BungeeCord vs Velocity: Which Minecraft Proxy to Choose?

What BungeeCord and Velocity do in a Minecraft network

In a multi-server setup, BungeeCord and Velocity act as proxies: they sit in front of your Minecraft servers and route players to the right backend without disconnecting them.

A player connects once to a single address (for example your hub IP). The proxy then sends the connection to your lobby, survival, creative, minigames servers and so on, while the Minecraft client stays connected the whole time.

Typical layout:

Players → Proxy (BungeeCord or Velocity) → backend servers (Paper, Spigot, etc.)

One of the biggest advantages of a proxy is load balancing (or load distribution). Instead of running your entire project (lobby, survival, minigames…) on a single large Minecraft server that would eventually lag and saturate due to the game engine’s single-thread limitations, you split your project into several smaller, specialized servers, all seamlessly linked together by the proxy.

The proxy also centralizes:

• player authentication.

• server switching with the /server command.

• part of your network security.

How BungeeCord works

BungeeCord is the classic Minecraft proxy used to link several servers together.

Core ideas:

• it listens on a public port (for example 25565) and receives all player connections.

• each backend server (lobby, survival, etc.) runs on its own port in offline-mode.

• BungeeCord forwards the player IP and identity through the ip_forward setting.

• players move between servers with /server <name> or via plugins (signs, menus, NPCs, portals…).

Note on Waterfall: Waterfall, which was for a long time the most popular BungeeCord fork used to improve performance, was officially discontinued by the PaperMC team in 2023. PaperMC now recommends transitioning directly to Velocity.

Typical BungeeCord configuration:

• in the proxy config.yml:

  • declare servers under servers: (name, IP:port, MOTD, restricted flag).

  • set host: 0.0.0.0:25565 to listen on the public port.

  • ip_forward: true so backends receive the real IP and UUID.

  • priorities: to pick the default server, usually the hub.

• in each Spigot or Paper backend:

  • online-mode=false in server.properties.

  • bungeecord: true in spigot.yml.

How Velocity works

Velocity is a more modern proxy, designed for high performance and stronger security.

It plays the same role as BungeeCord but with an updated architecture:

• a multi-threaded design to better use modern CPUs.

• single configuration file velocity.toml using TOML syntax.

• improved security with modern forwarding (Velocity forwarding) based on a shared secret between the proxy and the Paper backends.

• excellent support for current Minecraft versions.

Tip: If you are interested in extreme performance optimization, check out our article on Velocity and Folia on BoxToPlay to boost your Minecraft server’s performance.

Key parts in velocity.toml:

• bind = "0.0.0.0:25565" for the public listening port.

• motd and show-max-players for the server list display.

• [servers] for backend definitions under the form name = "ip:port".

• try = ["lobby", "survival"] for the default connection order.

• player-info-forwarding-mode = "modern" and forwarding-secret-file = "forwarding.secret" (which contains the shared secret key) to secure communication with your backend servers.

On each Paper backend, you configure the same secret in paper-global.yml under proxies.velocity.secret. This shared secret ensures that only your Velocity proxy can talk to your backend servers.

What BungeeCord and Velocity have in common

Both proxies allow you to:

• link multiple Minecraft servers behind a single public address.

• move players with /server without disconnecting them.

• use a hub as a single entry point for your network.

• centralize bans, permissions, chat and more through network-wide plugins.

• spread players across several machines and reduce load on each server.

Beyond commands: Using portals

While the /server <name> command lets players switch servers manually, in practice, administrators don’t make players type commands to navigate. Instead, they use portals.

• How does it work? Portal plugins (such as Advanced Portals, BungeePortals, or Simple Portals) are not installed on the proxy itself, but rather on your backend servers (typically the Lobby/Hub).
• Automation: You define a region (for example with WorldEdit) and create a portal. As soon as a player steps into it, the backend plugin intercepts the event and sends a signal to the proxy (BungeeCord or Velocity) to automatically and instantly redirect the player to the target server. It is seamless, immersive, and fully automated.

For both, one best practice never changes:

• backend server ports should not be directly reachable from the internet.

• only the proxy port should be open to the public, protected by firewall rules.

Main differences: BungeeCord vs Velocity

These are the practical differences you will feel when running a network.

Architecture and performance

• BungeeCord handles connections largely on a single thread. This works fine for small networks but can become a bottleneck as concurrent player counts grow.

• Velocity uses a design that takes advantage of multiple threads, which generally gives better scalability and lower latency for larger networks.

Forwarding security

• BungeeCord relies on ip_forward by default. To stay safe, you must configure firewall rules (Firewall/IP Whitelisting) to block direct access to backend ports. Alternatively, you can use the third-party plugin BungeeGuard to add secret-based handshake verification.

• Velocity natively implements secure modern forwarding using a shared secret file (forwarding.secret). Any Paper backend server will automatically reject connection attempts that do not originate from your configured Velocity proxy, even if the port is exposed.

Configuration style

• BungeeCord uses YAML in config.yml with sections like servers, listeners, ip_forward, priorities, network_compression_threshold.

• Velocity uses TOML in velocity.toml with sections like [servers], player-info-forwarding-mode, [query].

Plugin ecosystem

• BungeeCord offers a very large and mature plugin ecosystem, built over many years.

• Velocity has a newer but fast growing ecosystem, with major projects already supporting it as a first class proxy.

Compatibility with modded servers

• BungeeCord: Historically supports Forge, but configuring it is often complex and prone to protocol issues on recent Minecraft versions.

• Velocity: Provides excellent compatibility with modern modded servers. You only need to add a forwarding mod on your backend servers:

  • Fabric: By installing the FabricProxy-Lite mod on the backend.

  • Forge / NeoForge: By installing the Proxy Compatible Forge (PCF) mod (complemented by CrossStitch if needed for commands) on the backend.

When to pick BungeeCord and when Velocity

To summarize simply:

• Choose BungeeCord if you manage an existing and stable network that depends on specific proxy plugins that haven’t been ported yet, or if you need to ensure compatibility with very old Minecraft versions.

• Choose Velocity for any new project or modern network. It is the ideal solution to benefit from enhanced security (protection against network spam), a smaller memory footprint, and optimal support for recent versions or modded servers (Forge, Fabric).

Installation on BoxToPlay

At BoxToPlay, we offer you the best of both worlds: Velocity is fully included in our BungeeCord hosting offer, at no extra cost.

From your BoxToPlay control panel, you can install BungeeCord or Velocity in a single click on your proxy instance. This is the perfect opportunity to test both software options on our high-end infrastructure (equipped with AMD Ryzen™ 9 7950X3D processors and DDR5 RAM), monitor response times, and easily configure your backends (Paper, Pufferfish, or Folia).

If your Minecraft servers are also hosted at BoxToPlay, the integration goes even further: all the tedious configuration is automated on both sides. The proxy configures itself automatically (backend declarations, forwarding, ports), and your Minecraft servers are reconfigured at the same time (BungeeCord mode or Velocity forwarding activation, secure linking). No need to manually edit config.yml, spigot.yml, or paper-global.yml: the BoxToPlay panel handles it for you.

Start your free trial to set up your BungeeCord or Velocity proxy in just a few clicks, or explore our Minecraft server hosting offers to connect your entire network on our high-performance infrastructure!