LuckPerms vs. PermissionsEx: Why Almost Everyone Picks LuckPerms Now
PermissionsEx was the standard once. LuckPerms has mostly replaced it — here's what actually changed.
LuckPerms vs. PermissionsEx: Why Almost Everyone Picks LuckPerms Now
PermissionsEx (PEX) was the default permissions plugin for years. It's worth understanding why most new setups don't reach for it anymore.
Development Status
This is the biggest factor by far: LuckPerms is actively maintained, with regular updates tracking new Minecraft versions. PermissionsEx has seen minimal active development in recent years by comparison — a meaningful risk for a plugin as foundational as permissions, where compatibility breaking on a new Minecraft version is a serious problem.
Inheritance and Group Structure
Both support group inheritance, but LuckPerms' implementation is generally considered more flexible — multiple inheritance paths, per-context overrides (a permission that only applies in a specific world, for instance), and weighted groups for resolving conflicts.
The Web Editor
LuckPerms' /lp editor command generates a temporary link to a full web-based permission editor — a meaningful usability advantage over typing individual commands for complex setups, and something PEX doesn't have an equivalent to.
Network Support
Both support MySQL for syncing permissions across a proxied network, but LuckPerms' documentation and community support around multi-server setups is considerably more current, which matters more than it might seem when something doesn't sync correctly and troubleshooting help is needed.
Vault Integration
Both integrate with Vault for other plugins to check permissions through, so compatibility with permission-dependent plugins (which is most of them) isn't really a differentiator between the two.
Is There Any Reason to Still Use PEX?
Mainly legacy — a server with years of existing PEX configuration and no pressing need to migrate might reasonably stay on it rather than take on a migration project. For any new setup, though, LuckPerms' active development alone is a strong enough reason to default to it.
Migrating From PEX to LuckPerms
LuckPerms includes a built-in migration command for importing an existing PermissionsEx configuration, converting groups and permissions rather than requiring every rank to be rebuilt from scratch — worth checking LuckPerms' own documentation for the exact migration command, since the process can vary slightly by version.