Cheaper Lantern Recipes
by Lxaur
Cheaper Lantern Recipes changes the crafting cost of lanterns, so a lantern takes four iron nuggets in place of eight copper, on servers that run it.
What it does
The datapack removes the vanilla lantern recipe and grants a new one that uses four nuggets, so the crafting path stays similar to the original while costing less iron. It is intended for servers and works as a data pack, so it changes the recipe for everyone who joins a world that loads it.
Several variants are included. A config option sets lanterns to one or two nuggets, and another adds faster special crafting recipes, for example nine torches made from a single item. Copper lanterns can be disabled if a server owner feels copper is already cheap enough. Builds exist for 1.21.9, 1.21.10, 1.21.11, 26.1, 26.1.1, 26.1.2 and 26.2, with 1.1+mod for 26.2 as the latest file, and snapshot builds are published.
The server must load the mod, while players may leave it out, so the server runs it and clients need nothing extra. The license is Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0, and the project is not open source. It is published for Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt.
Key features
Cheaper lantern recipe
Lanterns are crafted from four iron nuggets instead of eight copper ingots, reducing the cost of the block.
Configurable amounts
A config option lowers the nugget cost to one or two, for servers that want even cheaper lanterns.
Special crafting recipes
An optional config adds shortcut recipes, such as nine torches made at once from a single item.
Copper lantern toggle
The copper lantern recipe can be disabled, leaving only the iron route in the game.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
This mod also publishes snapshot builds. Snapshots are not shown in the matrix.
Use cases
Iron-limited survival
On a server where iron is scarce, the lower nugget cost makes lanterns easier to build early in a world.
Who it’s for: Server owners who want to change how lanterns are crafted, and players on those servers who lack copper or iron to spare.
How it compares
Cheap Lanterns is server-side only, under the MIT License, and is not open source; it is published for Fabric with 1.21 – 26.1.2 files. Colorful Copper Lanterns is server-side only, open source under the MIT License, and covers Fabric and Quilt for 1.21.10 – 26.2. Copper Cutting needs the server but leaves clients optional and is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike 4.0.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheaper Lantern Recipes | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.21.9 – 26.2 | Server required, client optional | 2026-09-03 |
| Cheap Lanterns | Fabric | 1.21 – 26.1.2 | Server-side only | 2026-05-05 |
| Colorful Copper Lanterns | Fabric and Quilt | 1.21.10 – 26.2 | Server-side only | 2026-07-23 |
| Copper Cutting | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.21 – 26.3 | Server required, client optional | 2026-10-05 |
Questions
Does Cheaper Lantern Recipes need to be installed on the client?
Which loaders does Cheaper Lantern Recipes support?
Can the copper lantern recipe be turned off?
In the catalog
Cheaper Lantern Recipes is one of 29,952 Game mechanics mods on ModsFinder, and one of 19,630 Game mechanics mods for Fabric. 13,894 mods support Minecraft 26.2.
More from Lxaur
Similar mods
What the author says
Tip: craft 36, 72/64+8 or 16x64 if you don't want any leftover nuggets ## roadmap 1| soul lantern recipes---> Release 1.0! 2| backporting all the way back to the first lantern, of course, copper and soul lanterns only untill their respective versions.
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/cheaper-lantern-recipes
- Owner
- Lxaur
- Published
- 2026-08-16
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2026-09-03
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15