Do you want to learn how to make money by running a Minecraft server? The easiest way to earn money from servers is by accepting donations. It’s an easy, and cost-effective way that offer the community cosmetic rewards, in return for real-world money.
However, there are more ways, and we will help you utilize them to your benefit.
How Much Money Do Minecraft Servers Make?
Minecraft servers can make a wide range of profits, depending on various factors such as server size, number of players, and ongoing maintenance costs. On average, a small to medium-sized Minecraft server can make anywhere from $200 to $700 per month. Larger servers with thousands of active players and extensive in-game purchases can make anywhere from $2000 to even $100,000 per month.
The key to a profitable Minecraft server lies in offering engaging gameplay, building a strong community, and providing valuable in-game purchases. Many servers use a variety of monetization strategies such as selling special in-game items, and VIP memberships. These revenue streams can significantly boost a server’s earnings, particularly when combined with an active and loyal player base.
However, the more players a server has the more it will not mean a larger income revenue. While larger servers can attract players by exposure and word-of-mouth very few will donate. Servers receive donations from less than 15% of the community, which makes revenue generation tough. To earn higher commissions, many servers rely on unique in-game content and sell items for limited amounts of time. This causes many players to purchase on time, because once the item is no longer available for selling, acquiring it becomes impossible.
How to make money from Minecraft servers
Making money from Minecraft servers can be done by setting up donations, running Patreon subscriptions, and utilizing streaming channels for extra exposure. Combining these 3, many servers have become more popular and increased their conversions by more than 37%.
Setup Donations
The easiest way to earn money from your Minecraft servers is by setting up a donations store. These web stores usually feature in-game content, such as ranks, special items, crate keys, and much more. Donations are an efficient way to collect donations since players can donate fixed amounts of money, and reward players with special rewards.
A great plugin for receiving money with your web store is our donations plugin. It provides server owners with the ability to create stunning Minecraft websites on WordPress at an affordable price. In fact, our very own tool is cheaper than alternative server donation tools. And the best part is, our monetization plugin works with cracked servers and whole server networks.
While donating items, that can give a competitive advantage over players is strongly forbidden, the aforementioned contents are not in violation.
Start a Patreon
Patreon is a universal way to earn money from servers. It is widely used by streamers and developers and can work great with Minecraft servers. For example, HermitCraft is already on Patreon and accepts donations. Players can receive multiple rewards for every donation tier, such as private worlds, badges, and much more.Â
Many other servers have been using Patreon for side-donations, and have earned even higher sums from there. Since servers can offer monthly subscription packages, many Patreon users can subscribe for a cheap amount, and earn rewards continuously.
Stream Your Server
Streaming your Minecraft server is one of the most effective ways to boost the income revenue on any Minecraft server. By streaming your own server, or hiring streamers, more players get attracted to join and spend on server donations. On the other hand, many players can also become Patreons, and spend on subscriptions. For server owners, creating server streams can be another income channel aside from Patreon and donation stores.Â
A few great places to stream your Minecraft servers are:
- Twitch
- YouTube Gaming
Paid Priority Queue
Once in a while, some Minecraft servers become exclusive and very popular. When huge waves of players start coming through, it’s hard to upkeep a server.
A good way to prevent losses and monetize from Minecraft servers is by including paid membership. This is a very popular technique used by 2b2t.
Premium players can skip queue waiting times, and access the server faster. There is no problem with offering queue spots, as this does not interfere with the EULA
Paid Membership Worlds
Paid memberships are another possibility for monetizing Minecraft servers. With paid memberships, you charge for server access. This can happen by using a whitelist and giving access to players on private worlds.
You can also offer the newest content for players under a paid membership fee. Most of the players prefer to see Minecraft content before anyone else.