Crafty

The Minecraft community is indeed a very active one, and the amount of community-created content stands as proof for that. If you're not a fan of the official launcher, then looking for alternatives is a possibility, owing to the aforementioned community. Crafty is a Minecraft launcher that takes a decidedly simple approach to managing the game: authenticate with your credentials, select your preferred version, and you should be good to go.

There's certainly no shortage of third-party Minecraft launchers, and thanks to this variety, users can pick and choose what's best for them. This one takes a rather minimalist approach to it all.

Upon authenticating, you will be able to download your preferred game version. Heading into the Settings menu will allow you to configure an option that may be of importance to some users: limiting memory usage. Through it, users will have the ability to limit the amount of RAM that Minecraft can use on their system, which can be especially good for lower-end machines.

Aside from that, users can also opt to play on non-stable versions. Snapshot, Beta, and Alpha versions can be toggled by way of the same Settings menu.