Making money from a Minecraft server within Mojang's rules

Mojang lets you charge for access, sell cosmetics, sell perks that give no competitive advantage, sell in-game currency that never leaves your server, show in-game ads and take donations, as long as everything suits players of all ages and your prices are public before anyone joins. You may not sell capes, sell an edge over other players, let currency turn back into real money, or tie access and perks to things bought outside the game.

This is our plain-language reading of the Minecraft Usage Guidelines and the Minecraft EULA as published on 18 October 2026. Mojang says it cannot advise on whether a specific project complies, and neither can we. It is not legal advice. Mojang can change these texts at any time, so check the date at the top of this page.

The rules in plain words

The EULA says you must not make commercial use of anything Mojang made, or try to make money from it, unless Mojang agrees. The Usage Guidelines are that agreement. The EULA calls them "extra permissions that we give to the community" and says Mojang can withdraw them "at any time without notice". The server rules sit in their section "Servers and hosting". Many older guides cite a separate commercial guidelines page instead. Its old address on account.mojang.com now simply redirects to the minecraft.net homepage.

Two passages shape everything else. A "server" means "a single connecting address or IP number", so a network of twenty game modes behind one address is one server under these rules. And access to a server "must only be granted to users who have a genuine paid-for version of Minecraft" and "can't be limited to or controlled, directly or indirectly, by a player owning or having access to out-of-game content, products, or services". The paid-copy rule matters if you run in offline mode (see what a cracked server is). The out-of-game rule is what bans NFT gates, and it reaches further than most owners think.

The guidelines then list the ways a server may make money:

1. Charging for access, if the price is the same for everyone, everyone who pays gets all the mods you enabled (admin tools excepted), and you own or control the server for as long as you charge.
2. Donations, as long as the donor gets nothing only they can use. Server-wide rewards when a donation goal is met are allowed.
3. Gameplay entitlements, "provided they don't ruin other players' experience or give a competitive advantage in the game".
4. Cosmetics, "except for capes or anything that attempts to visually act like the feature of a Minecraft player cape".
5. In-game display and video ads that do not hurt gameplay or give anyone an advantage, and that follow the section on constructed promotions, Mojang's rules for brands (more below).
6. In-game currencies that have no real-world value, cannot be cashed out, moved to another server or converted into real money, do not look official and do not resemble Minecoins.

Whatever you sell, these conditions apply to all of it:

• Everything on the server, every entitlement and every ad must suit players of all ages. Gambling is named as an example of what does not.
• You are responsible for your players' data privacy, and you say so.
• You do not hide or alter Minecraft's own screens, such as the EULA, warnings and error messages.
• Anyone who pays real money gets an online payment and purchase history.
• Players can see all your content and pricing before they join, sign up or sign in.
• No malware, no spyware, nothing illegal.
• You require influencers who promote your server to disclose their relationship with you and to follow the US Federal Trade Commission's guidelines.

On top of that come the essential guidelines for any use of the Minecraft name. Do not look official. Say that you, not Mojang, are responsible, and whom to contact about purchases and how, where "chat and forum links are not acceptable methods". Show this disclaimer prominently on your listing, website and store: "NOT AN OFFICIAL MINECRAFT [PRODUCT/SERVICE/EVENT/etc.]. NOT APPROVED BY OR ASSOCIATED WITH MOJANG OR MICROSOFT". And keep "Minecraft" out of the main part of your server's name. Mojang's own example of a good name is "Kotoba Miners: A Minecraft server for Redstone builds".

The server section ends with a line worth pinning above your store editor: "In short, don't do evil things to players and you should be fine."

What you can sell

The test that sorts most cases comes straight from the entitlement rule: would a player who did not pay lose a fight, a race, a trade or a ranking because of it? If not, you can probably sell it.

Server-wide boosts are the one row the guidelines do not name directly. They follow the same idea as the rule on donation goals: one player pays, and everyone gets the reward.

What you cannot sell

• Capes, or anything built to look like one.
• Power. Gear, kits, enchanted tools, stat boosts, extra spawners, larger team sizes or claim limits in competitive modes. On prison and economy servers, where the whole game is about money, a paid sell multiplier or a better pickaxe is exactly this. The economy loop that makes it so is explained in how prison servers work.
• Power through a side door. If gems bought with real money can buy a diamond sword in the in-game shop, you are selling the sword. Our reading is that the entitlement rule applies to what the currency can buy.
• Real-world value. Currency or items that can be cashed out, sold for real money between players, or carried to another server.
• Different prices for access. The cost of getting in must be the same for everyone.
• Anything gated by an outside product. NFTs and play-to-earn are ruled out by name in the section on mods. Paid roles from other platforms fall under the same access rule (more below).
• Anything unsuitable for children, including gambling.

Grey areas

Crates and keys

The guidelines do not mention crates or loot boxes. Two of their rules still apply. What comes out of a paid crate must pass the competitive advantage test. And everything must suit all ages, with gambling named as unsuitable. Paying real money for a random reward looks like gambling to many players and parents, and some regulators agree: in 2018 Belgium's Gaming Commission concluded that the paid loot boxes in Overwatch, FIFA 18 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive broke its gambling law. Overwatch's boxes held only cosmetics.

Our reading: if you sell keys at all, keep the contents cosmetic and publish the odds. Cosmetic contents answer the competitive advantage rule but not the gambling question, as the Overwatch case shows. And players notice missing odds: one three-star review on our list complains that a server "has crates where dont know the probality so thats rng". Selling the cosmetics directly avoids both questions.

Queue skips and reserved slots

Charging for access is allowed if the price is the same for everyone. A priority queue or a reserved slot sells a better place in the line to get in, which comes close to charging some players more for access. If your server is often full, we would not sell queue skips. If it never fills, the perk is worth little anyway.

Convenience commands

/craft, /enderchest, /repair, /fly in survival, extra homes and keep-inventory perks all affect gameplay. On a peaceful creative or towny server they are often harmless. On a PvP, lifesteal or factions server, opening your ender chest mid-fight or flying away from a raid is a competitive advantage. Judge them by mode, not by habit.

Perks for Discord boosters, Twitch subscribers and linked accounts

The access rule says access cannot be controlled by a player having out-of-game products or services. The section on mods adds that a plugin must not check whether a player has out-of-game content, products or services "that affect in-game features and functions". A rank for Discord boosters, a whitelist for Twitch subscribers or Patreon members, and an in-game reward for linking a Discord account all check something outside the game. Paid ones we would avoid. Free ones, such as a link reward, are a grey area. Keep these thank-yous on the Discord side, with roles and colors there (setting that up is in a Discord for your Minecraft server).

Donor ranks

If a donation comes with a rank, it is a purchase, and the rank has to pass every rule for sales. A real donation gets the donor nothing personal. Call your store a store, and keep "donate" for real donations.

Donations and sponsorships

Donations work best when the goal is public and the reward is shared: a progress bar on your website, and an event for everyone when it fills. One five-star review on our list praises a server because when someone donates, everyone who types "gg" in chat gets five gems.

Sponsorships are stricter than most owners expect. In-game ads are allowed, but the section on constructed promotions says that companies may not use Minecraft gameplay to promote products, services or brands unrelated to Minecraft without written approval from Mojang or Microsoft. A soft drink billboard at your spawn is out without that approval. A hosting company that runs Minecraft servers is much closer to Minecraft, but the guidelines do not spell that case out. Any sponsor or callout must suit children.

Creators count too. If you pay a YouTuber, or give someone a "media rank" in exchange for videos, the guidelines say you must require them to disclose that relationship. Players ask for these ranks openly: one review on our list is simply a player asking for a media rank and pointing to promotion they had already done for another server.

What players say about pay to win

As of 18 October 2026, 25 visible reviews on serverlist.net use the words "pay to win", "pay2win" or "p2w". That is too few for a percentage, but they read alike. 21 of the 25 give four or five stars, so most come from players who like the server and still bring it up. A few, in their own words:

• "very good smp but pay2win a bit which is bad" (four stars)
• "a bit p2w but rest is awesome, i play lifesteal" (five stars)
• "A bit too pay to win, kinda dumb but otherwise fun" (three stars)
• "Really recommend if you love gens and want a non p2w server to play!" (five stars)

Five of the 25 praise a server for not being pay to win at all. Other reviews make the same point without the words. A one-star review says "everything good is stuck behind a paywall". A four-star one complains that "u need paid ranks for have more than 1 person in ur team". Two reviews of one server ask for elytra to be taken out of its shop because they "should be a rare item".

Players do not mind that a server costs money to run. They mind when paying is how you win, and they say so even in their five-star reviews.

A store page that keeps trust

1. Prices before joining. Link the store from your website and your listing. On serverlist.net you can add a store link to your listing, so prices are one click from the server page.
2. The disclaimer in the words above, near the top where buyers see it. The guidelines ask for it to be prominent.
3. Your name and an email address for purchase questions. A Discord ticket channel alone is not enough under the guidelines.
4. Purchase history that buyers can look up online, not only an email receipt.
5. Exact perk descriptions, including what a rank does not do. "Cosmetic only" is a selling point.
6. Odds, if you sell keys at all.
7. A refund and chargeback policy in plain words.
8. No fake urgency. No countdown timers or "only 3 left" on things that are not limited.
9. A note for parents. Many buyers are children using a parent's card. Say that purchases need a parent's permission, and point parents to the purchase controls on their devices. Our guide for parents covers what they look for.

A fair store is also a growth tool. Players recommend servers they trust, and "not p2w" is praise they write without being asked. How that turns into new players is in how to get your first 100 players.

Selling plugins (for developers)

This is where the written rules are strictest. The EULA counts "modifications, tools, or plugins" as Mods, and says that Mods you create from scratch belong to you "and you can do whatever you want with them, as long as you don't sell them for money / try to make money from them and so long as you don't distribute Modded Versions of the game".

The Usage Guidelines add that you may create, use or distribute a mod if you distribute only the mod and not a modded version of Minecraft, the mod creates no play-to-earn function, and it does not check whether a player owns out-of-game content that affects in-game features. They do not mention selling at all.

Paid plugin marketplaces are a large business that has run for many years, and we are not aware of Mojang acting against plugin sales. That is not the same as permission. If plugin sales are your income, know that the written terms read against you. Commissions, support contracts and donations are common alternatives, but we cannot tell you where Mojang draws the line between selling a mod and being paid for your time.

What is clearly out: distributing a modified server jar, a "Modded Version" in the EULA's words. Paper shows the usual pattern. Its download carries a binary patch, not Mojang's server: on first start it fetches the official jar from Mojang and builds Paper on your own machine. Paper chose that design for licensing reasons of its own, but the effect is that Mojang's code is never handed out. If you fork server software, copy that pattern rather than shipping a finished jar.

How the rules are enforced

The server section also reserves Mojang "the right to decide if the way you are monetizing your server is consistent with our brand". There is one enforcement tool you can see from outside: Mojang publishes a list of blocked server addresses that Java Edition clients refuse to connect to. On 18 October 2026 it held more than 4,300 entries, published as hashes with no reasons given. We checked the address of every listing on serverlist.net against it that day, and none was on it.