Can I use Bukkit, Spigot, and Paper plugins with Purpur?

Updated

Yes. Purpur is built on Paper, and its own documentation states that it supports plugins designed for the Bukkit, Spigot, and Paper APIs. That means if you are already running a Paper or Spigot server, the plugins you rely on today are generally expected to keep working after you switch to Purpur.

Why plugin compatibility carries over

Purpur is not a fork built from scratch. It is Minecraft server software based on Paper, which in turn descends from Spigot and Bukkit. Each layer keeps the plugin API of the one below it, so the compatibility chain looks like this:

API What it means for you
Bukkit The oldest of the three; plugins written against it are supported
Spigot Extends Bukkit; Spigot plugins are supported
Paper Extends Spigot; Paper plugins are supported

Because Purpur sits at the top of that chain, a plugin that runs on Paper should run on Purpur. In practice, most server owners treat "Paper-compatible" as the working baseline when checking whether a plugin will work.

What Purpur adds on top

Purpur's stated focus is configurability: it aims to let server owners customise their server as much as possible. That is an addition to the Paper feature set, not a replacement for it, so your existing plugin stack is not the thing being changed.

Two companion projects are worth knowing about, since they affect how you extend a Purpur server:

  • PurpurExtras — a plugin for Purpur and Paper servers. It holds features that were easier to implement and maintain as a separate plugin rather than inside the server itself.
  • PurpurPacks — a set of datapacks that add features to your Minecraft world. These are datapacks, not plugins, so they are a different kind of extension from the Bukkit/Spigot/Paper plugins discussed above.

How to check before you switch

  1. List the plugins your server currently runs.
  2. Confirm each one supports Paper (most plugin pages state their supported platforms).
  3. If a plugin only lists Spigot or Bukkit, it should still be covered by Purpur's stated API support, but verify it is maintained for your Minecraft version.
  4. Install Purpur, drop your existing plugins into the plugins folder, and start the server.
  5. Watch the console on first boot for load errors, then test the commands and features each plugin provides.

The main practical risk is not the API layer but version lag: a plugin that has not been updated for your Minecraft version can fail on any of these platforms, Purpur included.

Where to get everything

Purpur, PurpurExtras, and PurpurPacks each have their own download link, documentation, and source code on the PurpurMC site, so you can read the docs for a specific project before installing it. Development is funded through OpenCollective and GitHub Sponsors if you want to support the project.