ExploitShield vs Polar Anticheat

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.

Polar Anticheat is cheat-prevention software for Minecraft servers, with checks largely processed in Polar Cloud. It monitors player activity and can mitigate movement, reach, and damage before applying punishments. Listed detection coverage includes auto clicker, heuristics, invalid protocol, movement, tick speed, inventory, world interaction, and latency abuse; enforcement can include hit cancellation, setbacks, kicks, and bans. Its plans include all checks, with limits on players, server instances, and HWIDs. Small server is €15 a month (billed €45/quarter or €150/year); Medium server is €29 a month (billed €29/month or €290/year); Large server is €59 a month (billed €59/month or €590/year). Installation uses a PolarLoader.jar file in the server’s plugins folder. Requirements include Java 8 or higher, Spigot or Paper, and an uninterrupted internet connection. Domain verification is required for onboarding, and proxy plugins are unsupported. The documentation describes an API for server and user lookup, events, and custom subcommands. The service supports Bedrock exemption when Floodgate and player-data forwarding are configured.