If bots are currently flooding your server:

Install a proxy-level defense immediately. Velocity paired with Sonar or AtomGuard offloads the connection verification, preventing the bots from ever consuming your backend server's CPU cycles.

Are you currently , or just preparing?

Not necessarily. Modern tools like Sonar specifically avoid CAPTCHAs because they annoy real players. Instead, they use invisible behavior analysis (checking gravity and packet order) to filter bots.

While premium mitigation services exist, you can completely secure your server using powerful, open-source, and free tools. This guide explains how bot attacks work and how to stop them without spending a dime. How Minecraft Bot Attacks Damage Servers

Advanced free tools monitor the raw packets sent by connecting clients. Real players send natural packets as their game loads textures and worlds. Bots often send incomplete packets or skip steps entirely to save the attacker's bandwidth. Plugins can instantly drop these irregular connections before they reach your main server thread. Step 3: Implement In-Game Captchas