Minecraft server monetization: what you may sell under Mojang's rules

In short: the EULA forbids making money from what Mojang made without its permission, and the permission for servers is the "Servers and hosting" section of the Minecraft Usage Guidelines. Under it you may charge for access (the same price for everyone), ask for donations, and sell cosmetics (except capes), advertising and perks, as long as they don't give a competitive advantage or ruin other players' experience. Prices and content are shown before a player joins, buyers get a purchase history, and everything must suit all ages. This is a summary, not legal advice: read the original before you open a store.

The EULA and the Usage Guidelines: who decides what#

• The EULA is the licence you accept in eula.txt. It lets you install the Java Edition server software and host online play, but without Mojang's agreement it forbids commercial use of anything Mojang made and trying to make money from it.
• The Minecraft Usage Guidelines are extra permissions on top of the EULA, and they are what tells a server how it may make money. The EULA says so plainly: the guidelines often change, and Mojang can withdraw those permissions at any time without notice.
• A business is fine. In 2020 Mojang removed the requirement that server purchases go towards running costs and wrote that it's okay with running a business, within the rules.

How a server may make money#

Conditions for any way of making money#

• Suitable for all ages. The server, purchases and ads suit any audience. The guidelines name gambling, explicit and violent content as examples of what doesn't.
• Prices before joining. All paid content and prices are visible before a person joins the server, signs up or signs in.
• Purchase history. Anyone who pays real money gets an online history of their payments and purchases.
• Player data is on you. You make it clear that you're responsible for user data privacy and protection.
• Leave the game's dialogs alone. Don't hide or alter Minecraft dialogs, including the EULA, warnings and error messages.
• Influencers disclose. Influencers promoting your server disclose their relationship with you and follow the US Federal Trade Commission's guidelines.
• No malware and no illegal activity through the server.

Two more conditions concern access. It must only be granted to players with a genuine paid-for copy of Minecraft: a server with online-mode=false also lets in players without one — that mode is explained in offline-mode. And access can't depend on owning something outside the game: in the section on mods Mojang gives an NFT example and forbids play-to-earn mods where playing earns real money.

A server store in practice#

The key question for any item: does it give the buyer an edge over other players or spoil their game? If so, you can't sell it, whatever it's called — rank, kit or booster.

The store itself — a website or a ready-made donation platform — has to show prices and content before a player joins and keep a purchase history for each buyer. You may sell virtual currency for money, but it never turns back into money. A server economy runs on Vault and an economy plugin — see economy and Vault.

Crates and random rewards#

The current Usage Guidelines don't name paid crates, chests or keys with random rewards. But they list gambling as an example of content unsuitable for all ages, and Mojang reserves the right to decide whether your monetization is consistent with its brand. And if a crate can drop a gameplay advantage, you can't sell it anyway.

What a violation can cost#

• Permissions withdrawn. Mojang grants the Usage Guidelines permissions at its discretion and can revoke them at any time; it also takes reports of violations through its help form.
• A blocked server. Since Java Edition 1.9.3 the client checks a list of blocked servers on Mojang's session server before connecting and tells the player the server is unavailable. According to the Minecraft Wiki, the list consists of servers in violation of the EULA.
• An account ban. The EULA reserves Mojang's right to suspend or permanently ban anyone who violates the EULA or the community standards.

Paying players expect fair play#

Mojang forbids selling a gameplay advantage — and a cheater simply takes one for free. A player who paid for cosmetics or access and then lost to KillAura, or saw the top of the economy built with AutoFish, feels the money was wasted. Fair play is what every buyer pays for, even if it isn't on the receipt.

DGuard — the best anticheat for a modern Minecraft server — checks combat, movement, packets, inventory, building and the world, and in the comparison with GrimAC, Vulcan, Polar, Intave and Matrix it covers all 47 cheat types — see the comparison. It gathers evidence and doesn't rush to a verdict, so an honest player isn't punished over a single fluke, and you set how strict punishments are. DGuard is free up to 30 players online; beyond that you pay for player count and number of servers, with the same protection on every plan.

FAQ#