Essential Minecraft Plugins for a Professional Hypixel-Style Server in 2025

Admins who want to replicate the professional feel of popular networks like Hypixel need a strategic selection of plugins. These tools are essential for delivering core functionality, a better player experience, and reliable day-to-day management. This guide covers the essential plugins used by top-tier servers, offering recommendations and configuration tips for admins building their own competitive Minecraft worlds.

Core Infrastructure for Your Hypixel-Style Server

EssentialsX: The Foundation

EssentialsX is the foundational tool for any professional-grade server. It provides must-have moderation tools, warps, kits, economy systems, and player nicknames. This tool forms the backbone of your operations, giving you comprehensive control over the server's basic functions.

Key add-ons include:

The Chat addon: Enables custom chat formatting with colors and prefixes for different player ranks and groups.
The Protect addon: Lets you disable TNT or creeper explosions, prevent fire spread, and control mob spawning.

LuckPerms: Managing Permissions

LuckPerms is a free and powerful tool for managing permissions and ranks, which is crucial for creating a structured hierarchy. It lets you finely control what players can do and access in different areas of your world.

Essential Minecraft server plugins interface — A typical plugin interface for managing core server tools.

World Management and Editing Tools

WorldEdit: Advanced Map Editing

WorldEdit is the go-to in-game map editor for admins, allowing for precise selections like cuboids, cylinders, polygons, and spheres, all without needing any client-side mods. This tool is indispensable for both initial setup and ongoing map maintenance.

Multiverse-Core: Multi-World Management

Multiverse-Core lets you create and manage multiple worlds on one server. The Multiverse-Inventories addon adds the ability to separate player inventories and stats between worlds, which is great for keeping them isolated.

Enhancing the Player Experience

HolographicDisplays: Guiding Your Players

HolographicDisplays is used on top servers like Hypixel to guide players and improve the overall look of the world. It creates floating text displays that make navigation easier and add some visual flair.

Custom Content Creation with Oraxen

If your server needs unique visual elements, Oraxen is a powerful tool for creating custom items, blocks, menus, and GUIs with your own textures and models. This open-source tool offers an API that allows for even deeper customization, and you can also find it on Polymart.

Minecraft server plugin configuration dashboard — Configuring advanced settings for multiple worlds and permissions.

Technical Needs and Costs

What You'll Need

You'll need a Spigot or CraftBukkit server to install and run these plugins. These server types provide the framework that plugins need to function correctly.

Budget Planning

While many of the most important plugins are free, some premium options offer more advanced features:

McMMO premium plugin: $19.99
AAC (Advanced Anti-Cheat): £20 for comprehensive server protection

Free alternatives like LuckPerms and WorldEdit offer professional-level features at no cost, making them perfect for admins on a budget.

Getting Started: Your Implementation Plan

To set up a professional, Hypixel-style server, you should install your plugins in a logical order. Start with the core infrastructure (EssentialsX, LuckPerms), then move on to world management tools (WorldEdit, Multiverse-Core), and finish with plugins that improve the player experience (HolographicDisplays, custom content tools).

To learn more about choosing plugins and advanced configuration, check out our other server optimization strategies. They'll help you get the most out of your server and deliver the professional experience players expect from a top-tier network.