What Mojang lets you charge for on a server
Charge for access, take donations or sell cosmetics on a Minecraft Java server within Mojang's Usage Guidelines and EULA, and where a Tebex store fits.
You can run a Minecraft Java server and take money for it, but only inside the limits Mojang sets in its Minecraft Usage Guidelines and the Minecraft EULA. The panel's Minecraft tabs have no shop for selling to your players, so the money side is a web store plus a plugin that you add yourself. What Mojang allows, and where a store plugin fits, is set out below.
Checked against the Minecraft Usage Guidelines and the Minecraft EULA on minecraft.net, October 2026. Mojang says it may change the guidelines at any time, so read the current text before you charge anyone.
What the EULA says
The EULA lets you install the server version of Minecraft: Java Edition on a server and host online play. It also says you must not make commercial use of anything Mojang has made, or try to make money from it, unless Mojang allows it. The Usage Guidelines are the extra permission that makes charging on a server legal, so they are the document to read.
On a server that has not accepted it yet, pressing Start on the Console tab opens Accept the Minecraft EULA. The EULA describes itself as a legal agreement between you and Mojang, so it is yours to read and accept.
What the Usage Guidelines allow
Under "Servers and hosting", Mojang lets you earn in these ways:
- Charge for access, if the price is the same for everyone, everyone who pays gets all the mods you enabled (admin-only tools aside), and you own or control the server for as long as you charge.
- Ask for donations, if the donor gets nothing only they can use. You may give all players a server-wide reward when a donation goal is met.
- Sell gameplay entitlements, if they do not spoil other players' experience or give a competitive advantage.
- Sell cosmetics, except capes or anything that tries to look like a cape.
- Show in-game ads, if they do not hurt gameplay or favour some players.
- Sell an in-game currency, if it has no real-world value, cannot be cashed out or moved to other servers, and does not look like or share a name with Minecoins.
Access must only go to people with a genuine paid-for copy of Minecraft. Keep Online mode switched on in the Config Editor so the server checks players with Mojang.
Rules that apply to every kind of income
Mojang also asks that you:
- keep servers, items and ads suitable for all ages
- state that you are responsible for players' data and privacy
- never hide or change Minecraft's own dialogs, including the EULA prompt
- give anyone who pays real money a purchase history
- show the content and prices before a person joins or signs up
- make influencers who promote your server disclose their relationship with you
Do not use "Minecraft" as the main name of your server or store. Mojang's own example: "Kotoba Miners: A Minecraft server for Redstone builds" is fine, and "Minecraft - the ultimate Kotoba server for Redstone" is not. Listings and websites should carry a notice such as "NOT AN OFFICIAL MINECRAFT SERVICE. NOT APPROVED BY OR ASSOCIATED WITH MOJANG OR MICROSOFT", and name who is responsible and how to contact them. A chat or forum link does not count as a contact method.
Add a store plugin
A store has two parts: a web shop that takes payment and a plugin that runs commands on your server to deliver what was bought. Tebex is one such service, and its documentation describes its Plugin API as "for implementing command execution on game servers". Set up Tebex on your Minecraft server walks through the install.
On Paper or Purpur, open the Plugins tab to install a store plugin, or upload the jar with File Manager. Check the store's own page for the server software it supports. Whatever you sell, keep to the list above: cosmetics are allowed, and anything that affects gameplay must not give buyers a competitive advantage.
This is a summary, not legal advice. Mojang states it cannot say whether a particular project complies, and Realms owners may not earn from their Realm at all under the EULA.
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