How to Make Money with Your Minecraft Server Without Breaking Mojang's Rules

Mojang's rules, in short

What you can charge for on a server is set out in the “Minecraft Usage Guidelines” (minecraft.net/usage-guidelines), in their servers section; the old “Commercial Usage Guidelines” now point there. Mojang changes them from time to time, so read them yourself before opening the shop: this is a summary, not legal advice.

1. Charging for access, yes, with conditions

   The price has to be the same for everyone, whoever pays gets access to everything on the server (except the admins' tools), and the server has to be yours or under your control while you charge.

2. Things that change gameplay, only without an advantage

   They can be sold if they don't spoil the game for others or give a competitive advantage to whoever pays. A sword better than the one you get by playing, no.

3. Cosmetics, yes (except capes)

   Anything that only changes appearance can be sold, except capes or anything that looks like a cape.

4. Donations, yes, with no reward for one person

   You can accept donations, but the donor can't receive something only they can use. A reward for the whole server when a donation goal is reached, yes.

5. NFTs and blockchain, never

   Since July 2022 you can't put them on the server or create NFTs from anything in the game (worlds, skins, mods).

Ideas that follow the rules

1. Coloured ranks

   A chat prefix, a colour for the name, a tag in the player list. With LuckPerms you create the “vip” rank and give it only cosmetic permissions (LuckPerms step by step).

2. Particles, hats and pets

   There are cosmetics plugins configured by permissions: the paid rank unlocks the effects and nobody plays better for having them.

3. A paid SMP with a whitelist

   A survival season with friends or a small community: an entry at the same price for everyone and, on payment, the player is added to the whitelist (“whitelist add”; it's in the whitelist guide).

4. Donation goals for everyone

   “If we hit the goal this month, there's an event and a double XP weekend for the whole server”. It rewards the entire community, not the donor.

What can get you into trouble

What you see most on big servers and causes the most problems: kits with armour or weapons better than the game's, in-game money for euros (which buys an advantage by another route; the server economy is played, not sold), flying in competitive survival, or extra lives. If you're wondering whether something gives an advantage, it does.

Paid reward crates (the “crates” with keys) are the trickiest: if they can drop prizes that help you play, it's selling an advantage with chance thrown in. The prudent thing is for paid crates to give only cosmetics and to say what can come out.

And the usual about the brand: the server is yours, not Mojang's. Don't use their logo or suggest it's an official server.

Setting up the shop with Tebex

Tebex is the best-known store platform for servers: it builds the shop website, charges players and, when someone buys, sends the server the commands you tell it (give the rank, add them to the whitelist…). You don't have to do anything by hand for each purchase.

1. Create the shop on tebex.io

   With your account, choose Minecraft (Java) and set up the packages: name, price and the commands that run on purchase, for example “lp user {username} parent add vip”.

2. Install the Tebex plugin

   On NapNodes, in the panel, “Mods & plugins”: search for it and install it. If it doesn't show up, download it from the Tebex website and upload it in “Files” to the “plugins” folder. Then “Restart”.

3. Connect the shop to the server

   In the “Console”, type “tebex secret” followed by the secret key Tebex gives you in your shop's settings. The plugin is now linked to your shop.

4. Make a test purchase

   Before announcing it, check that a package gives what it says and that the commands work (you'll see them go by in the “Console”).

Before charging: make sure the server doesn't fail

Whoever pays expects to get in whenever they want. The NapNodes free server is fine for starting the community, but it shuts down after 20 minutes with nobody on, can have a queue to start and has no backups: to charge players, a plan is better. With a plan the server is always on, the RAM you pay for is yours alone (no overselling) and it has backups; and you move from the free server with “Move to a plan”, on its card in “My servers”, without losing the world.

For there to be anyone to charge, you need people first: how to get them, in getting players for your server.

And one practical thing: if you sell regularly, it's an economic activity. Ask an accountant how to register and which taxes apply to you before the shop starts selling for real.

Frequently asked questions