ExploitShield vs Medusa
ExploitShield
github.comMedusa
visient.aiSide by side
| Figure | ExploitShield | Medusa |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Minecraft Anti-Cheat Plugins | 7.6 (#13) | 7.5 (#18) |
| Spec score · Minecraft anti-cheat plugins | 7.7 (#13) | 7.8 (#12) |
| Configuration | Administrators can customize packet limits, punishments, protection modules, alert messages, thresholds, and rate limits. | The maker describes in-game configuration tools, customizable detections, and a flexible command system. |
| License | ExploitShield is licensed under GPL-3.0; the README says distributed modified versions or projects incorporating its source must also use GPL-3.0 and make their complete source code public. | The project listing says Medusa is open source under the GPLv3 license. |
| Purpose | ExploitShield is an open-source Minecraft server plugin for protection against packet exploits, crash attempts, invalid NBT data, malicious payloads, and duplication methods. | Medusa is a lightweight, server-side Minecraft anti-cheat and automatic moderation system. |
| Support | The project directs users to its Discord community for help, bug reports, and feature suggestions, and welcomes GitHub issues and contributions. | The maker says support concluded in 2021 after more than 80 user tickets were resolved via Discord. |
Plans
In their own words
ExploitShield
ExploitShield is a free, open-source Minecraft server plugin that guards against packet exploits, crash attempts, invalid NBT data, malicious payloads, and duplication methods. It filters and validates packets, limits their rate, detects malformed traffic, and checks payloads and plugin messages. NBT checks cover oversized content, invalid UTF-8, illegal characters, and invalid stack sizes. Listed crash protections address books, signs, payloads, chat overflow, TabComplete, and invalid packet cancellation. Duplication defenses cover inventory, creative, hoppers, containers, pistons, minecarts, boats, and vehicles, alongside chunk detection and item signature tracking. Administrators can configure protection modules, thresholds, packet and rate limits, alert messages, and punishments. Responses include alerts, cancellations, kicks, bans, IP bans, and custom commands. It supports Minecraft 1.17.x–1.21.x on Paper, Spigot, and Folia, and requires Java 17+, PacketEvents 2.13.0+, and ProtocolLib 5.4.0+. The license is GPL-3.0; modified distributions or projects incorporating its source must use that license and publish their complete source code.