Pumpkin vs. Paper vs. Vanilla: what Pumpkin can do today

Pumpkin vs. Paper vs. Vanilla

Pumpkin is a Minecraft server rewritten from scratch in Rust — not a Vanilla fork, no Java. That brings two things: a very small resource footprint and a feature list that still has gaps. This article states both as they are.

The three at a glance

	Pumpkin	Paper	Vanilla
Language	Rust, native binary	Java (JVM)	Java (JVM)
Configuration	pumpkin.toml	server.properties + paper.yml et al.	server.properties
Plugins	Own WASM system	Bukkit/Spigot/Paper API	none
Mobs & entity AI	in progress	complete	complete
Redstone	in progress	complete	complete
Chunk generation	in progress	complete	complete
Bedrock crossplay	built in, in progress	only through Geyser	no
Maturity	first release 09/2026	production-proven for years	reference
Licence	GPLv3	GPLv3	proprietary (Mojang)

How fast is Pumpkin really?

The project itself states roughly 5 milliseconds startup time and about 100 MB of memory for an empty server, comparing that to around 15 seconds and 1.8 GB for Vanilla and around 10 seconds and 1.4 GB for Paper.

These numbers come from the development team, not from our own measurements. And the Pumpkin documentation puts them into perspective itself — it literally states that the comparison is unfair because Pumpkin currently has far fewer features than other servers. That is the honest core of it: a server that does not yet simulate mob AI has less work to do.

What already works in Pumpkin?

The status from the official feature list (September 2026):

• Networking: Java Edition protocol, server status and ping, encryption, packet compression
• World: loading and saving (Vanilla region, Linear, Pump), world time, world border, lighting, liquid physics
• Players: movement, teleport, skins, inventory, experience, hunger, off hand, eating, animations
• Server: chat, particles, scoreboard, boss bar, tab list, permissions, translations
• Remote access: RCON and GS4 query
• Proxy: Velocity, BungeeCord and BungeeGuard
• Configuration: fully covered by pumpkin.toml

What is still missing?

These items are marked as work in progress by the project or tracked in their own issues:

• Mobs, animals, villagers and bosses — partly present, entity AI is not
• Redstone — separate tracking issue, not finished
• Chunk generation — separate tracking issue
• Combat and advancements
• Bedrock Edition — present, but explicitly marked as work in progress
• Plugin system — functional, but young and without a large ecosystem

Everything missing before version 1.0.0 is collected publicly in the project roadmap.

Which servers does Pumpkin suit today?

Good fit:

• Lobby and hub servers behind a Velocity network
• Building and creative servers where mobs do not matter
• Test and development servers, including for your own WASM plugins
• Servers on a very small budget: a 0.5 GB plan already carries a running Pumpkin server

Not yet a fit:

• Classic survival servers with farms, mob grinders and redstone contraptions
• Servers that depend on existing Bukkit plugins (EssentialsX, WorldGuard, LuckPerms)
• Modpack servers — Forge and Fabric do not run on Pumpkin

What RespawnHost recommends

If you want a reliable survival or plugin server today, run Paper on a regular Minecraft server. If you want to see where Minecraft server software is heading, if you need a lean lobby, or if you want to write plugins in Rust, Go or Python, Pumpkin is the right call — and with per-second billing you only pay for the time you actually spend testing.

A second server does not mean a contract either: you can run a Pumpkin server next to your existing Minecraft server, compare them and stop the one you are not using.

Frequently asked questions

Is Pumpkin faster than Paper? At startup and while idle, yes — the project’s numbers are clear on that. Under full gameplay load there is no fair comparison yet, because Pumpkin does not simulate everything Paper simulates.

Can I use Paper plugins with Pumpkin? No. Pumpkin has its own plugin interface based on WebAssembly, see the plugin guide.

Does my Vanilla world run on Pumpkin? Yes, the Vanilla region format is read and written. Create a backup first.

Which Minecraft version does Pumpkin support? Pumpkin targets the current Java version; its protocol code carries versions up to Minecraft 26.2. The first release is tagged accordingly as 0.1.0-dev+26.2.

Will Pumpkin replace Paper? That is open today. Pumpkin explicitly aims to reproduce Vanilla game mechanics — until then it is a complement, not a replacement.

Rent a PumpkinMC server — or read up on the differences between server types first.