VGSources / Best Minecraft Anti-Cheat Plugins / ExploitShield

ExploitShield

github.com

Free

What it is

ExploitShield is an open-source Minecraft server plugin for protection against packet exploits, crash attempts, invalid NBT data, malicious payloads, and duplication methods.

From github.com's own pages, read 7 Oct 2026.

Plans

FreeMinecraft 1.17.x–1.21.x · Paper, Spigot, or Folia · Java 17+ · PacketEvents 2.13.0+ and ProtocolLib 5.4.0+ requiredFree

As github.com lists them, read 7 Oct 2026.

Data plate

Price: Free to use
Free plan: Yes
Free trial: Not stated
Runs on: self-hosted
Open source: No
Website: github.com
Alerts and actions: The configurable alert system supports alerting, cancelling, kicking, banning, IP banning, and custom commands.
Compatibility: The README lists Minecraft 1.17.x–1.21.x and Paper, Spigot, and Folia, with Java 17+ required.
Configuration: Administrators can customize packet limits, punishments, protection modules, alert messages, thresholds, and rate limits.
Crash protection: Listed protections cover book, sign, and payload crashes, chat overflow, TabComplete, and invalid packet cancellation.
Duplication protection: Listed protections include inventory, creative, hopper, container, piston, minecart, boat, and vehicle duplication, plus chunk duplication detection and item signature tracking.
Integrations and requirements: ExploitShield uses PacketEvents and ProtocolLib and requires PacketEvents 2.13.0+ and ProtocolLib 5.4.0+.
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.
NBT protection: It checks NBT data for oversized content, invalid UTF-8, illegal characters, and invalid stack sizes, among other conditions.
Checked: 7 Oct 2026

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