Do Folia plugins work on Paper?

The VyroAI team · Published 12 Sep 2026 · 6 min read

Usually, yes. A plugin written for Folia uses Folia's region schedulers, and current Paper builds ship those same schedulers, so the plugin loads and runs on Paper too. The other direction is the catch: a normal Paper plugin does not run on Folia unless its author marked it as supported and rewrote its scheduling. Here is why, where the exceptions are, and how to check your own plugins before you switch.

The short answer, both directions

You have	You run	Does it work?
A plugin made for Folia	Paper	Usually yes. Paper has the same scheduler API
A plugin made for Folia	Spigot	Often no. Spigot does not have Folia's schedulers
A normal Paper plugin	Folia	No, unless it says `folia-supported: true` and was rewritten for it
A plugin built for both	Paper or Folia	Yes. That is what "cross-compatible" means

Why Folia plugins usually run on Paper

Folia is a fork of Paper. It splits the world into regions and ticks each one on its own thread. Plugins written for Folia therefore schedule their work with four schedulers that know which region a task belongs to: global, region, entity and async.

The key detail is in PaperMC's own documentation: these schedulers "function on both Folia and Paper." They are part of the normal Paper API. On Paper there is only one main thread, so a task sent to the "region" or "entity" scheduler simply runs there. The plugin does not need to know which server it is on.

Paper also ignores the folia-supported: true line in plugin.yml. It is a note for Folia, and Paper does not care.

When a Folia plugin will not work on Paper

The "usually" has three exceptions:

It depends on Folia-only behaviour. A plugin that reaches into Folia's internal classes, or needs regions to tick in parallel to work, can fail on Paper. This is rare for normal gameplay plugins.
It refuses to start. Some authors check for Folia at startup and disable the plugin elsewhere. The console says so in plain text.
Your Paper build is old. The region schedulers are in current Paper builds. On a very old Paper version they may not exist, and the plugin fails to load with a missing-class error.

If a Folia plugin's download page also lists Paper as a platform, the author has tested it there. That is the best signal you will get.

Is Folia compatible with Paper plugins?

Not automatically, and this is where server owners get caught. Folia's README is direct: "only plugins that have been explicitly marked by the author(s) to work with Folia will be loaded." Everything else is skipped at startup.

The mark is folia-supported: true in the plugin's plugin.yml or paper-plugin.yml. The mark alone does not make a plugin safe, though. PaperMC says "This declaration alone is insufficient": the plugin also has to stop using the old Bukkit scheduler, which Folia does not support. Folia's own author expects "every single plugin that exists to require some level of modification to function in Folia."

So a Paper plugin runs on Folia only when its author did that work.

How to check your plugins before you switch

Do this for every plugin on your server, before you move a live world:

Open the jar. A .jar is a zip file. Open it, find plugin.yml or paper-plugin.yml, and look for folia-supported: true. If the line is missing, Folia will not load it.
Read the download page. Modrinth and Hangar list supported platforms. Look for Folia in the list, not only in the comments.
Run a copy of your server on Folia. Same plugins, a copy of the world, not the real one. The console lists every plugin it skipped.
Test the features that schedule things. Cooldowns, timers, delayed teleports, holograms, scoreboards. That is where a plugin that loads can still fail.
Make a list of what is missing. For each plugin that fails, look for a Folia-ready alternative, ask the author, or replace it with something built for both.

Should you run Folia at all?

Folia is not a free speed boost. Its README says server types that "naturally spread players out, like skyblock or SMP, will benefit the most," and recommends "at least 16 cores (not threads)." Pre-generating your world helps too.

It also lists features that are currently broken, including "ALL scoreboard API", portal interactions and player respawning, and loading or unloading worlds. If your server depends on sidebars or on minigames that create worlds on the fly, Paper is the safer choice today.

A fair rule of thumb: stay on Paper until you have the players, the cores and a plugin list that passes the checks above. Plugins built for both keep that decision open.

One jar for both servers

The best plugins for a server that might move to Folia are written for both from the start. They detect Folia when the server starts and use the right scheduler for each task, so the same jar runs on Paper today and on Folia later.

That is the "Paper + Folia" option in VyroAI.vip, labelled "Cross-compatible". When you pick it, the generator is told to detect Folia at runtime, route every scheduled task through one adapter, add folia-supported: true, and compile against the Paper API. You get one jar, not a Paper version and a Folia version. Test it on both servers before it goes live, like any other plugin.

If you maintain a plugin yourself, our step-by-step guide, How to make your plugin support Folia, shows the adapter code.

FAQ

Can I put Folia plugins on my Paper server? Usually yes, on a current Paper build. Check the plugin's page for Paper in its platform list, and read the console on first start.

Why won't my plugins load on Folia? They are missing folia-supported: true. Folia skips every plugin that does not declare it.

Can I just add folia-supported: true to someone else's plugin? You can edit the file, but it does not make the plugin safe. If it still uses the Bukkit scheduler, it loads and then fails when a task runs.

Is Folia faster than Paper? For big, spread-out servers on many cores, it can be. For a small server, the difference is small and the plugin limits are real.

Do Paper forks like Purpur run Folia plugins? Forks based on current Paper include the same scheduler API, but check each plugin's platform list to be sure.