How to Make a FiveM Server: Full Setup Guide (2026)

Making your own FiveM server is the gateway to GTA V roleplay, racing, drift and freeroam communities. The process has a few moving parts — artifacts, a license key, your server.cfg and a framework — but it’s very doable. This guide walks through how to make a FiveM server from scratch, and the easy route if you’d rather skip the setup.

What you need first

• A legitimate copy of GTA V on the client side (every player needs one).
• A FiveM license key — free from the FiveM keymaster. You register one key per server.
• A host — FiveM is CPU-bound (single-thread heavy), so you want strong per-core performance, fast NVMe storage for streaming assets, and enough RAM for scripts and players.

The two ways to host

1. Managed FiveM hosting (the easy way)

The fastest route is a managed FiveM server: the artifacts, txAdmin, server.cfg and database are set up for you, on AMD Ryzen 9 hardware sized for FiveM’s single-thread bottleneck. You install frameworks and scripts through the panel and skip the Windows/Linux server admin entirely. 30% OFF with code XGAMEON.

2. Self-hosting (manual)

1. Download the server artifacts — the FXServer build plus the cfx-server-data resources.
2. Get your license key from keymaster and paste it into your server.cfg.
3. Configure server.cfg — hostname, max players, tags, and the resources to start. See our server.cfg guide for every important setting.
4. Set up txAdmin — FiveM’s web admin panel that manages your server, players and recipes. Our txAdmin setup guide covers it.
5. Install a framework (ESX, QBox or QBCore) and a database — see ESX vs QBCore vs QBox.
6. Add resources/scripts — drop them in resources and ensure them; our fxmanifest guide explains how.

After it’s running

Connect via the FiveM client (F8 console: connect <ip>), forward the right ports (30120 TCP/UDP by default), and start customising. From here you’ll add jobs, vehicles, MLOs and UI — build your server’s identity. Tools like our server.cfg generator and ACE permissions builder speed that up.

Frequently asked questions

Is it free to make a FiveM server?

The FiveM license key is free, and you can run a server on your own PC. But for a public, always-online server you’ll want proper hosting — self-hosting from a home PC means poor performance and exposed IP.

What do you need to run a FiveM server?

A FiveM license key, the server artifacts, a server.cfg, and ideally a framework (ESX/QBCore) with a database. Strong single-thread CPU matters most for performance.

How many players can a FiveM server hold?

FiveM supports up to 2048 slots, but real capacity depends on your scripts and CPU — most RP servers run 32–128 smoothly with good optimisation.