Fabric vs Leaf
Fabric
fabricmc.netLeaf
leafmc.oneSide by side
| Figure | Fabric | Leaf |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 0 |
| Spec score · Minecraft Server Software | 8.8 (#3) | 7.8 (#11) |
| Integrations | Fabric's site links to CurseForge and Modrinth for play and GitHub for its projects. | The project README says Leaf integrates with Sentry to track server errors in detail. |
| License | Yarn is a set of open Minecraft mappings offered under the Creative Commons Zero license. | The project license page says Leaf binaries are licensed under GPL-3.0-only, while patches generally use MIT unless otherwise indicated. |
| Product | Fabric is a modular, lightweight mod loader for Minecraft. | Leaf is high-performance Minecraft server software built on Paper, designed to balance performance, vanilla behavior, and stability. |
| Support | The site directs users to the Fabric Discord server and GitHub Discussions for help. | The docs direct users to the Leaf Discord server for contact and support. |
Plans
In their own words
Fabric
Fabric is a free, modular mod loader for Minecraft, with tools for playing and building mods. The Fabric Loader download supplies the basic loader; most mods also need Fabric API in the mods folder for the extra APIs they use. Players can install through options including Minecraft Launcher, Minecraft Server, MultiMC, CurseForge, GDLauncher, ATLauncher, MCUpdater, Technic, portablemc, and Metadata API. For developers, Fabric offers an online template generator, project templates, command-line tools, and an example mod repository. Fabric Loom is a Gradle plugin for developing and debugging mods. Its wider toolchain includes Yarn, open Minecraft mappings offered under CC0; Intermediary, which provides match information for cross-version mods; and Tiny Remapper for JAR files. Documentation covers player installation and troubleshooting as well as developer topics from setup through rendering and networking. Fabric is free, supports Java mods, and is described as mostly version independent. Its site says it is not an official Minecraft product and is not approved by or associated with Mojang.