LPC Free vs LPC Pro — What the Paid Tier Actually Adds

What the free tier actually includes

LPC is the free version of our chat plugin, and free means free: no trial, no paywall, no feature gating on the core formatting. It ships the same formatting engine as LPC Pro, it's open source, and it's maintained alongside Pro — new Minecraft versions and security fixes land in both.

The formatting side is complete, not a teaser. Full MiniMessage support means hex colors, gradients, hover tooltips, and click actions work everywhere — chat, announcements, custom commands. Per-group formatting reads your existing LuckPerms groups, so each rank gets its own prefix, suffix, and message color without touching code.

• MiniMessage everywhere — Hex colors, gradients, hover tooltips, and click actions across chat, announcements, and custom commands.
• Per-rank styles — Prefixes, suffixes, and message colors defined per LuckPerms group.
• PlaceholderAPI integration — Drop any placeholder into chat formats — balances, stats, anything.
• Zero required dependencies — LuckPerms is auto-detected, Vault powers a {balance} placeholder, ViaVersion handles cross-version play — all optional.
• Wider version range than Pro — Free LPC supports Spigot and Paper 1.7.10–1.21.11; LPC Pro supports 1.17–1.21.11.

Pro vs free at a glance

This is the same comparison the LPC Pro product page publishes, row for row. The pattern is easy to summarize: the two tiers share the formatting and compatibility core, and everything on top of it — moderation, community features, Discord — is Pro-only.

One spec difference the table doesn't capture: free LPC supports Minecraft 1.7.10–1.21.11, while LPC Pro supports 1.17–1.21.11. If your server runs anything older than 1.17, Pro is not an option for that server — the free tier is the one that covers legacy versions.

What each Pro feature actually does

Table rows undersell some of these, so here is what each Pro-only system does in practice.

AI moderation is the headline. Messages appear instantly and are analyzed asynchronously in the background, so chat gains no latency; anything that fails the check is deleted after detection, with staff alerted and automatic warnings or reputation penalties applied. The AI also teaches the local swear filter new words over time, and logging records toxicity scores and categories for flagged content. Two caveats worth knowing before you buy: the AI analysis requires an OpenAI API key that you supply — Pro handles rate limiting and response caching, and the product FAQ puts typical API costs under $5/month for a 100-player server — and the keyword-based filtering works without any key.

• Discord bridge — Bi-directional Minecraft ↔ Discord sync with DiscordSRV support, webhook embeds with player heads, and join/leave notifications — JDA 5.x is bundled, so no extra Discord plugin is required.
• Chat bubbles — Floating text above players using native TextDisplay entities — no resource pack — with per-rank colors, backgrounds, and scales, a /toggle bubbles opt-out, and a 1.19.4+ version requirement.
• Chat games — Six built-in games — Math, Unscramble, Trivia, Reverse, Type Race, Emoji Guess — with auto-scheduling, command-based rewards, statistics, and leaderboards.
• Achievements — Players unlock milestones for chatting, mentioning others, voting in polls, and building reputation, each granting exclusive chat tags with progress shown in a GUI.
• Staff tools — Mutes for players, channels, or the whole server; warnings with auto-escalation; staff notes with join alerts; a report GUI; spy mode; raid protection; slowmode; and clear chat.
• Chat shop — Players buy colors, tags, nicknames, and perks in a category-based GUI using Vault economy or the built-in points system, with permissions granted automatically on purchase.

How the upgrade works

LPC is explicitly designed as the runway for Pro, and the upgrade path reflects that. It's a drop-in swap: replace the LPC jar with the LPC Pro jar and your existing config keeps working while the Pro features light up. Pro's first-run wizard detects your LPC config and extends it — no re-setup, no data loss.

The commercial terms are simple: €14.99 (price at time of writing) as a one-time purchase with free lifetime updates — no subscription, and nothing to cancel. If you ever stop using Pro, you uninstall the jar and your configs remain plain files you own.

One operational warning, straight from the LPC FAQ: don't run LPC and LPC Pro in the same server process — they conflict on chat events. Pick one per server. Running Pro on some servers of a network and free LPC on others works fine, because those are separate processes.

Should you upgrade? Honest verdicts

Start with the case for staying put. If formatting is all you need — MiniMessage styling, per-rank looks, placeholders — free LPC covers it fully, and the developer's own FAQ is explicit that there is no catch: you can run LPC forever and never pay. The free tier exists because some users eventually move to Pro, not because a timer runs out. Likewise, if your server sits on a version older than 1.17, free LPC is the only tier that supports it.

The upgrade earns its price when chat becomes a moderation or engagement problem rather than a formatting one. If your team spends real time policing chat, the AI filter, the staff suite, and raid protection are the point of Pro. If you want chat itself to be an activity — games, achievements, bubbles on 1.19.4+, a perk shop players spend currency in — none of that exists in free. And if your community lives partly on Discord, the bi-directional bridge keeps both sides in one conversation. Pro buyers also get priority Discord support.

If your comparison is Pro against other chat plugins rather than against the free tier, read LPC Pro vs EssentialsChat vs VentureChat next.