On July 9, 2026, the official PocketMine-MP repository was archived on GitHub, bringing nearly fourteen years of development to a close. The final version published by the PMMP team, 5.44.3 released on July 6, 2026, supports Minecraft Bedrock 1.26.30 and will remain the last one.
PocketMine holds a special place at Winheberg. Many servers hosted on our gaming panel run on this software, and we know this announcement raises a lot of questions. This article covers what actually changes for your server, and the alternatives available going forward.
Why PocketMine-MP is shutting down
The PMMP team explained that a key developer recently decided to leave the Minecraft world to pursue other projects, and that no one left on the team was willing to handle updates for new game versions. Rather than appointing a successor, the historical maintainer chose to archive the project and invite the community to create forks, publishing detailed documentation of the update process to help anyone willing to carry the torch.
This choice may come as a surprise, but it reflects a reality of open source. PocketMine-MP was carried for years by a handful of volunteers, and the project depended heavily on them to keep up with the fast pace of Minecraft Bedrock updates.
What it changes for your server
Rest assured, your PocketMine server is not going to shut down overnight. It keeps running normally on Minecraft Bedrock 1.26.30.
The problem comes with time. With every new Minecraft Bedrock release, players update their game, and a server stuck on an older protocol version can no longer welcome them. Without server software updates, your community will gradually find itself unable to connect. Bug fixes and security patches will no longer be provided either.
There is no need to panic, but now is the time to think about what comes next. A server that does not prepare will lose its players at the next major game update.
Altay, continuity for the PHP ecosystem
Altay is a community fork of PocketMine-MP, written in PHP and distributed under the LGPL-3.0 license, just like its predecessor. The project released version 5.43.3 on July 12, 2026, only three days after the PMMP repository was archived, which shows active development has resumed.
The appeal of Altay is obvious for existing servers. The software is a direct continuation of PocketMine-MP, which lets you keep your habits, your knowledge and the PHP plugin ecosystem you already rely on. To keep a production server running today, it is the most natural option.
Winheberg is an official partner of the Altay project, and we are following its development closely to offer its versions on our gaming panel.
Nukkit, the Java veteran
No overview of the alternatives would be complete without Nukkit. Maintained by the CloudburstMC team, this Minecraft Bedrock server software is written in Java and has been around since the early days of the Bedrock server scene. It offers a large catalog of community plugins and an active community, and the CloudburstMC team is also developing Cloudburst Server, a new generation of server software designed for Bedrock.
Nukkit remains a solid option, but it is above all its lineage that matters for what comes next.
PowerNukkitX, the long-term target
We have to stay clear-eyed. The end of PMMP showed that a project carried by a few volunteers can stop overnight, and the PHP ecosystem around Minecraft Bedrock comes out weakened by this announcement. Altay provides continuity, but its level of maintenance will remain more limited than that of PowerNukkitX. This is why we recommend treating it as a transition solution, while preparing a migration to a more sustainable foundation in parallel.
That foundation is PowerNukkitX. Born from the Nukkit family, whose foundations it modernizes, it is an open source server software for Minecraft Bedrock, written in Java and distributed under the LGPL-3.0 license, with active development in 2026. Its features cover custom items, blocks and entities, vanilla commands, advanced mob AI and world generation. The software requires Java 21 or newer.
Winheberg is also an official partner of PowerNukkitX.
Migration does require real preparation, however. PowerNukkitX relies on a different ecosystem, and your PHP PocketMine plugins are not compatible. Your server's features will need to be rebuilt with plugins from the PowerNukkitX ecosystem, or developed in Java. It is an investment, but it is also an opportunity to start fresh on a modern and actively maintained foundation.
What about vanilla Minecraft Bedrock?
For the sake of completeness, there is also the official Minecraft Bedrock server provided by Mojang, the Bedrock Dedicated Server, for a fully vanilla experience. Updated at the pace of the game, it guarantees immediate compatibility with the latest client versions, without depending on a community project. At Winheberg, it is available directly on our gaming panel.
Its limitations restrict it to that use case, though. The game remains purely vanilla, customization is only possible through add-ons and behavior packs, and there is no plugin API comparable to PocketMine's. For a public community, a custom minigame or any project built on plugins, dedicated server software such as Altay or PowerNukkitX remains essential.
Preparing the transition
Our recommendation comes in three steps. First, back up your entire current server on a regular basis, worlds, plugins and configuration files alike. Then, if your server runs on PocketMine-MP, switch to Altay to keep receiving updates and follow upcoming Minecraft Bedrock versions. Finally, start evaluating PowerNukkitX on a test server, taking stock of your server's features and their equivalents in the PowerNukkitX ecosystem, so you can plan a smooth migration rather than a forced one.
PocketMine is moving on, but your server still has plenty of good years ahead. 🧱
