Here are 12 Minecraft 1.21.1 vanilla plus Spigot plugins that I use on a server I play on with my friends. These should work on Bukkit, Spigot and Paper Spigot servers without any trouble, and rest assured: these are the absolute best ones I could find, and quite honestly as of now, I can’t even imagine playing the game without them. Some of these are like full-on mods! But enough talking. Take a look for yourself.
1. Vane
This is probably the best plugin on this entire list. In fact it has so many vanilla+ quality of life features that it would take a whole separate post to list and describe them all. That’s why the developers of this plugin have dedicated a whole website for showcasing all that this plugin can do.
Sickles for faster crop harvesting? Netherite elytra that doubles as armor? Scrolls that can teleport you to your home bed that aren’t too easy to get? These are only a few things that Vane adds to your gameplay, and there is so much more to discover. If that sounds good to you, feel free to give it a try here!
2. WildLoaders
My hunt for a working chunkloader plugin was unnaturally long. In fact, together with my friends we have tried more than 2 different plugins which were supposed to load chunks just as a real player entity would, and now the search is finally over. This plugin used to be a paid one, but from 2021 onward the developers decided to release it for free use.
WildLoaders give you access to small and big chunkloaders, loading 1 and 5 chunks respectively, and they work like a charm with all sorts of automatic farms and redstone machines. While there is no custom crafting recipe for the loaders themselves, they can be acquired using commands and distributed to the players for instance using an additional chest store plugin. You can also set time limits, so that your server does not overload from too much redstone action. Very nice plugin overall, and the only chunkloader I use these days.
3. GSit
This one is quite simple. It’s a plugin that allows you to sit on any block you choose (not just stairs), crawl on command, lay down almost everywhere, and as a neat bonus, it has a pretty funky spin action too.
GSit is very straightforward to use, requiring the players to simply type in one of the supported commands to perform a selected action almost anywhere in the Minecraft world. As of now, 4 commands are available: /sit, /crawl, /lay, /bellyflop and /spin, and the plugin is fully configurable from the server console/chat. It also allows you to simply right click a stair block to sit down!
4. ExcellentEnchants
If you feel like after a while vanilla Minecraft just doesn’t have enough enchantments available, this plugin adds over 75 new ones to the game. And these are not just any enchants. They are thought out in a way that makes them vanilla friendly and doesn’t break the game, or give players unfair advantages.
ExcellentEnchants has things such as exploding arrows, a Nether equivalent of the Frost Walker enchant for your boots, instant replanting for your crops when using an enchanted hoe and much more. Not only that, but it also has full enchanting table and loot table support, and it does make the new enchants available via villager trade. Pretty neat, isn’t it?
5. Veinminer
I’ll be honest, I simply cannot imagine playing on a Minecraft server without a Veinminer plugin active. As you may already know, Veinminer, as the name suggests lets you mine full ore veins by destroying only one ore block. But don’t you worry, it will still give you all the resources you need including those affected by Fortune, and all the exp you would receive normally.
The durability of the tools used is also affected in a correct way, and quite honestly I didn’t find any major flaws with this particular implementation of the vein mining mechanics. As if that wasn’t enough, it also works on wood logs, bringing about the functionality of another popular plugin/mod – Timber. Careful when building your wooden house though, it does treat blocks placed by a player in the same way it treats them found in the wild!
6. Fletcher
This is a new one, but a pretty cool one at that. Fletcher finally makes the fletching table usable, letting you use it to craft 7 different arrow types using different items as arrow tips. Arrows that fly farther or deal more damage, arrows that distract the Warden, and ones that let you teleport to the place they land made using Enderpearls. And there is still more.
Quite honestly, this plugin is the sheer definition of Vanilla+, and it can make the late-game gameplay much more interesting while still not introducing game breaking mechanics into the game. Minecraft devs could really take some inspiration here!
7. Hsrails
I’ll be brutally honest now. Minecarts in the latest versions of Minecraft are really not that useful. Maybe that’s why not many people use them these days. And that’s a pity! Here is where the Hsrails plugin comes in, with a Vanilla+ overhaul of the minecart system. Now you can build railways that are much faster than original ones boosting them using redstone blocks (4 times faster actually – configurable), and the non-empty minecarts traveling through them will also temporarily load in chunks as they go!
Now you can send entities packed into minecarts thousands of blocks away and wait until they come back in the chunk you’re standing in. There is also a brake block available (obsidian), to let you . Pair it with Unpackable Minecarts datapack and Minecart Trains plugin for a Vanilla+ friendly minecart update that will surely let you surprise your friends. Warning! Entering turns at high speed will derail your minecart!
8. Recovery Totem
Hate losing all your items on death? This is one of the vanilla-friendly solutions, that doesn’t require the keepInventory rule to be turned on on your server. The Recovery Totem plugin adds another totem to the world of Minecraft – one that can be held anywhere inside your inventory, and will prevent you from losing your items on death.
After it’s used, the item will be consumed, and as echo shards are still pretty tricky to get early on and are certainly not a common item in the game, this plugin is pretty well balanced if you ask me! Anyway, I find this one to be pretty useful.
9. ImageFrame
The ImageFrame plugin lets you load custom images from your drive onto maps and item frames. But that’s not all. The images can be animated gifs, and they can span across multiple maps too. The more you think about it, the more you realize you can do with this one.
An animated TV in your base, a train station with actual timetables on the walls, detailed custom store signage and traffic signs. The possibilities are almost endless, and it spares you the trouble of making having to do Minecraft pixel art and transferring it onto a map in the traditional way. Pretty cool!
10. Craftable Invisible Frames
This one is quite simple. Craftable Invisible Frames lets you do exactly what the name implies. It gives you the ability to craft transparent item frames using 8 regular frames and a single lingering potion of invisibility.
This plugin is as straightforward as it can get, but paired with the previous one listed, it can open up quite a few build possibilities for the players on your server. Be sure to check it out!
11. BigDoors
The name doesn’t do this plugin justice. BigDoors doesn’t just let you easily create large doors that can be opened automatically, but also bridges, gates and much more! As many players (including me) wouldn’t be able to easily construct larger redstone doors without spending long hours on planning out the “backstage” wiring and piston layout involved in the process, this plugin is a game changer.
While some would consider this the least “vanilla+” plugin on this list, for me it’s a great alternative for bulky redstone mechanisms often involved in automatic doors, and it’s by no means a game-breaking modification with all its safety features built-in. You can pair it with Big Doors Opener and Big Doors Physics for the best results!
12. Copper Items
The last plugin on this list is pretty much self-explanatory. Copper Items finally gives copper some more practical uses. Frankly, I’ve been wondering for quite a while why copper tools and armor aren’t built into the game already considering how common this resource is in the latest Minecraft versions.
While you probably won’t find yourself using these very often in the endgame phase of the Minecraft gameplay, it’s still a pretty neat plugin to have considering that it adds a feature that many players have been asking for for quite a while now. A true vanilla+ friendly approach!
As You Can See, Spigot Plugins Can Do Quite a Lot!
Many of the plugins listed are almost like full-fledged mods, only they do not require your friends to modify their local Minecraft install, or use 3rd party clients to use them (like with for example Forge mods).
Although you cannot really use Spigot plugins on your single-player worlds without hosting a localhost Minecraft server locally on your PC, many of the plugins mentioned here have either their datapack or mod equivalents, so that you can get access to their features offline on your private singleplayer worlds.
Hope that you enjoyed this little collection. I’ll be sure to update it when I’ll find some more interesting plugins to share. Until next time!