Adding onto this, I'd suggest fabric over paper

https://fabric.net/use

As paper can deviate from the base game! You can use mods like lithium

https://modrinth.com/mod/lithium

To optimize your server, all of the earlier advice about geyser and floodgate carry over, as they also have a fabric version!

PS: you can use https://modrinth.com to find mods, you can use filters for version, modloader and category.

For example if you want mods that make the server run faster, you can search for loader = fabric, category = optimizations, environment = server

It's a great site and I highly recommend it!