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NeoForge

Forge fork Mod loader Free / Open source

What is NeoForge?

NeoForge is a fork of Minecraft Forge that appeared in July 2023, run by most of the former Forge development team. It carries on the mission of the original Forge, a powerful platform for modding Minecraft Java Edition, but with modern development practices, better project management and faster updates.

NeoForge came out of a conflict inside the Forge team over how the project was run. In July 2023 most of the active Forge developers left and started a new project called NeoForge (from the Greek "neo", meaning new). Cpw, one of Forge's key developers, became NeoForge's lead.

NeoForge quickly won the support of the modding community. Most popular mods, including Create, Applied Energistics 2, Mekanism, JEI and hundreds of others, officially support NeoForge. Many mods publish builds for Forge and NeoForge at the same time, and some have dropped the original Forge and support only NeoForge.

NeoForge keeps a high level of compatibility with Forge mods, especially in the early versions. Starting with 1.20.5, however, it introduces its own API changes, which gradually move it away from Forge. Mods written for Forge 1.20.1 usually run on NeoForge unchanged, but newer versions may need small adaptations.

Why NeoForge instead of Forge?

NeoForge advantages

  • Active development team (most of the former Forge team)
  • Faster updates to new Minecraft versions
  • Better project management and communication with the community
  • Open decision-making (public RFCs)
  • API modernization and removal of deprecated code
  • A growing base of supported mods
  • Official CurseForge and Modrinth support

When to stay with Forge

  • Your server runs an older MC version (1.12.2-1.19.4) where NeoForge doesn't exist
  • A specific mod is only available for Forge (rare, but possible)
  • A modpack built specifically for Forge with no NeoForge equivalent
  • You don't want to migrate a working, stable server

Installing a NeoForge server

  1. Install Java 21 - NeoForge for Minecraft 1.20.5+ requires Java 21. Download it from adoptium.net.
  2. Download the NeoForge installer - go to neoforged.net and download the installer for your Minecraft version.
  3. Run the installer - java -jar neoforge-*-installer.jar --installServer
    The installer downloads all required libraries and creates the launch scripts.
  4. Start the server - use the generated run.sh (Linux/Mac) or run.bat (Windows) script.
  5. Accept the EULA - edit eula.txt, set it to eula=true and start the server again.
  6. Add mods - put the mods' .jar files in the mods/ folder. Make sure the mods are compatible with your NeoForge version.

Migrating from Forge to NeoForge

Migrating from Forge to NeoForge is fairly simple, especially for Minecraft 1.20.1-1.20.4:

  • Step 1: Stop the server and back up the whole directory
  • Step 2: Delete the Forge files (but keep the mods/ folder, config/ and the world)
  • Step 3: Install NeoForge in the same directory using the installer
  • Step 4: Start the server - most mods should load without problems
  • Step 5: Check the logs for errors. If a mod doesn't work, look on Modrinth or CurseForge for a NeoForge version

For 1.20.5 and newer, NeoForge introduced API changes that may require updates to some mods. Always check mod compatibility before you migrate.

Download NeoForge from neoforged.net →