Velocity vs BungeeCord (and Waterfall): Which Proxy in 2026

Use Velocity for a new network. In the Velocity vs BungeeCord question, Velocity is PaperMC's actively developed proxy, while Waterfall, the PaperMC fork of BungeeCord, reached end of life when PaperMC announced it on Mar 26, 2024. The answer changes in two cases: you depend on plugins that only exist for BungeeCord, or your backends are old (pre-1.13) and you would be stuck with weaker forwarding. Everything below is Java Edition, and the facts come from PaperMC's and SpigotMC's own documentation as of November 2026.

One caveat up front: Velocity's maintainer is PaperMC, and PaperMC's own comparison page describes itself as somewhat biased in its favor. Where this page repeats a verdict from PaperMC, it says so.

What is a Minecraft server proxy?

A Minecraft proxy sits between the player and your game servers. Players connect to the proxy, and it passes them on to a backend server and lets them move between backends with commands or plugin portals. That turns separate servers (say a lobby, a survival world and minigames) into one network. SpigotMC's wiki describes BungeeCord in just those terms. Velocity's example config uses the same shape: servers named lobby, factions and minigames, plus a try list of servers to attempt at login or when a player is kicked.

If you only run one server, you do not need a proxy. Start with our guide to making a Minecraft server and the backends' own settings in server.properties explained.

BungeeCord, Waterfall and Velocity in brief

BungeeCord

The original. SpigotMC says it was written in-house by its team, and PaperMC dates the first release to 2012. It has a plugin API and is configured in config.yml. We could not confirm BungeeCord's current release, how actively it is maintained, or which Minecraft versions it supports, so this page does not state them. PaperMC's own table puts a question mark in its "actively developed" cell for BungeeCord. Check the SpigotMC pages before committing a new network to it.

Waterfall

A BungeeCord fork founded in 2016 and modelled on Paper, aiming at performance and stability. PaperMC announced its end of life on Mar 26, 2024, saying it had not received much love for years and that Mojang's engine changes meant more adaptation work than they could staff. Per the announcement, all versions stay downloadable and the docs stay up, but you "shouldn't count on updates to new Minecraft versions, although we aren't ruling that out at this time". PaperMC's advice is to migrate to Velocity. Do not start a new network on Waterfall.

Velocity

PaperMC's proxy, configured in velocity.toml. As of November 2026 the downloads page lists Velocity 4.3.1 as the latest stable build. Per PaperMC's docs it needs Java 25 or newer and is compatible with Minecraft 1.7.2 through 26.3. PaperMC recommends running Paper behind it. Related reading: Paper vs Spigot vs Purpur.

Velocity vs BungeeCord vs Waterfall: comparison table

The efficiency and security ratings come from PaperMC's own comparison page, not from independent testing. We have no benchmarks of our own and cite no independent ones.

Which proxy is better?

PaperMC says Velocity powers several highly populated networks while using fewer resources than the competition, and gives reasons: no entity-ID rewriting, libdeflate compression on Linux x86_64 and aarch64 that it says is twice as fast as zlib, and JIT-friendly code. Those native libraries are verified only on those two Linux platforms, so other hosts get degraded performance. PaperMC does not name networks or give numbers.

The practical reasons to choose Velocity are the ones that do not depend on benchmarks: it is the one still receiving development from PaperMC, it has modern forwarding, and it has an API aimed at current Minecraft features. Community advice on r/admincraft runs the same way: Velocity with Paper, unless a plugin you need is incompatible. That is community-reported, not a measurement.

When the answer changes

• BungeeCord-only plugins. Velocity does not run plugins made for BungeeCord or Waterfall. If a plugin you rely on has no Velocity port or alternative, that is the real reason to stay on BungeeCord.
• Pre-1.13 backends. Velocity still supports them back to 1.7.2, but only with legacy forwarding, which PaperMC calls fundamentally insecure on its own. A SpigotMC thread from December 2025 about a 1.8 network shows both objections at once: legacy plugins and legacy clients.

Player-info forwarding and securing your backends

Backends behind a proxy run with online-mode=false in server.properties, because the proxy authenticates players with Mojang and players could not otherwise connect through it. That is a proxy setup, not a way to let unauthenticated players onto a public server. It means anyone who can reach a backend directly could impersonate any player, so only the proxy may be able to connect.

Velocity offers three forwarding formats, and only one is active at a time:

• modern: Velocity's own binary format with a MAC code, so it is much harder to trick a backend into impersonating your proxy. 1.13+ only, and incompatible with ProtocolSupport.
• legacy: BungeeCord's IP forwarding, compatible back to 1.7.2 and described by PaperMC as fundamentally insecure.
• bungeeguard: legacy plus a secret key via the BungeeGuard plugin. Better than plain legacy, less ideal than modern.

If every backend and client is 1.13 or newer, use modern. Per PaperMC, it is a second layer and "not a replacement for a firewall". Its recommendations for the first layer:

• An OS firewall (iptables, nftables, Windows Firewall), which Velocity strongly recommends.
• If everything is on one machine, bind backends to localhost with server-ip=127.0.0.1 and point velocity.toml at 127.0.0.1:<port>.
• Across machines, an encrypted tunnel such as WireGuard or OpenVPN.
• An IP-whitelist plugin only as a last resort on shared hosts.

Velocity setup

This follows PaperMC's getting-started guide (updated Aug 5, 2026).

1. Install Java 25 or newer.
2. Download the latest stable jar from papermc.io/downloads/velocity.
3. Start it with PaperMC's flags: java -Xms1G -Xmx1G -XX:+UseG1GC -XX:G1HeapRegionSize=4M -XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions -XX:+ParallelRefProcEnabled -XX:+AlwaysPreTouch -XX:MaxInlineLevel=15 -jar velocity*.jar
4. The first launch generates velocity.toml and forwarding.secret, and logs that it is listening on port 25565 by default. Type end to stop it.
5. In velocity.toml, list your backends under [servers] as name = "ip:port" and set try = ["lobby"] to your entry server. Set player-info-forwarding-mode = "modern".
6. On each Paper backend: online-mode=false in server.properties; settings.bungeecord: false in spigot.yml; and in config/paper-global.yml set proxies.velocity.enabled: true, proxies.velocity.secret to the contents of forwarding.secret, and proxies.velocity.online-mode to match online-mode in velocity.toml. On Paper 1.18.2 and older the keys are settings.velocity-support.* in paper.yml.
7. Firewall the backends as above, then connect through the proxy.

Modern forwarding needs Paper 1.13.2 or newer; plain Spigot supports only legacy forwarding. If a backend refuses you with "This server requires you to connect with Velocity" or "Your server did not send a forwarding request to the proxy", the forwarding settings on proxy and backend do not match. See Paper plugin best practices for the plugin side.

Moving from BungeeCord or Waterfall to Velocity

PaperMC's migration page covers only Velocity 1.0.x to 1.1.0; we found no official BungeeCord-to-Velocity guide. These steps are built from the documented setup, forwarding and compatibility facts, and there is no key-by-key config mapping here.

1. Audit plugins first. BungeeCord plugins will not load on Velocity. Look for Velocity ports or alternatives on Hangar. Backend-only plugins that use the BungeeCord plugin messaging channel typically still work, since Velocity supports that channel natively (the bungee-plugin-message-channel setting under [advanced]). Snap, a third-party layer for BungeeCord plugins, is experimental and not affiliated with Velocity, so test everything yourself.
2. Rebuild the server list. Re-enter your backends and the try list in velocity.toml, and use [forced-hosts] for per-hostname entry points.
3. Pick a forwarding mode. Moving to modern means the Paper changes above, including settings.bungeecord: false. Staying on legacy or bungeeguard keeps settings.bungeecord: true.
4. Firewall the backends before you open the proxy to players.
5. Do not stack proxies. A BungeeCord behind Velocity, or the reverse, is completely unsupported.

If you use signed chat on 1.19.1 and newer, plugins cannot cancel signed chat messages; PaperMC documents the SignedVelocity plugin as the workaround.

FAQ

Which is better, BungeeCord or Velocity?

For a new network, Velocity: PaperMC still develops it, it has modern forwarding, and its API targets current Minecraft features. BungeeCord is the better fit only if you depend on BungeeCord-only plugins with no Velocity port or alternative. PaperMC's efficiency claims for Velocity are its own, not independent benchmarks.

Is BungeeCord safe?

Only the forwarding model can be answered from our sources. BungeeCord's IP forwarding is the legacy format, which PaperMC calls fundamentally insecure, and PaperMC's table marks BungeeCord forwarding as not secure. Firewalling the backends is what protects it, and BungeeGuard adds a shared secret. We found no source on BungeeCord-specific vulnerabilities, so we make no claim either way.

How much RAM does a Velocity proxy need?

PaperMC's tuning page gives a heap rule of thumb of 512MB per 500 players plus about 1GB extra, so 1,000 players is a 2GB heap. For total memory, double the heap and add 2GB, which makes at least 6GB for that example. In a container, give the heap about half of the container's memory. PaperMC adds that there is no one-size-fits-all recommendation, and prefers more cores over higher clock speed. We found no equivalent figure for BungeeCord.

Is there a player cap on Velocity?

No. show-max-players only changes the number shown in the server list.

Does Velocity run BungeeCord plugins?

No, per PaperMC's FAQ. Look for a port, or test Snap, which is experimental.

Should I still use Waterfall?

No. It is end of life, and PaperMC's advice is to move to Velocity.