{"id":530,"date":"2026-10-09T01:22:39","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T17:22:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sxyoto.com\/blog\/?p=530"},"modified":"2026-10-09T01:22:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T17:22:39","slug":"how-to-implement-a-voting-system-on-a-spigot-server-4cab-f0993a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sxyoto.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/09\/how-to-implement-a-voting-system-on-a-spigot-server-4cab-f0993a\/","title":{"rendered":"How to implement a voting system on a Spigot server?"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s good, fellow Minecraft server owners? If you\u2019re running a Spigot server, odds are you\u2019ve thought about how to keep players engaged, grow your community, and reward the people who show up consistently. One of the best, most straightforward ways to do that is by setting up a voting system\u2014but not just any basic \u201cclick a link, get a random item\u201d thing. I\u2019ve been a Spigot vendor for over 6 years now, and I\u2019ve seen every messed up voting setup imaginable: broken links, duplicate rewards, players exploiting votes, servers paying for bot votes that never translate to real activity. Today, I\u2019m walking you through exactly how to implement a solid, reliable voting system that actually works for your server, not against it. Spigot<\/a><\/p>\n

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First off, let\u2019s cut to the chase: why does a voting system matter? Spigot rankings (you know, those sites like Minecraft Server List, Planet Minecraft, etc.) are still one of the biggest ways new players find your server. More votes = higher ranking = more visibility = more players. But if your voting system sucks, you\u2019ll get a bad rep, and players will leave. It\u2019s not just about ranking, though. Voting is a free, low-effort way for existing players to support your server, so rewarding them properly makes them stick around longer. I\u2019ve seen servers go from 50 players max to 300+ just by fixing their voting setup and actually promoting it well.<\/p>\n

Before we jump into code or plugins, let\u2019s make sure you\u2019re aligned on the basics. You can\u2019t just sign up for every single server list and call it a day\u2014some are way more worth your time than others. Stick to the big ones first: Minecraft Server List, Planet Minecraft, and maybe TopG. Smaller lists might seem tempting, but they usually don\u2019t drive nearly as much traffic, and their APIs are often janky. Also, decide what you want to reward. A lot of new servers throw out diamond every vote, and that works for a little bit, but it gets expensive fast. Balance is key: maybe 1 vote = 500 in-game currency, 10 votes = a rank up (like VIP), 50 votes = a custom cosmetic. That way, players have a reason to keep voting without breaking your server\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

Now, the fun part: actually setting up the plugin. The go-to for Spigot is a plugin called Vault (don\u2019t skip this\u2014almost every other economy\/rank plugin depends on it) and then a voting plugin. My top recs are either DeluxeVotes or JustVotes. I\u2019ve used both for different clients, and both are solid as long as you set them up right. Let\u2019s walk through installing them step by step, no fancy jargon.<\/p>\n

First, make sure your Spigot server is up to date. I know, I know, updating sucks, but if you\u2019re on an old 1.16 build, half the plugins won\u2019t work, and you\u2019ll get buggy votes. Stop what you\u2019re doing, update to the latest stable Spigot version (1.20.4 as of writing) before you do anything else. Next, download Vault from SpigotMC (make sure it\u2019s the right version for your server) and drop it into your plugins folder. Restart your server\u2014Vault will create a folder and a config file, but you don\u2019t need to touch it right now, that\u2019s just for economy plugins.<\/p>\n

Now pick your voting plugin. Let\u2019s go with DeluxeVotes, since it\u2019s got the most features and the best support for all the major server lists. Download the latest DeluxeVotes and drop it into your plugins folder too. Restart the server again\u2014this will create a DeluxeVotes folder with a bunch of config files. The most important one here is config.yml, which is where you\u2019ll set up your rewards, vote links, and anti-exploit stuff.<\/p>\n

Open that config.yml with a text editor (I use VS Code, but Notepad works if you\u2019re on Windows, just don\u2019t use Word\u2014it messes up formatting). First, find the section called \u201csites\u201d and add all the server lists you\u2019re signed up for. For example, Minecraft Server List\u2019s API ID is something like 12345, Planet Minecraft is another. DeluxeVotes has a list of all the default sites built in, so you don\u2019t have to mess with custom API stuff most of the time\u2014just search for the list you\u2019re using, copy the ID, and paste it in. If you\u2019re using a custom list, there\u2019s a section for custom sites too, but I\u2019d stick to the defaults for now.<\/p>\n

Next, rewards. This is where you need to balance it. Don\u2019t make rewards too OP, don\u2019t make them too garbage. Let\u2019s say you want 1 vote to give $1000 in-game cash (adjust this to match your Vault economy plugin, like EssentialsX or CMI). Find the \u201crewards\u201d section in DeluxeVotes config, and add:<\/p>\n

one:
\nbroadcast: true
\ncommands:<\/p>\n