Rust Server Hosting

How to Make Money Running a Rust Server: VIP Ranks, Shops and Monetization

Posted on by Netch Dev
Which framework does your server run?The group and store commands on this page change to match.

A server that pays its way

Hosting, plugins, map files and your own time all cost money. Most community servers cover it with a small donation store: a few VIP ranks, some cosmetic perks and a currency players can earn in-game. Done right, paying players feel thanked and free players never feel beaten by a wallet.

Start with a server people want to play on. A store doesn’t create players. Stable performance, a clear wipe schedule and active admins come first. Monetise once you have regulars who’d like a way to support you.

What Facepunch allows

Facepunch’s community server guidelines say yes, you may monetise your server. Read them once before you open a store: breaking them can get your server delisted from the server browser, and serious or repeated breaches can lead to a game ban.

  • A fee or subscription for access to your server.
  • Donations.
  • Cosmetic items, effects or enhancements.
  • Your own server currency.
  • Adverts, sponsorships or product placements.

Whatever you sell has to be fairly labelled: players should know exactly what they get, for how long, and what it costs. And everything has to stay within the law where you and your players live.

The DLC rule. Since July 2025 you may not give players Facepunch DLC or approved Steam skins they haven’t bought, and you may not lock DLC they own behind a rank. That rules out “VIP unlocks all DLC skins” perks. Your own custom or Workshop content is fine to gate behind a rank.

Read the full text at facepunch.com/legal/servers. It was last updated on 15 July 2025.

Build your VIP ranks

A VIP rank is just a permission group. Each plugin perk is a permission you grant to the group, and higher ranks inherit everything from the rank below, so you only add the extras.

vip_plusVIP+ (its own perks, plus everything from vip)
itemvault.vip+randomitems.VIP+restartrewards.vip+loadout.vipinstantbarrel.usecrosshair.use
inherits from vip
vipEntry rank: time-savers and a few extras
loadout.vipinstantbarrel.usecrosshair.useitemvault.viprandomitems.VIP
every player is also in default
defaultEveryone, paying or not
loadout.useitemvault.useitemvault.defaultrandomitems.default

Create the groups

  • oxidecarbon.group add vip "VIP" 1

    Create the entry rank.

  • oxidecarbon.group add vip_plus "VIP+" 2

    Create the higher rank.

  • oxidecarbon.group parent vip_plus vip

    Child first, then parent. VIP+ now gets every VIP perk automatically.

  • oxidecarbon.grant group vip loadout.vip

    Grant each perk once. Repeat for every permission in the tier.

The tier names in the chips above are the ones each plugin ships with. Many ModPulse plugins let you add, rename or remove tiers in their config, so you can match them to your own rank names. New to groups? The permissions guide covers every command in detail.

Keep it to 2 or 3 tiers

Every extra tier is one more thing to explain, price and balance. Two or three ranks with a clear step up between them sell better than six that differ by one perk.

Sell time, not power

Shorter cooldowns, faster looting and extra loadout slots save VIPs time. They don’t let a VIP beat a free player in a fight.

Say what each rank includes

List every perk on the store page and in game, with the duration. Facepunch asks for fair labelling, and clear lists also cut down on support tickets.

Connect a donation store

A web store such as Tebex takes the payment, then runs console commands on your server for you. That’s how a purchase turns into a rank, an item or currency without you lifting a finger.

Monthly VIP rank

  • oxidecarbon.usergroup add {id} vip

    On purchase. Adds the buyer to the VIP group. {id} is your store’s placeholder for the buyer’s Steam64 ID.

  • oxidecarbon.usergroup remove {id} vip

    On expiry. Removes the rank when the subscription ends, so you never have to track it by hand.

Items and currency delivered to the player

  • itemvault.add "Player ID" "Item Shortname" "Item Display Name" "Amount" "Skin ID"

    Puts a purchase in the player’s Item Vault. They collect it with /vault when they’re ready, so nothing lands in a full inventory or gets lost on death.

  • lootbox.give chest "playerID" "configID"

    Gives a Loot Box chest. Pair it with lootbox.give key "playerID" "configID" for the key.

  • gems.give "Player steam64 ID" "Gem config name" "Amount to give"

    Gives Gems that players can trade with /exchange.

Check the placeholders. Every store names them a little differently. Use the Steam64 placeholder from your store’s own docs in place of {id} and "Player ID", and test each package with a free test purchase before you go live.

Run an in-game economy

Facepunch lists your own server currency as an allowed way to monetise. The healthiest economies let every player earn currency by playing, and give it somewhere fun to go.

Most Rust servers use Economics or Server Rewards for the currency itself. These ModPulse plugins give players ways to earn it and spend it:

Earn: Gems

Gems adds rare gems as an extra reward for mining, with 19 in the default config. Players can trade them for items, Economics or Server Rewards with /exchange, so mining becomes a steady income.

Spend: Raffle

Raffle lets players buy tickets with Economics or Server Rewards to win items, kits, groups or permissions. A VIP rank as a raffle prize gives free players a real shot at it.

Spend: Custom Crafting

Custom Crafting Menu lets you set your own recipes and materials for any item, including uncraftable ones, with optional requirements such as being at Outpost or near a workbench.

Spend: Coinflips

Coinflips lets players flip each other or the server for scrap, items, Economics or Server Rewards. It pulls currency back out of the economy so it keeps its value.

Keep chance games on earned currency. If players can buy a currency with real money and then gamble it, gambling and loot box laws may apply in some countries. The simple fix: don’t sell the currency your coinflips and raffles use.

Rewards that bring players back

Revenue follows population. Rewards for showing up keep your regulars around, and the same plugins give VIPs a little extra on top.

  • Restart Rewards

    Rewards players who reconnect after a scheduled restart with kits, Server Rewards, Economics or items. Reward tiers are set by permission, so restartrewards.vip+ can get more than everyone else.

  • Random Items

    Hands out random items on a timer, for kills, respawns, crafting or farming. The timer is tiered: by default randomitems.default gets an item every 300 seconds and randomitems.VIP every 180.

  • Loot Box

    Chests and keys that open for random loot. A natural reward for voting for your server or for a daily kit.

  • Join Groups

    Adds players to a group automatically, optionally only when their name contains your server’s prefix. Reward players who advertise your community in their name.

Avoiding pay-to-win

Players leave servers where money decides fights. Pay-to-win drains your population, and fewer players means fewer donations. Use this as a rule of thumb for every perk.

Safe to sell

  • Cosmetics: your own custom building or Workshop skins (see the DLC rule above).
  • A crosshair picker with Crosshair (26 included).
  • Time-savers: Instant Barrel, faster upgrades with Base Utility, a shorter Loadout cooldown.
  • Extra storage and slots: more Item Vault deposits, extra saved loadouts.
  • A chat colour, a rank name, a thank-you in your Discord.

Think twice

  • Weapons, explosives and raid tools, especially early in a wipe.
  • Combat perks like faster healing or instant self-revive. Health Regeneration and Self Revive work best given to everyone on a casual server.
  • Selling the currency your chance games use.
  • Any Facepunch DLC or skin a player hasn’t bought.
  • Perks you can’t list clearly on the store page.
The quick test. If a free player saw a VIP use the perk, would they feel the VIP won because they paid? If yes, give it to everyone, make it earnable, or don’t sell it.

VIP perks you can add today

Every one of these ModPulse plugins has a permission you can grant to a VIP group, and all of them run on Oxide and Carbon.

  • Loadout

    Players respawn with a saved set of items and clothing. loadout.vip gives extra loadout slots and a shorter respawn cooldown (20 seconds instead of 60 by default).

  • Item Vault

    A virtual vault for store deliveries. Deposit tiers from itemvault.default (5 items) up to itemvault.vip++ (20 items). Purchases always bypass the limit.

  • Instant Barrel

    Breaks and auto-loots barrels and road signs instantly. instantbarrel.use grants it, and players toggle it with /barrel.

  • Base Utility

    Upgrade and repair a base from the TC with one click, with raid protection. Permission tiers for each material (baseutility.1 to baseutility.4) and for a shorter upgrade and repair delay.

  • Random Items

    Timed random items with unlimited permission tiers: randomitems.default, randomitems.VIP, randomitems.VIP+ and randomitems.supporter by default.

  • Restart Rewards

    Reconnect rewards with as many permission tiers as you need, highest rank first.

  • Crosshair

    A crosshair picker with 26 designs and adjustable size. crosshair.use grants /crosshair.

  • Building Skins

    Auto-upgrades to the player’s chosen building skin and wallpaper, with tiers per material (buildingskins.1 to buildingskins.4). Keep the DLC ownership option on on a live server: only players who own a skin pack may use it.

  • Health Regeneration

    Regenerates health out of combat. The healthregen.use permission is optional: turn it off to give regen to everyone.

  • Self Revive

    Players with selfrevive.use revive themselves after being downed, optionally using a set item.

For your store and economy: Raffle, Gems, Loot Box, Coinflips, Custom Crafting Menu and Join Groups.

FAQ

Is it allowed to make money from a Rust server?

Yes. Facepunch’s guidelines allow access fees, donations, cosmetic items and enhancements, your own server currency, and adverts or sponsorships, as long as everything is fairly labelled and legal. The main hard limit is Facepunch DLC: you can’t give it to players who haven’t bought it.

Can I sell kits?

Facepunch’s guidelines don’t name kits either way. Players are the bigger risk: a paid kit full of weapons on wipe day is the fastest way to get called pay-to-win. Resource kits, building kits or cosmetic kits, with a cooldown, go down far better.

How much should VIP cost?

Look at servers of a similar size and style to yours and price close to them. Monthly ranks are easier to budget for than one-off lifetime ranks, which pay once and then cost you nothing but support. Whatever you pick, show the price and the duration up front.

A VIP perk isn’t working

Check the player is in the group with oxidecarbon.show user "Player name/ID", then check the group has the permission with oxidecarbon.show group vip. Permission names must match the plugin exactly, including capitals such as randomitems.VIP.

The rank wasn’t removed when the subscription ended

Make sure the package has an expiry command (oxidecarbon.usergroup remove {id} vip), not only a purchase command, and that your store’s server plugin is installed and connected.

Give your VIPs something worth having

High performance Rust plugins for Oxide / Carbon, with support on Discord.