Wow #1 · NeoForge version names
1,653
On the public list I pulled (includes betas).
Wow #2 · Fabric game versions
517
About 47 marked stable in the same summary.
A count of how long each loader’s public version list is. Not a popularity contest.
When a friend says “just install Fabric,” they usually mean one slot that matches your game version. The public boards show why that sentence still turns into a maze.
1. How long are the public lists?
Fabric and Quilt look alike on the counts. Both land around four to five hundred game-version rows. Their “stable” counts sit in the double digits too. Paper (a multiplayer server engine) has a shorter list. It still tracks old 1.x lines.
2. Why does this confuse friends?
Your favorite mod might support “1.21.x on Fabric.” Your friend might run NeoForge 26.x betas. These are different products. They happen to share the same Minecraft world shape.
“Install Fabric” is really “pick the right loader build for your game version.” The long public lists are why that takes more than one click.
How I calculated it
Summaries I saved: fabric_versions_summary.json, quilt_versions_summary.json,
neoforge_versions_summary.json, papermc_paper_summary.json (pull 2026-08-08).
See also
Counts are how long each version list is. They are not “how many people use each loader.” A long list can mean active upkeep, deep history, or lots of builds. It does not mean popularity.
Sources
- Fabric Meta · Quilt Meta · NeoForge Maven metadata · PaperMC fill API. Public version lists, numbers I saved 2026-08.
