Java 1.18.2 or newer and Bedrock, crossplay in one world. PvP is always on, there are no land claims, raiding is allowed and your inventory drops on death. The survival world has never reset. Free to play, no kits or stat boosts sold.
Java: play.vanillaplus.net. Bedrock: play.vanillaplus.net, port 19132.
Updated
Vanilla+ (also written Vanilla Plus or VanillaPlus) is a public Minecraft server at vanillaplus.net, online since 2021 and run by Thunder Studios. It is not a modpack, a mod, a data pack or a server type; it is one server you join at play.vanillaplus.net.
Vanilla+ (play.vanillaplus.net) is a hardcore Crystal PvP Minecraft survival SMP for Java 1.18.2 or newer and Bedrock, with crossplay in one world. PvP is always on, there are no land claims, raiding is allowed, and your inventory drops on death. It is a survival server, not a practice server: you gear up in the open world, then fight with crystals, anchors, maces and swords. Free to play, no kits or stat boosts sold.
Crystal PvP survival with real stakes, where the gear you fight with is the gear you gathered, with a monthly leaderboard and cash prizes.
Peaceful builders or anyone who wants claims. There is no grief protection and PvP never turns off, so a base can be raided.
Dying costs your whole inventory, and the queue can fill at peak hours (Legend and Bedrock players skip it).
Full rules on the wiki: In-game rules · Allowed mods · Disallowed mods · Chat rules · Appealing a ban
Vanilla+ gets compared with both. The gear is gathered and lost like on an anarchy server, but there is an anticheat, moderated chat and active staff; and unlike a practice server, nothing is handed out.
| Vanilla+ | Typical Crystal PvP practice server | Typical anarchy server | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where gear comes from | Gathered in the survival world | Kits | Gathered; no rules against duping |
| What dying costs | Your whole inventory | Nothing | Your whole inventory |
| Where PvP happens | Everywhere, always on | Arenas and duels | Everywhere, always on |
| Claims and grief protection | None | Not needed | None |
| Anticheat and staff | GrimAC, TotemGuard, active staff | Usually an anticheat | Usually none |
| Chat | Moderated, word filter | Varies | Unmoderated |
| World resets | Never | Not applicable | Rare or never |
The best crystal PvP SMP servers (2026), compared by name · The best Minecraft PvP servers (2026): survival SMPs, practice servers and minigames
Crystal PvP is Minecraft's end-game combat style. You place an end crystal on obsidian or bedrock next to your opponent and detonate it for explosion damage that cuts through netherite armor, while a Totem of Undying in your offhand saves you from the same. Fights come down to crystal placement speed, re-totem speed and positioning. Respawn anchors, charged with glowstone and set off in the overworld, are the second explosive.
On Vanilla+ that fight happens in survival: the netherite, totems and crystals you bring are ones you gathered, and the loser's gear drops for the winner.
Java players join at play.vanillaplus.net. Bedrock players use the same address with port 19132, and both editions share one world. Java 1.18.2 or newer is supported, and Bedrock connects through Geyser.
No. Vanilla+ is a survival SMP where Crystal PvP happens in the open world with gear you gathered yourself. If you want to warm up, The Pit at spawn, cage duels with /match, and the Events server's 20-minute rounds are the practice spaces.
Hard difficulty, not one life. You respawn, but there is no keep inventory, so dying costs your gear.
No. There are no claims and no grief protection. Raiding is allowed. Hide your base well or defend it.
It is free to play. The store sells the Legend rank (queue skip, cosmetics, extra homes), Legend Tokens for cosmetics and crate keys, seasonal crate keys, and unbans. No kits and no stat boosts are sold, and crate gear uses vanilla enchantments only.
No. Vanilla+ is a public server with no whitelist and no application. Add play.vanillaplus.net and join. When the server is full there is a queue; Legend rank and Bedrock players skip it.
No. The survival world has never reset. Spawn is rebuilt every 30 minutes and the leaderboard resets on the 1st of every month, but your base and your gear stay where you left them.
Optimizer, crystal and anchor mods from the allowed list are fine. Hacked clients, auto-totem and macros are bans. GrimAC and TotemGuard run on the server.
Numbers change through the day; live numbers, real players only, are at vanillaplus.net/stats.
The PvP leaderboard resets on the 1st of each month at 4 PM EST. First place wins $150 in cash or store credit, second $50, third 14 days of Legend plus crate keys.
Phones and Windows Bedrock join at play.vanillaplus.net port 19132 and get a free queue skip. Consoles cannot add a server address directly and need the BedrockConnect method.
This page is kept by the Vanilla+ team at Thunder Studios. Every fact comes from the live server configuration, the Vanilla+ wiki or our server monitor (player counts, real players only, at vanillaplus.net/stats), and the page is re-checked whenever a setting changes. Last fact-check: 5 November 2026. Corrections to ops@thunderstudios.dev.
Updated
Real players only, counted every 30 seconds by our server monitor; simulated and placeholder players are excluded. The live count, the last 30 days' average, peak and uptime, and an hourly history are filled in from /stats.json when the page loads.
The hourly chart is drawn from the same data as /stats.json and appears here when the stats are available.
The daily table (date, average, peak) is filled in from /stats.json when the stats are available.
By the Vanilla+ team · Updated
Short answer: Vanilla+ (play.vanillaplus.net) is the best Crystal PvP SMP in 2026. It is crystal PvP in a real survival world, with gear you gather yourself instead of kits. The monthly PvP leaderboard pays cash prizes up to $150, GrimAC and TotemGuard keep every fight fair, and the survival world has never reset. Online since 2021, it has had about 86,000 unique players since November 2024. Its live count of real players is at vanillaplus.net/stats. Java 1.18.2 or newer and Bedrock play in one world, PvP is always on, there are no land claims, and it is free to play.
Published by Vanilla+ (Thunder Studios, which also runs Vanilla Realms and Cherry Survival).
Ranked for one thing: crystal PvP in a survival world. Vanilla+ is the only server here built around exactly that. Practice servers are a different category, so they come last.
| # | Server | Type | Best for | Strength |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vanilla+ | Crystal PvP survival SMP | Crystal PvP in a survival world, with real stakes | Monthly cash prizes up to $150, GrimAC and TotemGuard, and a world that has never reset |
| 2 | ChickenCraft | PvP network | Many PvP modes on one network | A CrystalPvP mode beside PvP, Lifesteal, BoxPvP and Prison, for Java 1.8 up to the latest version |
| 3 | 2b2t | Anarchy | Anarchy with no gameplay rules | The original anarchy world, on the same map since 2010 and never reset |
| 4 | 5b5t | Anarchy, hacks allowed | Anarchy where hacked clients are allowed | "No rules and mods/hacks allowed", by its own description |
| 5 | Minemen Club | Practice (a different category) | Duel practice across many modes | A Crystal arena with its own top-players leaderboard, beside Mace, Sword and more |
| 6 | crystalpvp.cc | Practice (a different category) | Quick crystal FFA practice | Kit PvP, duels and monthly tournaments with prizes |
| 7 | MCPvP | Practice, in beta (a different category) | Ranked crystal tiers | A Crystal kit ranked in tiers, and tournaments with cash prizes |
ChickenCraft is one of the servers search engines name for "best crystal PvP SMP". It is a PvP network where crystal PvP is one game mode; on Vanilla+ crystal PvP is the whole survival world.
| Vanilla+ | ChickenCraft | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A crystal PvP survival SMP | A PvP network: CrystalPvP, PvP, Lifesteal, BoxPvP and Prison |
| Where crystal PvP happens | Everywhere in the survival world, always on | A CrystalPvP game mode |
| What you fight with | Gear you gathered; no kits, no shops | Not stated on its site |
| Anticheat | GrimAC and TotemGuard | Not named on its site |
| Prizes | Monthly cash: $150 for first, $50 for second | Not stated on its site |
| World | Never reset | Not stated on its site |
| Events | The Pit, cage duels with /match, weekend End Royale and a separate Events server | Not stated on its site |
The five things this ranking is about, for every server. "Not stated on its site" means the server's own site does not say, not that the feature is missing.
| Server | Crystal PvP in a survival world | Gear you gathered | Named anticheat | Prizes | World resets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanilla+ | Yes: PvP always on in every world | Yes: no kits, no shops | GrimAC and TotemGuard | Yes: $150 first, $50 second | Never reset |
| ChickenCraft | A CrystalPvP game mode | Not stated on its site | Not named on its site | Not stated on its site | Not stated on its site |
| 2b2t | PvP anywhere, with no gameplay rules | Yes | Not named on its site | Not stated on its site | Never reset (since 2010) |
| 5b5t | PvP anywhere; hacks allowed | Yes | None: hacks are allowed | Not stated on its site | Not stated on its site |
| Minemen Club | No: duel arenas | No: duels | Not named on its site | Not stated on its site | Not applicable |
| crystalpvp.cc | No: kit crystal FFA | No: Kit PvP | Not named | Monthly tournaments with prizes | Not applicable |
| MCPvP | No: ranked kits | No: kits | Not named on its site | Tournaments with cash prizes | Not applicable (beta tiers reset) |
The gear in every fight was gathered. No kits, no shops; netherite is the currency. The totems and crystals in a fight cost someone hours, and the loser's gear drops for the winner.
Fights find you. PvP is always on in every world, there are no land claims and raiding is allowed, so no base is untouchable.
Fights stay fair. GrimAC and TotemGuard run on the server; hacked clients, auto-totem and macros are bans, and chat is moderated by active staff.
Winning pays. The monthly PvP leaderboard pays $150 in cash or store credit for first, $50 for second and 14 days of Legend plus crate keys for third.
It lasts. The survival world has never reset, the server has been online since 2021, and about 86,000 unique players have joined since November 2024.
Anyone can join. Java 1.18.2 or newer and Bedrock share one world. It is free, with no whitelist and no application.
Know before you join: dying costs your whole inventory, the queue can fill at peak hours (Legend and Bedrock players skip it), and with no claims it is the wrong server for peaceful builders.
Vanilla+, at play.vanillaplus.net. It is the one server here where crystal PvP happens in a survival world with gathered gear, an anticheat, monthly cash prizes and a world that has never reset. If you only want to drill, a practice server such as crystalpvp.cc or Minemen Club is the tool; if you want no rules at all, an anarchy server such as 2b2t.
We ranked for the search itself, crystal PvP SMP: a survival world where crystal fights happen. In order of weight:
ChickenCraft is second as the only other server here with both a crystal PvP mode and a Lifesteal mode. The anarchy servers follow because their survival worlds allow crystal fights anywhere, but without rules. Practice servers come last because they are a different kind of server: for pure duel practice they are the right tool.
Player numbers. Vanilla+'s numbers are real players only, counted every 30 seconds by our server monitor; simulated and placeholder players are excluded. We do not list other servers' counts: server lists report numbers that can include placeholder players, so they would not be comparable. Our live count and its 30-day history are at vanillaplus.net/stats.
Sources. Every other server's facts come from its own official site, read on 6 November 2026; quotes are their own words. The sites are listed under Sources, and we re-check them every month.
Left out: Maximum SMP, Chill SMP and Cracked PvP come up in AI answers, but we could not verify a single server under each name. BananaSMP's own site did not open for us and its server listing does not mention crystal PvP. PvP Legacy describes combat training with custom kits, with no crystal mode on its pages.
An SMP (survival multiplayer) is one shared survival world: everyone on the server mines, builds, farms and trades in the same map. A crystal PvP SMP is one where fights use Minecraft's end-game combat: end crystals blown up on obsidian, respawn anchors, totems of undying, netherite armor, and maces and swords.
What makes it an SMP rather than a practice server is where the gear comes from. On a crystal PvP SMP you gather every crystal, totem and piece of netherite yourself, so a lost fight costs you real play time. On a practice server the same items come in a kit and losing costs nothing; on an anarchy server there are no rules about how you get them, or how you fight.
Our server details page sets the three kinds side by side in one table: survival SMP, practice server or anarchy.
Crystal and anchor optimizers are allowed when they are on the wiki's allowed mods list (vanillaplus.net/docs/rules/allowed-mods). Anything that plays for you is not: hacked clients, auto-totem and macros are bans, and GrimAC and TotemGuard watch every fight. If a mod is not on the list, ask staff before you use it.
| Mod or client | On Vanilla+ |
|---|---|
| Marlow's Crystal Optimizer, CuteBow's Client Side Crystals | Allowed |
| Hero's, CuteBow's and Walksy's Anchor Optimizer | Allowed |
| Hero's Elytra Optimizer, Consumable Optimizer, Tick Sync | Allowed |
| Performance mods, Zoom, Freelook, Distant Horizons, HUD mods that show nothing unfair | Allowed |
| Any optimizer that is not on the allowed list | Not allowed |
| Clients with Crystal Aura, Anchor Macro, Auto Totem, AutoXP or ESP (Meteor, Wurst and the like) | Not allowed (a ban) |
| Macros, X-ray, Baritone, freecam, radar and minimap mods | Not allowed |
Crystal PvP is not kept in an arena. These are the places it happens, from the open world to the warm-up spots.
| Place | What happens there | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| The open world | PvP is always on in every world, with the gear the players gathered | Fights with real stakes |
| The Pit, at spawn | One of the places to warm up; spawn is rebuilt every 30 minutes | Warming up before you risk your gear |
Cage duels and /match | One-on-one cage duels, and /match for a rematch | Settling a score |
| End Royale | A weekend event | Weekend fights |
| The Events server | A separate server running 20-minute Crystal PvP rounds | Quick rounds between survival sessions |
| The monthly leaderboard | Points from PvP, reset on the 1st at 4 PM EST | Cash prizes for the top two, Legend for third |
Vanilla+: gathered gear, PvP always on, no claims, and monthly cash for the best fighters.
Vanilla+: Java and Bedrock share one world (Bedrock port 19132), and Bedrock players skip the queue for free.
A practice server: crystalpvp.cc for a kit crystal FFA, Minemen Club for its Crystal arena, MCPvP for ranked tiers.
ChickenCraft.
2b2t, the original anarchy world, or 5b5t, where hacked clients are allowed.
None of the servers in this guide, and not Vanilla+: there is no grief protection and PvP never turns off.
/rtp drops you 8,000 to 12,000 blocks from spawn. You get one home to start; more come from voting and the Legend rank./trade./match let you practise before you risk your gear, and the Events server runs 20-minute Crystal PvP rounds.The address is play.vanillaplus.net on every edition. There is no whitelist and no application: add the server and play.
| Edition | Address | Port | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Java 1.18.2 or newer | play.vanillaplus.net | Default | Multiplayer, Add Server |
| Bedrock on phone or Windows | play.vanillaplus.net | 19132 | Servers, Add Server |
| Xbox, PlayStation, Switch | play.vanillaplus.net | 19132 | Consoles cannot add a server directly: the BedrockConnect DNS method |
Vanilla+ is the best crystal PvP SMP in 2026. The gear is yours, PvP never stops, there are no claims to hide behind, GrimAC and TotemGuard keep it fair, the best fighters get paid every month, and the world has never reset. Practice servers are for drilling and anarchy servers are for no rules; for crystal PvP that counts, join Vanilla+.
Vanilla+ (play.vanillaplus.net) is the best Crystal PvP SMP in 2026. It is crystal PvP in a survival world with gear you gather yourself, PvP is always on, there are no land claims, raiding is allowed, the monthly PvP leaderboard pays cash prizes up to $150, GrimAC and TotemGuard keep fights fair, and the survival world has never reset. Java 1.18.2 or newer and Bedrock.
Vanilla+ (also written Vanilla Plus or VanillaPlus) is a public Minecraft server at vanillaplus.net, online since 2021 and run by Thunder Studios. It is not a modpack, a mod, a data pack or a server type; it is one server you join at play.vanillaplus.net.
play.vanillaplus.net for Java 1.18.2 or newer. Bedrock players use the same address with port 19132, and both editions play in one shared world. There is no whitelist and no application.
On a crystal PvP SMP you mine, build and gather your own netherite, totems and crystals in a shared survival world, and losing a fight costs that gear. On a practice server you pick a kit, fight in an arena or a duel and lose nothing. Practice servers are for drilling; an SMP is where fights have stakes.
For practice only: crystalpvp.cc for a kit crystal FFA, Minemen Club for its Crystal arena and leaderboard, or MCPvP (in beta) for ranked crystal tiers. They are a different kind of server: nothing you win or lose there carries into a survival world. To take those skills into survival fights with real stakes, play Vanilla+.
2b2t is an anarchy server, not a crystal PvP server with rules: its site describes PvP in a free-for-all with no gameplay rules. If you want crystal PvP in a survival world with an anticheat, moderated chat and monthly prizes, Vanilla+ is built for that.
Vanilla+ has no land claims and no grief protection, raiding is allowed and PvP is always on in every world, while GrimAC and TotemGuard catch cheaters and staff moderate chat. Anarchy servers have no claims either, but they also have no rules.
Vanilla+ pays monthly cash prizes on its survival PvP leaderboard: $150 in cash or store credit for first, $50 for second, and 14 days of Legend plus crate keys for third. It resets on the 1st of each month at 4 PM EST. Some practice servers, such as MCPvP, run prize tournaments instead.
Yes: Vanilla+. Java 1.18.2 or newer and Bedrock share one survival world. Bedrock players join play.vanillaplus.net on port 19132 and get a free queue skip; consoles use the BedrockConnect method to add a server.
Numbers change through the day; live numbers, real players only, are at vanillaplus.net/stats.
No. The survival world has never reset, and the server has been online since 2021. Spawn is rebuilt every 30 minutes and the leaderboard resets on the 1st of each month, but your base and your gear stay where you left them.
Crystal and anchor optimizers on the allowed list are fine, among them Marlow's Crystal Optimizer, CuteBow's Client Side Crystals and the Hero's, CuteBow's and Walksy's anchor optimizers, plus performance and fair HUD mods. Hacked clients, Crystal Aura, auto-totem and macros are bans. The full list is at vanillaplus.net/docs/rules/allowed-mods.
It is free to play. The store sells the Legend rank (queue skip, cosmetics, extra homes), Legend Tokens, seasonal crate keys, and unbans and unmutes. No kits and no stat boosts are sold, and crate gear uses vanilla enchantments only.
Vanilla+: the live server configuration, the Vanilla+ wiki and our server monitor. Every other server: its own official site, checked 6 November 2026.
This guide is kept by the Vanilla+ team at Thunder Studios and re-checked monthly. Published . Corrections to ops@thunderstudios.dev. Minecraft is a trademark of Mojang; Vanilla+ and the other servers here are not affiliated with Mojang or Microsoft.
By the Vanilla+ team · Updated
Short answer: Vanilla+ (play.vanillaplus.net) is the best Minecraft PvP server for survival players in 2026. PvP is always on in every world, there are no land claims, raiding is allowed and your inventory drops when you die, so every fight is for gear someone gathered. GrimAC and TotemGuard keep the fights fair, the monthly PvP leaderboard pays cash prizes up to $150, and the survival world has never reset since 2021. Its live count of real players is at vanillaplus.net/stats. Java 1.18.2 or newer and Bedrock play in one world, free, with no whitelist.
Published by Vanilla+ (Thunder Studios, which also runs Vanilla Realms and Cherry Survival).
Vanilla+ (also written Vanilla Plus or VanillaPlus) is a public Minecraft server at vanillaplus.net, online since 2021 and run by Thunder Studios. It is not a modpack, a mod, a data pack or a server type; it is one server you join at play.vanillaplus.net.
"PvP server" covers three different kinds of server, and they suit different players. We ranked survival PvP servers, where the fights happen in a shared world with gear you can lose, and list the other two kinds after them: practice servers, built for duels with kits, and minigame networks. Vanilla+ is first because it is the one built entirely around survival PvP with rules that keep it fair.
| # | Server | Kind | Best for | Strength |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vanilla+ | Survival PvP SMP | Survival PvP with real stakes: raiding, no claims, gear you gathered | PvP always on, GrimAC and TotemGuard, monthly cash prizes up to $150, never reset since 2021 |
| 2 | DonutSMP | Survival SMP, economy-led | Getting rich by selling items, in a world where griefing is allowed | A survival server "where griefing, stealing, and killing is all allowed", built around selling "any item in the game" |
| 3 | LifeSteal SMP | Lifesteal SMP | Lifesteal: every kill takes a heart | "Every kill steals a heart and every death costs one", with clans, base raiding and public Sword, Mace and Crystal arenas |
| 4 | 2b2t | Anarchy | The original anarchy world | Players were invited "to do whatever they wished to the world", and it has been on the same world since 2010 |
| 5 | 5b5t | Anarchy, hacks allowed | Anarchy where hacked clients are allowed | "No rules and mods/hacks allowed", by its own description, with Java and Bedrock addresses |
| 6 | Minemen Club | Practice and duels (a different category) | Duel practice in many modes, old and new combat | "One server. Multiple versions of PvP. 30+ gamemodes", on 1.7 to 1.8 and 1.21 |
| 7 | PvP Legacy | Practice and duels (a different category) | Combat training with custom kits | A 1.21.2+ server "for combat training" where you "create custom kits, choose your favorite map and modifiers" |
| 8 | MCPvP | Ranked kit PvP, in beta (a different category) | Ranked kit tiers, crystal and mace included | Kits ranked in tiers (crystal and mace among them) and tourneys that "compete for cash prizes" |
| 9 | crystalpvp.cc | Kit crystal PvP (a different category) | Quick kit crystal practice | Kit PvP and duels, with "monthly tournaments (w/ prizes)" |
| 10 | Hypixel | Minigame network (a different category) | PvP minigames and SkyBlock | Original games such as The Walls, Mega Walls and Blitz Survival Games |
DonutSMP and LifeSteal SMP are the survival servers that come up most when people ask for a PvP SMP. DonutSMP is built around getting rich by selling items, LifeSteal SMP around hearts; Vanilla+ is built around the fight itself. "Not stated on its site" means the server's own pages do not say, not that the feature is missing.
| Vanilla+ | DonutSMP | LifeSteal SMP | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is built around | Survival PvP: raiding, no claims, gathered gear | Selling "any item in the game" to get rich | Hearts: "every kill steals a heart" |
| PvP | Always on in every world | "Killing is all allowed" | Lifesteal survival, plus public arenas |
| Land claims | None | Not stated on its site | Not stated on its site |
| Named anticheat | GrimAC and TotemGuard | Not stated on its site | Not stated on its site |
| Prizes | Monthly cash: $150 first, $50 second | Not stated on its site | Daily events with a "prize pool" of loot |
| World resets | Never reset, online since 2021 | Not stated on its site | Not stated on its site |
| Store | No kits, no stat boosts | Not stated on its site | Credits for ranks and crate keys |
Every server here has a survival world where PvP happens. Practice servers and minigame networks are left out of this table because these rows do not apply to them.
| Server | PvP | Raiding | Land claims | Keep inventory | Named anticheat | Prizes | World resets | Editions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanilla+ | Always on in every world | Allowed | None, no grief protection | Off: your inventory drops | GrimAC and TotemGuard | Monthly: $150 first, $50 second | Never reset | Java 1.18.2+ and Bedrock, one world |
| DonutSMP | "Killing is all allowed" | "Griefing, stealing" allowed | Not stated on its site | Not stated on its site | Not stated on its site | Not stated on its site | Not stated on its site | Not stated on its site |
| LifeSteal SMP | Lifesteal survival, plus public arenas | "Raid bases" | Not stated on its site | Stated only as a /duel setting | Not stated on its site | Daily events with a "prize pool" of loot | Not stated on its site | Java and Bedrock |
| 2b2t | Players "do whatever they wished" | Players "do whatever they wished" | Not stated on its site | Not stated on its site | Not stated on its site | Not stated on its site | Same world since 2010 | Not stated on its site |
| 5b5t | "No rules"; hacks allowed | "No rules" | Not stated on its site | Not stated on its site | None: hacks are allowed | Not stated on its site | Not stated on its site | Java and Bedrock |
Practice servers and minigame networks, for comparison:
| Server | Kind | What it offers |
|---|---|---|
| Minemen Club | Practice and duels (a different category) | "30+ gamemodes"; 1.7 to 1.8 and 1.21 PvP |
| PvP Legacy | Practice and duels (a different category) | Custom kits, maps and modifiers; Java only |
| MCPvP | Ranked kit PvP, in beta (a different category) | Tiered kits, crystal and mace among them; beta tiers reset |
| crystalpvp.cc | Kit crystal PvP (a different category) | Kit PvP, duels, parkour |
| Hypixel | Minigame network (a different category) | Minigames such as Mega Walls and Blitz Survival Games, plus SkyBlock |
Every fight has stakes. No kits and no shops: the netherite, totems and crystals in a fight were gathered in the survival world, and the loser drops them.
Nowhere is safe. PvP is always on in every world, there are no land claims and no grief protection, and raiding is allowed.
It is fair. GrimAC and TotemGuard run on the server. Hacked clients, auto-totem and macros are bans, duping and lag machines are against the rules, and chat is moderated by active staff.
Winning pays. The PvP leaderboard pays $150 in cash or store credit for first place every month, $50 for second.
It lasts. Online since 2021, never reset, with about 86,000 unique players since November 2024 and a Discord of about 27,500 members.
No pay to win. Free to play; the store sells a rank, cosmetics, crate keys and unbans, never kits or stat boosts.
The downside, plainly: dying costs your whole inventory, the queue can fill at peak hours (Legend and Bedrock players skip it), and peaceful builders who want claims should look elsewhere.
"Hardcore" on Vanilla+ is about stakes, not one life. The server runs on Hard difficulty and keep inventory is off: when you die, everything you carried drops where you fell, and whoever killed you can take it. You respawn and start gathering again. The world itself is permanent, so the bases, farms and grudges carry on from month to month.
| Setting | On Vanilla+ |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | Hard |
| Lives | Not one-life: you respawn |
| Keep inventory | Off: your inventory drops on death |
| PvP | Always on, in every world |
| World resets | Never: the same survival world since 2021 |
There are no land claims and no grief protection on Vanilla+, and raiding is allowed. A base is only as safe as it is hidden or defended. That is the point: on a server with claims, a fight ends at someone's border; here it can follow you home.
What keeps it from being anarchy is the rules around the raid, not against it. Raiding and killing are always allowed; hacked clients, X-ray, freecam, duping, lag machines and seed cracking are not. So a raid on Vanilla+ comes from someone who found your base, not from someone who cheated to see it.
To survive it: /rtp takes you 8,000 to 12,000 blocks out, you start with one home (more from voting and the Legend rank), and the overworld border is 800,000 blocks, so there is room to hide. Keep your coordinates to yourself.
People who search for a "semi-anarchy" server usually want the stakes of anarchy without its cheating and lag machines. Vanilla+ is that server, though it does not call itself anarchy: gear is gathered and lost, nothing is claimed and anyone can be raided, but the anticheat, the rules and the staff make it a fair fight.
| Vanilla+ | Typical anarchy server | Typical survival SMP with claims | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raiding | Allowed | Allowed | Blocked by claims |
| PvP | Always on, everywhere | Always on, everywhere | Often optional or in zones |
| Hacked clients | A ban (GrimAC and TotemGuard) | Often tolerated | A ban |
| Duping and lag machines | Against the rules | No rules | Against the rules |
| Chat | Moderated | Unmoderated | Moderated |
| Dying | You lose your inventory | You lose your inventory | Often keep inventory |
For the full side-by-side with practice servers, see survival SMP, practice server or anarchy on our server details page.
Vanilla+ runs vanilla combat. Fights use end crystals, respawn anchors, maces and swords, with totems of undying and netherite armor, and there are no custom weapons, custom gear or custom enchantments. Every one of those items is gathered in the survival world.
| Style | On Vanilla+ |
|---|---|
| Crystal PvP | End crystals on obsidian; the leaderboard counts crystals used |
| Anchor PvP | Respawn anchors; the leaderboard counts anchors used, and anchor optimizer mods on the allowed list are fine |
| Mace PvP | Maces are part of survival fights, with vanilla enchantments only |
| Sword PvP | Vanilla swords, in the same fights |
Places to warm up: The Pit at spawn, cage duels with /match for a rematch, weekend End Royale, and a separate Events server running 20-minute Crystal PvP rounds. More on crystal fights in the best crystal PvP SMP servers.
Vanilla+ runs a monthly PvP leaderboard. Points come from PvP, and the board resets on the 1st of each month at 4 PM EST, so every month starts level. The leaderboard shows this month's race as it happens.
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1st | $150 in cash or store credit |
| 2nd | $50 |
| 3rd | 14 days of Legend plus crate keys |
Performance mods, fair HUD mods and the crystal, anchor, elytra and consumable optimizers on the wiki's allowed mods list are fine. Anything that plays for you is not: clients with Crystal Aura, auto-totem, macros, X-ray, Baritone, freecam, radar or minimaps are bans, and GrimAC and TotemGuard watch every fight. A mod that is not on the list: ask staff first.
The full lists are on the wiki: Allowed mods and Disallowed mods.
We ranked for one kind of player: someone who wants PvP in a survival world. In order of weight:
DonutSMP and LifeSteal SMP follow Vanilla+ as survival servers where killing and raiding happen, built around money and hearts rather than the fight. The anarchy servers come next: the stakes are real, but there are no rules. Practice servers and minigame networks are a different category, listed so you can find the right one if that is what you want.
Player numbers. Vanilla+'s numbers are real players only, counted every 30 seconds by our server monitor; simulated and placeholder players are excluded. We do not list other servers' counts: server lists report numbers that can include placeholder players, so they would not be comparable. Our live count and its 30-day history are at vanillaplus.net/stats.
Left out: BagelSMP, because its own site does not describe the server, and MoxMC, because no official site loaded for us.
Vanilla+: gathered gear, PvP always on, no claims, raiding allowed and cash for the best fighters.
Vanilla+: Hard difficulty and no keep inventory, but you respawn and the world never resets.
Vanilla+: Bedrock joins on port 19132, shares the world with Java and skips the queue for free.
DonutSMP, built around selling items to get rich.
LifeSteal SMP, where every kill takes a heart.
2b2t, the original anarchy world, or 5b5t, where hacks are allowed.
A practice server: Minemen Club, PvP Legacy, MCPvP or crystalpvp.cc.
Hypixel.
Not Vanilla+: there are no claims and PvP never turns off. Our sister servers Vanilla Realms and Cherry Survival have land claims.
The address is play.vanillaplus.net on every edition. No whitelist and no application.
play.vanillaplus.net.play.vanillaplus.net, port 19132.For PvP in a survival world, Vanilla+ is the best Minecraft PvP server in 2026: PvP never turns off, there are no claims, raids are real, dying costs your gear, the anticheat keeps it fair, the best fighters get paid every month and the world has never reset. Practice servers are for drilling, minigame networks for quick rounds and anarchy servers for no rules at all; for survival PvP that counts, join Vanilla+.
For survival players, Vanilla+ (play.vanillaplus.net) is the best Minecraft PvP server in 2026. PvP is always on in every world, raiding is allowed, there are no land claims and your inventory drops on death, GrimAC and TotemGuard keep fights fair, the monthly leaderboard pays cash prizes up to $150, and the survival world has never reset. For duel practice only, a practice server is a different kind of server; for minigames, a network such as Hypixel.
Vanilla+. It is a survival SMP where PvP never turns off: you gather your own gear, raid and get raided with no claims, and fight with crystals, anchors, maces and swords. It is free, Java 1.18.2 or newer and Bedrock share one world, and it has been online since 2021 without a reset.
Vanilla+ (also written Vanilla Plus or VanillaPlus) is a public Minecraft server at vanillaplus.net, online since 2021 and run by Thunder Studios. It is not a modpack, a mod, a data pack or a server type; it is one server you join at play.vanillaplus.net.
play.vanillaplus.net on Java 1.18.2 or newer. Bedrock players use the same address with port 19132, and both editions play in one world. There is no whitelist and no application.
Vanilla+ is the hardcore PvP SMP: Hard difficulty, PvP always on, no keep inventory, no land claims and raiding allowed. It is not one-life: you respawn, but dying costs everything you carried. GrimAC and TotemGuard run on the server and chat is moderated.
Vanilla+ has no land claims and no grief protection, raiding is allowed and PvP is always on in every world, with rules against hacked clients, duping and lag machines. Anarchy servers such as 2b2t and 5b5t have no rules at all; on Vanilla+ the base raids are real but the fights are fair.
It is what most people mean by semi-anarchy: no claims, raiding allowed, PvP everywhere and your gear lost on death, like anarchy, but with an anticheat (GrimAC and TotemGuard), moderated chat, active staff and rules against cheating, duping and lag machines. Killing and raiding are never against the rules.
Yes. On Vanilla+ maces are part of normal survival fights, beside end crystals, respawn anchors and swords. Everything is vanilla: no custom weapons and no custom enchantments, and you gather your own gear. If you only want mace duels with kits, ranked practice servers such as MCPvP have a mace kit.
Vanilla+ pays every month on its PvP leaderboard: $150 in cash or store credit for first, $50 for second, and 14 days of Legend plus crate keys for third. The leaderboard resets on the 1st of each month at 4 PM EST.
Numbers change through the day; live numbers, real players only, are at vanillaplus.net/stats.
A PvP SMP is one shared survival world where you gather gear and can lose it in any fight. A practice server gives you kits for arenas and duels, and losing costs nothing. A minigame network runs short rounds that reset every game. Vanilla+ is a PvP SMP.
It is free to play. The store sells the Legend rank (queue skip, cosmetics, extra homes), Legend Tokens, seasonal crate keys, and unbans and unmutes. No kits and no stat boosts are sold, and crate gear uses vanilla enchantments only.
No. The survival world has never reset since the server opened in 2021. Spawn is rebuilt every 30 minutes and the leaderboard resets every month, but bases and gear stay until someone takes them.
Vanilla+: the live server configuration, the Vanilla+ wiki and our server monitor. Every other server: its own official site, or its official Discord page where the site did not load for us, checked 6 November 2026.
This guide is kept by the Vanilla+ team at Thunder Studios and re-checked monthly. Published . Corrections to ops@thunderstudios.dev. Minecraft is a trademark of Mojang; Vanilla+ and the other servers here are not affiliated with Mojang or Microsoft.