Comparison
Plan vs ServerStats
Plan (Player Analytics) is the free, open-source Minecraft analytics plugin you host yourself. ServerStats is hosted, covers 34 games and adds lag attribution, store revenue, alerts and Discord.
The short answer
Choose Plan if…
- You want free and open source, with no account anywhere.
- You want your data to stay on your own machine, kept as long as you like.
- You can open a port (or run a reverse proxy) and, for a network, a MySQL database.
- You run Spigot, Sponge, BungeeCord or older Minecraft versions.
- You rely on its long list of plugin integrations.
Choose ServerStats if…
- Your host won't give you a spare port, or you don't want a web panel exposed on your server.
- You run more than Minecraft: Hytale, Rust, FiveM and 30 more.
- You want to know which plugin caused each lag spike, with an alert when it starts.
- You want Tebex, PayNow or CraftingStore sales tied to each player, Discord webhook alerts and an emailed weekly report.
Feature by feature
Plan is a strong, mature project. Where it does more, the table says so.
| Feature | ServerStats | Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free for 1 server; $9.99/mo for 10 | Free (LGPL-3.0, open source) |
| Hosting | Hosted by us; the plugin only connects out | You host it: a web server inside your Minecraft server |
| Open port needed | No | Yes, or an existing web server on the same machine |
| Database to run | None | SQLite, or MySQL (required for proxy networks) |
| Minecraft platforms | Paper, Purpur, Folia 1.21.4+, Velocity, Fabric, NeoForge | Spigot, Paper, Folia, Fabric, Sponge, BungeeCord, Velocity |
| Other games | 32 more, plus basic mode | — |
| History kept | 24 hours, 90 days or 2 years by plan | As long as your database keeps it |
| Import Plan session history | Local helper for completed sessions, first joins, unambiguous countries and join addresses | Native data remains in Plan |
| Sessions, playtime and join addresses | ||
| TPS, CPU, RAM, entities and chunks | ||
| Lag spikes named by plugin | Yes, on Paper | No (pair it with spark) |
| D1, D7, D30 retention and churn risk | Operator and up | Activity index and player retention views |
| Data from other plugins | Vault, LuckPerms, EssentialsX, spark, plus a custom-events SDK | Large list of supported plugins, plus an extension API |
| Store revenue (Tebex, PayNow, CraftingStore) | Operator and up | Not a core feature |
| Alerts to email and Discord | Not a core feature | |
| Discord bot, weekly report, AI assistant | Weekly report by email; bot and AI coming soon | — |
| Your data stays on your machine | — | |
| Source code you can read and change | — |
Plan facts from its GitHub README and wiki, checked 28 September 2026. Latest release 5.8.3638 (5 September 2026).
Where Plan is better
Honest credit. For a single self-hosted Minecraft server, Plan is hard to beat on price.
Free, with no limits
No server cap and no history cap beyond your own disk.
Open source and self-hosted
LGPL-3.0. Your data never leaves your machine, and you can read every line.
More Minecraft platforms
Spigot, Sponge, BungeeCord and older versions, from one jar.
Plugin ecosystem
A long list of supported plugins, a DataExtension API, PlaceholderAPI and theming.
History you control
Keep years of sessions for free, in SQLite or MySQL.
Maturity
Years of development, a public issue tracker and an active release cadence.
Where ServerStats is better
No port, no database
The plugin connects out over HTTPS. Nothing to open, secure or back up on your side.
Lag, named
A built-in sampling profiler names the plugin behind each spike. See MSPT and TPS.
Revenue tied to players
Store sales matched to playtime and join source. See Tebex revenue tracking.
Alerts and reports
Lag, downtime and churn-risk alerts to email or Discord, and a weekly report.
34 games
One dashboard for your Minecraft network and everything else you host. See Minecraft.
Accounts and security
Team seats with roles, two-factor sign-in, and encrypted player identifiers. See security.
Cost compared
Plan costs nothing to license. What you pay is setup and upkeep. ServerStats prices from our pricing page, 28 September 2026.
| Feature | ServerStats | Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Software | Free: 1 server, 24 hours. $9.99/mo: 10 servers, 90 days. $24.99/mo: unlimited, 2 years | Free |
| What you run | Nothing beyond the plugin | An open port, and MySQL for a network |
| Your time | Install a plugin, paste a claim code | Port, database, HTTPS and login setup, updates |
See ServerStats pricing. Yearly billing gives two months free.
Running both
You don't have to choose on day one.
- 1Keep Plan
Your history stays where it is.
- 2Start free
Add one server to ServerStats. No card.
- 3Install the plugin
Drop the jar in plugins/ and paste the claim code. No port.
- 4Compare
After a week, compare retention, lag and sales side by side.
Bring your Plan sessions
The local importer reads a Plan SQLite backup and sends selected completed sessions, never the entire database.
Keep the backup local
The helper reads one Plan server at a time and sends session IDs, player UUIDs, timestamps, unambiguous country names and join addresses over HTTPS. No IP addresses leave your machine.
Keep player identity
Imported UUIDs match new sessions from the ServerStats Minecraft agent. Reruns skip duplicate sessions; the importer also skips proxy visits overlapping completed backend visits.
Read the guide
Follow the Plan import guide; Free, Operator and Network history windows still apply.
Questions
Is Plan free?
Yes. Plan (Player Analytics) is free and open source under the LGPL-3.0 licence. You host it yourself: it runs a web server inside your Minecraft server and stores data in SQLite or MySQL.
Do I need an open port for ServerStats?
No. The ServerStats plugin only makes outbound HTTPS connections and opens no ports. Plan's web server needs an unused open port, or an existing web server on the same machine with limited support.
Can I run Plan and ServerStats together?
Yes. They are separate plugins and we know of no conflict. Many owners keep Plan for its long self-hosted history and add ServerStats for lag, revenue, alerts and other games.
Can I import my Plan history into ServerStats?
Yes. Use ServerStats's local Plan importer with a SQLite backup to bring completed Minecraft sessions, available first-join dates, unambiguous countries and per-session join addresses. It does not import Plan's plugin extension data, Bedrock markers or AFK adjustment. The destination plan's session history limit applies.
Does ServerStats replace spark?
No. spark is the profiler you run when you're chasing a problem. ServerStats records MSPT and TPS all the time, names the plugin behind each spike, keeps the history and alerts you. It also reads spark's MSPT when spark is installed.
Which Minecraft platforms does each support?
Plan: Spigot, Paper, Folia, Fabric, Sponge, BungeeCord and Velocity, from one jar. ServerStats: Paper, Purpur and Folia 1.21.4 and newer, Velocity, Fabric and NeoForge. Plan covers more platforms and older versions.
Sources
Competitor facts come from their own pages, read on 28 September 2026. Where a site blocks automated checks we used a dated Wayback Machine snapshot and say so. Prices change: check their site before you decide. Spotted something out of date? Email [email protected] and we will fix it.
- Plan on GitHub · platforms, licence, databases
- Plan releases · 5.8.3638, 5 September 2026
- Plan wiki: network set-up · open port and MySQL requirements
- Plan wiki: external web server · limited support without the built-in web server
- Plan website
- Analyse Plan import docs · a broader hosted import through Plan's Query API
More comparisons
Try ServerStats next to Plan, free
One server, no card, no port. Keep Plan running.