Download Minecraft Forge Server
Minecraft Forge is the long-standing mod loader for Minecraft. It's the platform behind most of the largest modpacks on CurseForge, Feed the Beast and Technic.
What is Minecraft Forge?
Minecraft Forge is the original modding framework for Minecraft, first released in 2011 for Minecraft 1.1. Forge provides a comprehensive API for mods — covering blocks, items, entities, GUIs, networking, world generation and much more — which is why almost every major modpack targets Forge. If you've ever installed a pack from CurseForge, Feed the Beast or the ATLauncher, there's an overwhelming chance it was a Forge pack. Forge is heavy compared to Fabric and updates more slowly after each Minecraft release, but it's the de-facto standard for traditional modpacks with hundreds of interacting mods.
When should I use Forge?
Pick Forge if the modpack you want to run is a Forge pack (most big CurseForge modpacks are). Pick it if the specific mods you want only exist for Forge. For Minecraft 1.20.1 and newer the modding community is gradually migrating to NeoForge — both still work, and most mods are published for both, but NeoForge is the actively-developed fork going forward.
Setup
Required Java
Java 21 (MC 1.20.5+) · Java 17 (MC 1.17–1.20.4) · Java 8 (older)
Recommended RAM
4–6 GB for small packs, 8–12 GB for medium, 16 GB+ for heavy modpacks
Installation
1. Download the installer JAR above
2. Run: java -jar forge-installer.jar --installServer
3. Accept the EULA (eula.txt)
4. Run ./run.sh (Linux/macOS) or run.bat (Windows)All Forge versions
Every Forge build we have ever seen, grouped by Minecraft major version. Click any version to open its dedicated download page.