FiveM server monetization rules explained

FiveM server owners who want to charge players for anything operate under Cfx.re's Creator Platform License Agreement, plus Tebex's own Acceptable Use Policy and Terms of Service, since Tebex is the payment platform the agreement names. This page describes what those documents say, based on the current text and on Cfx.re's own developer documentation. It is not legal advice, and the agreement can be amended; read the linked PDF directly before making a decision that depends on a specific clause.

For the platform this all sits on top of, see what is FiveM. For the setup steps that come before monetization matters, see how to start a FiveM server.

The governing document

The current Creator Platform License Agreement is dated 12 January 2026 and published at static.cfx.re. An earlier version dated 12 September 2023 also exists online; anything describing monetization rules that predates January 2026 should be treated as possibly describing a superseded version of the agreement, not the current one.

The agreement includes an operator disclaimer worth keeping in mind past the money question: Rockstar operates the only official versions of GTA V and RedM's underlying games, and authorizing custom servers under this agreement does not mean Rockstar approves, sponsors, or endorses any individual server.

Tebex is the named payment route

Cfx.re's own developer documentation states that Tebex is the authorized monetization partner for the Cfx platform, and describes it as the exclusive monetization partner for FiveM. The documentation's text is direct: using any other payment platform or provider is described as a violation of the Platform License Agreement. That means routing server payments through PayPal, Patreon, a custom card form, or another storefront outside Tebex sits outside what the current agreement permits, per Cfx.re's server-manual documentation on setting up a Tebex store.

Monetization is governed by three documents together: the Platform License Agreement itself, the Tebex Acceptable Use Policy, and Tebex's Terms of Service. A store also has to pass Tebex's own review and identity verification process before it can go live and start selling.

What Tebex's Acceptable Use Policy restricts

Based on the current published policy, Tebex's Acceptable Use Policy restricts what can be sold through a server store, including items unrelated to the server or its community, items that affect core gameplay balance for other players, obscene or sexual content, items infringing someone else's copyright or rights, anything convertible into real-world currency, and gambling or chance-based purchases.

That maps closely to the categories server owners commonly describe as "generally permitted" and "generally prohibited" in secondary coverage: custom cosmetics, vehicles, and assets the seller holds rights to, queue priority, community-specific recognition or perks, and server memberships tend to be treated as allowed; real-money gambling, loot boxes even for in-game currency, selling in-game currency itself, selling Rockstar-created content, brand sponsorships, crypto and NFTs, and reselling other creators' content without authorization tend to be treated as prohibited. Those categories summarize secondary reporting on the policy rather than quoting it clause by clause, so anyone making a specific product decision, like whether a particular item category is sellable, should read the linked policy text directly rather than rely on this summary.

How this differs from a "donation"

A framing worth being precise about: what a Tebex store sells is not legally a donation in the charitable sense, even when server communities use that word informally. It is a purchase of a defined digital item or perk, subject to the same store review and Acceptable Use Policy as any other Tebex transaction. Server owners describing purchases as "donations" to sidestep monetization rules does not change how the rules actually apply to what is being sold.

Escrow and protecting purchased scripts

Separately from payment rules, Cfx.re operates Asset Escrow, a code-protection system introduced in November 2021 for paid resources, according to the original Cfx forum announcement. Escrowed files are encrypted and locked to a buyer's license key through the Cfx.re Portal, which prevents someone from directly viewing or redistributing a purchased script's source. This is a separate mechanism from Tebex's payment rules: escrow protects a script seller's code, while Tebex governs how a server owner charges players.

What happens if a server ignores the payment rules

The Creator Platform License Agreement frames using a payment route outside Tebex as a violation of the agreement itself, per Cfx.re's own documentation. What specific enforcement action follows a violation, and how consistently it is applied, is not something this page will state as a fixed fact, since the exact enforcement wording sits in the PDF and can change between versions. Anyone building a monetization plan around a specific enforcement assumption should verify the current agreement text directly rather than rely on secondary summaries, including this one.

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