Survival
Survival servers are regular Minecraft with other people and a set of rules. Griefing and stealing are banned, cheats are banned, and builds are usually protected by land claims. PvP is often off or limited to arenas. Many survival servers add economy, shops and clans; if there are few plugins, the server is called semi-vanilla or vanilla. Survival suits builders, groups of friends and newcomers.
Anarchy
Anarchy servers have almost no rules: griefing, killing, stealing and traps are allowed, and there are no claims. Usually only server-crashing exploits are banned; some anarchies also ban cheat clients, others allow them — check the description. The spawn is a wasteland, so real bases are built tens of thousands of blocks away and kept secret. Anarchy suits PvP fans and players who enjoy real risk.
Wipes
A wipe resets the world (sometimes inventories and balances too). Survival servers wipe rarely or never; anarchies often run monthly or seasonal resets. Look for the No wipes category if you want long-lived builds.
Donations
Fair donations give cosmetics and convenience; pay-to-win gives combat power. It hurts most on anarchy. Check the No donations category and reviews.
How to choose
Want to build in peace — survival with claims. Playing with friends — a small SMP. Love fighting and risk — anarchy. Not sure — take the server quiz.