group on the whitelist and one or two ops, granted from the Console tab with op and the username, no leading slash. LuckPerms, on /docs/software, is the limited command set beyond that. Skip a shop jar until someone asks. /docs/software lists economy as a plugin job and names none. Dynmap and BlueMap wait until you want a map. The RAM guide looks at 6 GB for those renders.

How to install the jars on Chunkly

The documented path is files, not a plugin store. /paper-server-hosting says to install jars through the panel files or SFTP, match the build to your Paper version, and take a backup first. Follow /docs/sftp for the upload. You add EssentialsX, WorldGuard, CoreProtect, and LuckPerms yourself.

Create the world on Paper or Purpur. /docs/getting-started is the plan, then the engine and version, then Deploy Server Now. Boot is within 30–60 seconds. /plans states ≤60 seconds after payment once a game node is online. If none is online yet, /status says worlds queue until a node heartbeats. Campfire will not take a plugin server. Already on Village Vanilla? /docs/software: stop, backup under the Backups tab, Software tab, select the engine, Switch, then start.

SFTP credentials are under Settings → SFTP Details: host, port 2022, username in the form your-account-email#worldid, and your panel password, as /docs/sftp prints them. FileZilla on that page is Site Manager, protocol SFTP, port 2022, logon type Normal, then Connect and accept the host key. Drop the .jar files in /plugins. Configurations generate in that folder on the next start. A Forge or Fabric mod jar does not belong there. Friends join with plain Minecraft. A mod is a Kingdom loader, on /docs/modpacks.

Start the server and read /logs/latest.log. That file holds startup lines, plugin debug, and crash reports. If a jar fails to enable, start there. The panel Files view is where you confirm the jar and its config. Then whitelist, which is not a plugin: Players tab, Whitelist Enabled, or /whitelist on, /whitelist add, and /whitelist reload from /docs/whitelist. The join host is still name.play.chunkly.net. Send the group through /blog/how-friends-join-chunkly-server.

RAM for a small plugin set on Village

Buy RAM for people online at once and for how heavy the list is. /docs/ram-guide says too little RAM shows up as stalls while people explore, and that a very large Java heap can make garbage collection less pleasant. Change size later in the Stripe billing portal. Worlds, inventories, and configs stay. The new RAM applies on the next restart. Start from these bands and adjust after a week of play.

A lightweight Paper stack is the 2 GB note. The guide places a handful of utility plugins, naming EssentialsX and CoreProtect, on 2 GB, beside a 2–4 player vanilla line. Village 2 GB is 2 × €0.85, so €1.70/mo, about 6 online on the plan card. Campfire is also 2 GB and free, and it cannot run this stack.

The usual friends plugin SMP is 4 GB. Village 4 GB is €3.40/mo, about 12 online on the card. /paper-server-hosting treats that SKU as the first price most friend SMPs should look at. EssentialsX, WorldGuard, CoreProtect, and LuckPerms only if ops are not enough: that is the small set. The guide’s 4 GB note is where a fuller Paper or Purpur list sits. Farms, view distance, and extra jars move that limit.

A web map is the step up. The guide points dynmap or BlueMap toward 6 GB. Village 6 GB is €5.10/mo, about 16 online. Village 8 GB is €6.80, about 20. Village 12 GB is €10.20, about 24. Those counts are plan-card guides, the same hint on /minecraft-server-for-friends. Move one size if a week of play is tight. Kingdom is €1.90/GB when you need it: 6 GB is €11.40/mo and 8 GB is €15.20/mo, for a heavier stack, a larger crew, or Settings → Idle Policy. Four starter jars stay a Village conversation. The picker on /plans asks software, concurrent players, and plugin weight, then names a SKU.

Village Paper still sleeps. After about 12 minutes empty, the next join wakes it, often in 15–30 seconds. Call that wake-on-join. A world already running at 1am is Kingdom under Settings → Idle Policy, or a modpack. Campfire sleeps after about six minutes and cannot turn that off. Forge, Fabric, and NeoForge stay running by default because those packs are slow to boot. Read /docs/sleep-wake before the first night. Paid plans bill monthly through Stripe, one subscription per server, on /plans.

What to leave out on day one

Leave out a proxy. Velocity joins several backend servers. It is not a world. /paper-server-hosting says a single Paper world does not need it, and proxies need Kingdom. One friends world joins name.play.chunkly.net directly. Add Velocity when more than one server actually sits behind it.

Leave out a pile of jars, and leave the web map until the base exists. Night one is one toolkit, claims, rollback, and LuckPerms only if op is too coarse. Add one jar, restart, read /logs/latest.log, then add the next. Dynmap and BlueMap are the documented reason to look at 6 GB.

Leave out client mods and a second copy of a job you already covered. A mod download is not a Paper plugin. Everyone would install the same pack on Forge, Fabric, or NeoForge, which is Kingdom and /docs/modpacks. Skip an economy jar until someone asks for a shop. Sleep is not a plugin. Village Paper sleeps after about 12 minutes empty. The switch for a world that should already be up is Kingdom, Settings → Idle Policy.

FAQ

Do I need a proxy? Not for one Paper world. Velocity is for several backends, and it needs Kingdom. Friends join name.play.chunkly.net on Java port 25565, hostname only, as /docs/connect describes.

Which plugins eat RAM? Use the bands on /docs/ram-guide. A small utility set, naming EssentialsX and CoreProtect, is the lightweight 2 GB Paper case. Dynmap or BlueMap is why that guide looks at 6 GB. Claims plus rollback are why /paper-server-hosting starts most groups at Village 4 GB, €3.40/mo. Move one SKU in Stripe after a tight week. The world stays.

Can Campfire run these plugins? Campfire is one Vanilla server, 2 GB, about five players online, no credit card, and it sleeps after about six minutes. Paper, Purpur, and these jars need Village at €0.85/GB or Kingdom at €1.90/GB. The free try is /free-minecraft-server. The paid grid is /plans.

Will a Village Paper world stay online all night? It sleeps after about 12 minutes empty and wakes on join, often in 15–30 seconds. That is wake-on-join. Kingdom can keep Paper running under Settings → Idle Policy. Modpacks stay running by default. Stop stays stopped until you press Start. See /docs/sleep-wake.

Do friends install the plugins? They use Minecraft Java in the server’s version. Plugins stay on the server, per /docs/software. Join steps are /blog/how-friends-join-chunkly-server. A 1.20.4 client does not join 1.21.4 unless ViaVersion is installed, the case /docs/connect gives.

How do we cancel if the season ends? Village and Kingdom bill monthly through Stripe. Cancel in the billing portal from the panel or the receipt. Access runs through the paid period. Campfire has no subscription. Rates are €0.85/GB on Village and €1.90/GB on Kingdom, on /plans.