Fabric vs SteelMC
Fabric
fabricmc.netSteelMC
steelmc.devSide by side
| Figure | Fabric | SteelMC |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 0 |
| Spec score · Minecraft Server Software | 8.8 (#3) | 7.1 (#21) |
| Development tools | The Fabric toolchain includes Fabric Loom, a Gradle plugin for developing and debugging mods. | Optional build features include deadlock detection for debugging and heap profiling with dhat. |
| Installation options | The installation page lists the Minecraft Launcher, Minecraft Server, MultiMC, CurseForge, GDLauncher, ATLauncher, MCUpdater, Technic, and portablemc as options. | Steel can be installed from a pre-built binary, Docker, a server-panel egg, or a source build. |
| License | Yarn is a set of open Minecraft mappings offered under the Creative Commons Zero license. | SteelMC is free software licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3 or later. |
| Product | Fabric is a modular, lightweight mod loader for Minecraft. | Steel is a Minecraft Java Edition server implementation written in Rust targeting Minecraft 26.2. |
| Support | The site directs users to the Fabric Discord server and GitHub Discussions for help. | The project directs users and contributors to its Discord community and GitHub repository. |
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.