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Connection Guard
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Coming in 0.5A free dashboard and a two-minute setup assistant.See the preview →

Keep VPN alts off your Minecraft server.

Connection Guard is a free, open-source anti-VPN plugin with country rules for Paper, Spigot, BungeeCord and Velocity. You choose the detection services and how strict to be.

Download freeHow it compares
  • MIT licensed
  • No account needed
  • Paper, Spigot, BungeeCord, Velocity

Downloads so far

v0.4.11

4,992

Read from each platform's public API on 4 October 2026. Downloads are not active servers.

How it compares

The questions operators ask before installing anything that touches every login, answered with things you can check.

  • Price

    Connection Guard
    Yes: Free
    Paid plugin
    Varies: One-time purchase
    Hosted service
    Varies: Subscription or limited free tier

  • Source codeSee it →

    Connection Guard
    Yes: Open source, MIT
    Paid plugin
    No: Usually closed
    Hosted service
    No: Closed

  • Account requiredSee it →

    Connection Guard
    Yes: No
    Paid plugin
    Yes: No
    Hosted service
    No: Yes

  • Detection services

    Connection Guard
    Yes: Your choice: ProxyCheck, IP-API, IPHub, VPNAPI or your own
    Paid plugin
    Varies: Several built in
    Hosted service
    Varies: The service's own

  • Country rules

    Connection Guard
    Yes: Block list or allow list
    Paid plugin
    Varies: Often
    Hosted service
    Varies: Often

  • Runs onSee it →

    Connection Guard
    Yes: One JAR for Paper, Spigot, BungeeCord and Velocity
    Paid plugin
    Varies: Varies by plugin
    Hosted service
    Varies: Via its own plugin

  • Explains each decision0.5See it →

    Connection Guard
    Yes: Every provider vote and rule, in plain English
    Paid plugin
    Varies: Varies
    Hosted service
    Varies: Varies

  • Web dashboard0.5See it →

    Connection Guard
    Yes: Optional and free
    Paid plugin
    No: Usually commands only
    Hosted service
    Yes: Yes

  • If the cloud is down

    Connection Guard
    Yes: Logins never wait on it
    Paid plugin
    Yes: No cloud involved
    Hosted service
    Varies: Depends on the service

The other columns describe common setups we reviewed in October 2026, not any single product; individual plugins and services differ, so check their pages before you choose. Rows marked 0.5 arrive with Connection Guard 0.5; everything else is in today's release.

Every decision, explained. 0.5

Optional and free from 0.5: link a server with one click from its console, and see who was checked, who was refused, and the reason behind each verdict. Settings change in plain language, without a restart.

  • Logins never wait on the dashboard
  • Off with one line: cloud.enabled: false
  • Open source, data stored in the EU

Protected in four steps.

No account, no external service you have to trust with your server. If a detection service is down, your rules decide, and players are never stuck waiting.

[12:04:51 INFO] [connection-guard] Enabled Connection Guard v0.4.11
[12:04:51 INFO] [connection-guard] VPN check: ProxyCheck · country check: IP-API
[12:05:07 INFO] [connection-guard] Link this server to your dashboard: https://app.connectionguard.net/link/7KQM-4P2X
Illustrative console output. The dashboard link appears from 0.5.

  1. Download one JAR

    The same file runs on Paper, Spigot, BungeeCord and Velocity. Java 8 or newer; Velocity needs Java 17.

  2. Drop it into plugins and restart

    New players are checked from their first login. Answers are cached, so a returning player from the same address costs no lookup.

  3. Choose your rules0.5

    Pick detection services, countries and what happens on a hit: in config.yml today, in a two-minute setup assistant from 0.5.

  4. See who was refused, and why0.5

    Staff alerts in chat and Discord webhooks today. From 0.5, a decision log that explains every verdict in one sentence.

One JAR, every platform.

On a network, install it once on the proxy. On a single server, drop it into plugins.

Open source, all the way down.

Read exactly what runs on your server and what the dashboard stores. Fork it, audit it, self-host it.

gerolndnr/connection-guardMITThe plugin: detection, country rules, caching, failure policies and the optional cloud link.View source →gerolndnr/connection-guard-cloudAGPL-3.0The dashboard and its API on Cloudflare Workers. Self-hostable; point the plugin at your own copy.View source →

Questions

What is Connection Guard?

Connection Guard is a free, open-source anti-VPN plugin for Minecraft servers. It checks players' IP addresses at login for VPNs, proxies and country rules, and then refuses them, alerts staff or posts to Discord, as you choose.

Is Connection Guard free?

Yes. It's MIT licensed and needs no Connection Guard account. The detection services it uses have their own free plans and limits; the default VPN service, ProxyCheck, works without a key.

Which server software does it support?

Paper, Spigot and compatible servers (Java 8 or newer), BungeeCord and Waterfall (Java 8 or newer) and Velocity (Java 17 or newer), all from one JAR. On a network, install it on the proxy.

Isn't prevent-proxy-connections in server.properties enough?

No. It only kicks players whose network differs from the one that signed in at Mojang. A player who runs the whole game through a VPN passes it. An anti-VPN plugin checks the address itself.

Will it slow down logins?

A new address is checked once during login. Answers are cached (24 hours for VPN results and 72 hours for countries by default), so repeat logins from the same address need no lookup.

Can it block countries?

Yes. Use a blocklist to refuse listed countries or an allowlist to accept only listed countries, each with its own action and message.

Your server, your rules.

Free forever. Questions? The community is on Discord.

Download freeJoin the Discord