Best Crates Plugins: 5 Picks for Minecraft Servers in 2026

This list is for server owners choosing a crates plugin for a survival, SMP, skyblock or minigame server in 2026. By the end you will know how ExcellentCrates and Phoenix Crates compare, which three other options are worth a look, and how to install whichever one you pick without breaking your server.

ExcellentCrates vs Phoenix Crates at a glance#

These two come up first in most crate plugin searches, so we put them side by side before anything else. Both give you physical crates, keys, previews, holograms and opening animations. The differences are in versions, editing and pricing model.

1. ExcellentCrates: the feature-rich free option#

ExcellentCrates by NightExpress is a free crates plugin with an in-game GUI editor for crates, rewards and keys. It has over 126,000 downloads on Modrinth and over 532,000 on SpigotMC at the time of writing. Version 6.6.1 came out in December 2025.

What it does well:

• GUI editor: open it with /crates editor and build crates, rewards and keys without touching YAML.
• Physical and virtual keys, so you can hand out keys as items or store them on the player.
• Built-in holograms and particles above crate blocks.
• Reward rarities and weights, plus selectable rewards where the player picks.
• Milestones, mass open, cooldowns and opening costs for longer term progression.
• Custom item support for plugins such as Nexo, ItemsAdder and Oraxen.

What to know first: it needs the free nightcore library installed alongside it, it needs Spigot or Paper 1.21.8 or newer with Java 21, and crate holograms need either PacketEvents or ProtocolLib. It does not support Folia.

ExcellentCrates Free Free crates plugin by NightExpress with a GUI editor, physical and virtual keys, holograms, milestones and custom item support. On Modrinth

Useful commands once it is running:

/crates editor
/crates key give <player> <key> [amount]
/crates give <player> <crate> [amount]
/crates preview <crate> [player]

If you want a finished set of crates instead of building them from scratch, our ExcellentCrates config, made by our team, ships five tiers (Vote, Common, Blaze, Phantom and Eternal) with 190+ rewards, hex styled keys and keys that drop from one crate into another so players move up the tiers.

Made by our team Configs ExcellentCrates Config | 5-Tier System A premium 5-tier ExcellentCrates config with 190+ rewards, hex lore keys & cross-crate key chains. $2.15 $3.59 View product

2. Phoenix Crates: animations first, with a free Lite tier#

Phoenix Crates by Phoenix Plugins focuses on how a crate opening looks. The official site advertises 30+ animations, custom models and an in-game editor, so you can set up crates and odds without YAML. It also says crates and menus are built to work within Geyser's limits, which matters if Bedrock players join through Geyser.

There are two versions:

• Phoenix Crates Lite (free): up to five crates, multiple locations per crate, idle and opening animations with sounds, virtual keys, reward previews, broadcasts, cooldowns and per-crate holograms. No other plugins required. It has over 56,000 downloads on Modrinth and over 90,000 on SpigotMC.
• Phoenix Crates (paid): removes the five crate cap and unlocks the full set of 30+ animations. Extras such as mass opening and a leaderboard come as separate add-ons on the official product page (the leaderboard add-on is listed as free).

The listings give different version ranges (the Modrinth Lite page, the SpigotMC free page and the official site each list their own), so check the page you download from against your server version before installing.

Phoenix Crates Lite Free Free version of Phoenix Crates with animated crates, previews and virtual keys for up to five crates; a paid full version is sold on the official site. On Modrinth

3. CrazyCrates: open source with many crate types#

CrazyCrates from the Crazy Crew team is the most downloaded crates plugin on Modrinth among the ones we checked, with over 322,000 downloads, and it is MIT licensed and open source on GitHub. It lets you add unlimited crates and choose from 10+ crate types, each opening in a different way.

• Weight based prize picking, with alternative prizes.
• Virtual and physical keys, including giving keys to offline players.
• Rerolls capped by permission, custom sounds and MiniMessage formatting.
• Action logging so you can see who opened what.

Version note: Modrinth lists builds for versions going back to 1.8.8 and forward to 26.1 and 26.2, across Paper, Purpur, Spigot and Folia. The current docs say the newest builds need Paper 26.x and Java 25, so pick the build that matches your server rather than simply grabbing the newest file.

CrazyCrates Free Open source crates plugin with unlimited crates, 10+ crate types, virtual and physical keys and weighted prizes. On Modrinth

Because CrazyCrates can gate rerolls by permission, it pairs well with a proper rank setup. Our guide to setting up LuckPerms groups and promotions shows how to give each rank its own permissions.

4. Crate Reloaded: a long-running free option for older versions#

Crate Reloaded has been on SpigotMC since 2014 and has over 170,000 downloads with a 4.5 out of 5 rating. The free version covers mystery crates, key crates, previews, weighted rewards, particles and effects, an offline claim system and a developer API, and it is translated into several languages.

It is a good fit for servers still running older versions: the SpigotMC listing covers 1.8 to 1.20, with 1.21 support mentioned in the latest update. That latest update (2.3.13) is from July 2024, so if you run a current 26.x server, test it carefully or choose one of the actively updated options above.

Crate Reloaded Free Long-running free mystery and key crate plugin for Spigot servers from 1.8 to 1.20. On SpigotMC

5. ABestCrates: a newer GUI-first project for Paper#

ABestCrates is a newer open source (GPL-3.0) plugin for Paper 1.20 and 1.21 that puts everything into menus: crates, keys, rewards, chances, animations, holograms and messages are all edited in-game. It includes several animation styles (Roll, Casino, Cosmic, Roulette, Wheel and Wonder), physical and virtual keys, particles and bulk opening. Vault and PlaceholderAPI are optional.

It is a small project so far (around 1,100 Modrinth downloads), so it suits owners who like trying newer plugins and are happy to report issues on its GitHub.

ABestCrates Free Newer open source Paper crates plugin where crates, keys, rewards and animations are all managed through in-game menus. On Modrinth

Which crates plugin fits your server#

Run only one crates plugin at a time. Two plugins listening to the same crate blocks or key items can both react to a click.

Install a crates plugin on your server#

The steps are the same for every plugin above: check Java, upload the jar (plus any library it needs, such as nightcore for ExcellentCrates), restart, then set up crates in game.

Once the plugin is running, place your crate blocks at spawn and give yourself a test key. Then protect the area so nobody can break or grief the crates: our WorldGuard safe zone guide walks through making a protected region around spawn.

Balance crates before players see them#

• Use weights, not gut feeling. Every plugin here uses weights or chances. Keep the top tier rare enough that opening one is an event.
• Tie keys to activity. Vote keys, playtime rewards and events keep players logging in; selling every key in a store tends to flatten the economy.
• Preview everything. All five plugins offer reward previews. Players trust crates more when they can see the odds and the pool.
• Test openings with several players at once on a test server, especially with heavy animations, before you announce a new crate.