Minecraft proxy servers explained with Velocity and BungeeCord

A Minecraft proxy server is a program that sits in front of several Java Edition servers and passes players between them. Velocity and BungeeCord are the two this page covers. They differ mainly in how they forward player data, how they handle mods, and how many plugins exist for each.

The facts below come from PaperMC's Velocity documentation and the BungeeCord repository on GitHub, read on 12 October 2026. We did not run either proxy. Velocity's documentation is published by the team that makes Velocity, and its own comparison page admits it may be somewhat biased in its favor, so its judgements are attributed to it.

What a Minecraft proxy is

BungeeCord's repository describes it as a layer 7 proxy designed to link Minecraft servers, built mainly to teleport players between several of them. Velocity does the same job. Players connect to the proxy's address, and the proxy sends them on to a backend server from a list you configure.

In Velocity, that list lives in `velocity.toml`. A `try` setting names the servers to attempt at login and after a kick, and forced hosts can send a specific hostname to specific servers. The proxy can also check player identity with Mojang, so the backend servers do not have to.

When a server owner needs a proxy

You need one when you run more than one server and want players to move between them without reconnecting, such as a lobby, a survival world and a minigame server. A single server has nothing for a proxy to link. Neither project's documentation describes a benefit for a single-server setup, so we make no claim there.

How Velocity and BungeeCord forward player information

Because the proxy authenticates players, the backend servers run in offline mode and must be told who is connecting. That is player information forwarding, covering IP addresses, UUIDs and skins. Velocity supports three formats.

• Modern forwarding is Velocity's own binary format. It uses a MAC code and a shared secret to make impersonating the proxy much harder, and it needs Minecraft 1.13 or higher.
• Legacy forwarding is the BungeeCord format. Velocity's documentation calls it ubiquitous and says it reaches back to 1.7.2, but it is not secure.
• BungeeGuard keeps the legacy format and adds a secret key. Velocity's documentation rates it above plain legacy forwarding and below modern.

Velocity's comparison table marks BungeeCord's forwarding as not secure and leaves its development status as a question mark. Spigot does not support Velocity's modern forwarding, only legacy.

Mod support on Velocity and BungeeCord

This is where Velocity makes its strongest claim. Its documentation calls BungeeCord "actively hostile to continued support for Minecraft modding". That is Velocity's view, and the BungeeCord repository says nothing on mods either way.

For Velocity, the documentation gives loader-specific detail. Fabric works out of the box, and the FabricProxy-Lite mod adds modern forwarding. CrossStitch, maintained by the Velocity project, improves support for mod-added features such as custom argument types. Forge servers above 1.20.2 are supported from Velocity 3.3.0. Support for Forge versions between 1.13 and 1.20.1 is not planned, though the documentation says the Ambassador plugin can be used for them. Forge 1.7.2 to 1.12.2 is described as fully compatible. Forge-Bukkit hybrids are not supported. See Fabric vs Forge vs NeoForge for the loaders themselves.

Plugin ecosystem and compatibility

BungeeCord plugins and Velocity plugins are different things. Velocity's table says its API does not run BungeeCord plugins. Snap can add experimental support, but Snap is not maintained by or affiliated with the Velocity project. A setting called `bungee-plugin-message-channel` lets Velocity support the BungeeCord plugin messaging channel.

Velocity's own page concedes that BungeeCord has more third-party software because it is older. It lists 428 Velocity plugins on Hangar, its plugin repository, which was in open beta when read. We did not count BungeeCord plugins, so no like-for-like number exists here. Backend servers are a separate matter. Plugins that run there follow plugins vs mods vs data packs and are added as in installing plugins on Paper or Spigot.

How to secure the servers behind a proxy

Velocity's security page lists the options and their trade-offs. An operating system firewall is the one it strongly advises, though it is tricky to set up and not viable on a shared host. Binding servers to localhost is trivial but only works when everything runs on one machine. An encrypted tunnel is very complex, and an IP whitelist plugin is a last line of defense. Modern forwarding adds a second layer, but relies on its secret staying secret. Whitelisting players is a separate step, covered in how to whitelist a server.

Limits and what the sources do not say

Velocity does not support proxies stacked behind other proxies. Neither source gives player-count limits or benchmarks for BungeeCord, and Velocity's "faster and much more stable" claim is its own, not something we measured. If you run modded backends, hosting a modded server is the next read.