Garry's Mod Server Monetisation: What Facepunch Actually Allows

Garry's Mod runs some of the oldest donation economies in game hosting. A DarkRP community with a VIP rank, custom jobs and a Pointshop full of hats is not unusual — it is the norm, and has been for well over a decade. TTT servers sell credits and equipment; sandbox servers sell prop limits. Almost none of it is documented by the people who make the game, which is why the same three questions come up on every owner's first day: what am I allowed to sell, does a donor rank that hands out advantage count as pay-to-win, and can I charge for an addon somebody else uploaded?

Two of those have published answers. The third does not, and this page says so rather than guessing.

The Sources, and How to Read This Page

Four documents govern this, only two of them written for Garry's Mod specifically:

Valve's Steam Subscriber Agreement (revision date 20 April 2026) sits underneath all of it, since Workshop addons are distributed through Steam.

Quoted blocks are the studio's words, not ours

Every plain indented quotation on this page is copied word for word from the document named immediately above it. The labelled callouts like this one, and all ordinary body text, are our reading of what those words mean on a running server. Where the two seem to disagree, the quote wins — and so does the live page, which Facepunch and Valve can change at any time.

Yes, the Rust Policy Applies to Garry's Mod

The Community Server and Hosting Guidelines are widely treated as "the Rust rules". They are not. The document says who it covers in its own opening line:

"we're Facepunch Studios and we make games including Garry's Mod, Rust, Clatter, Chippy, Facepunch prototype games as well as other games, products and services ('Games'). We're fine with people making their own community servers for our Games ('Servers')."

Garry's Mod is named first. Every rule in that document about "Servers" is a rule about your GMod server.

Facepunch says it again on the Garry's Mod Wiki. The Server Operator Rules page points straight back at the guidelines, and states the penalty:

"Your server must not violate the general Community Server and Hosting Guidelines."

"This page describes rules that all server owners/operators must abide to."

"Violating these rules will get your server blacklisted."

The Rust version of this page — Rust Server Monetisation — quotes the same document in Rust's context. The permissions are identical; everything around them differs, and that is the rest of this page.

What Facepunch Says You Can Sell

Section 2 of the guidelines, in full:

"Am I allowed to monetise my server? Yes, you are allowed to monetise your Servers, for example:

(a) charge either a single fee or subscription for use of your Servers;

(b) accept donations;

(c) sell cosmetic items, effects or enhancements;

(d) your own Server currency; and/or

(e) have adverts, sponsorships or product placements."

Two features of the wording matter before we translate it. "for example" means the list illustrates rather than enumerates — these are kinds of monetisation Facepunch is fine with, not the only permitted transactions. "and/or" at the end of (d) means the methods stack; nothing says you must pick one.

Here is what each looks like on a real GMod server. This second column is ours, not Facepunch's:

Section 1 attaches a condition to running a server at all, and it applies to everything above:

"Yes - you are free to run private, unofficial or community servers for our Games. You can do anything you like with them, as long as they comply with these guidelines, are fairly labelled to players and comply with the law."

"Fairly labelled to players" is the phrase a store hangs on. If you sell a custom job, players should be able to tell what it does before they pay. The guidelines never define the standard, but the direction is not ambiguous: no bait-and-switch product descriptions.

One more clause reaches your store directly, at section 4(d) — note "(including ads and items)", which puts a sponsorship you sell and a Pointshop item you sell both in scope:

"Age appropriate. Make sure all your content (including ads and items) are suitable for the Games' target audience."

The DLC Rules Barely Bite in Garry's Mod — But They Are Still There

Section 3 is the part that gets Rust servers delisted. In three answers:

"Can I restrict access to DLC content on our Servers? No - if it is Facepunch approved downloadable content ("Facepunch DLC"), then players must be able to freely and unconditionally access their validly purchased Facepunch DLC across all Servers."

""Facepunch DLC" includes but is not limited to: (i) paid content packs (e.g. building skins, decor packs, hazmat skins, instruments); and (ii) approved in-game purchases (e.g. Facepunch approved Steam Marketplace skins, items or cosmetics)."

"Can I grant use of Facepunch DLC to users if they don't own it? No - you must not grant access to any Facepunch DLC to players who have not validly purchased it. Servers may not bypass ownership checks or artificially enable Facepunch DLC."

Every example in that definition is a Rust one, and that is not an accident. Checked against Steam's store data on 19 August 2026, Garry's Mod (app 4000) lists no DLC at all and its store page carries no "In-App Purchases" category. Rust (app 252490) lists five DLC and does carry that category. There is currently no GMod equivalent of a hazmat skin to withhold or hand out.

The answer that does work for you in GMod is section 3(b):

"What about downloadable content which isn't Facepunch DLC? Yes - you can restrict access to downloadable content which isn't Facepunch DLC on your Servers. This includes any custom or Steam Workshop content which is not officially sold or gated by Facepunch."

Steam Workshop content is named. That sentence is the permission underneath every donor player model, VIP weapon pack and members-only map on every GMod server running today.

"Includes but is not limited to" means the list is not the boundary

The definition of Facepunch DLC is explicitly non-exhaustive, and Facepunch can ship paid content for Garry's Mod at any point without rewriting this document. The conservative test is unchanged from Rust: if Facepunch sells it or gates it behind ownership, treat it as Facepunch DLC — regardless of whether it appears in the examples.

The Pay-to-Win Question, Which Is Sharper in GMod Than in Rust

This is where DarkRP and TTT put real pressure on the wording, and where an honest page stops short of a clean answer. The permitted method at 2(c) is:

"sell cosmetic items, effects or enhancements;"

"Enhancements" is undefined, and it is the whole ballgame. Read narrowly, the entire phrase is governed by "cosmetic" and covers appearance only: hats, trails, models, chat colours. Read broadly, "enhancements" is a third noun in its own right, and it would cover things that change what a player can do.

Almost every GMod donor package sits on the broad reading:

• A DarkRP donor job. Custom jobs are the most-sold GMod product. A job carries a salary, a loadout and entity access. DarkRP's stock config already ships a Money printer entity buyable for 1000 with no job restriction, alongside shipments restricted by an allowed list. A donor job with a higher salary or an exclusive printer is not cosmetic under any reading.
• A TTT donor weapon. TTT equipment is gated on the weapon itself — SWEP.CanBuy = { ROLE_TRAITOR } in the base SWEP that ships with the gamemode. A donor-only item in the Traitor shop changes round outcomes.
• Pointshop cosmetics. Hats, trails and player models are the clean case, cosmetic on any reading. Raising a donor's sbox_maxprops is not, though it is a mild advantage.

Where we land, and why we will not go further

Nothing in the guidelines prohibits selling gameplay advantage, and section 2 is an illustrative list rather than a closed one, so a permission need not appear in it for something to be permitted. The conservative position is that pay-for-advantage is not prohibited by this document, but is not clearly blessed by it either — "enhancements" is doing work nobody has defined. Anyone who tells you Facepunch has ruled on DarkRP donor jobs is telling you something the documents do not say.

What the documents do require is disclosure — section 1's "fairly labelled to players", plus the Server Operator Rules' honesty requirement:

"Do not fake server information. This mostly means player count, but other data also applies."

If your donor rank changes gameplay, say so where players can see it before they join and before they pay. That is the part with published text behind it.

Selling Access to Addons You Did Not Make

This question attracts the most confident wrong answers, and the GMod Wiki answers half of it outright. From the Steam Workshop Rules:

"Everyone is allowed to use addons you upload - Steam Workshop is not your personal file hosting, it is a distribution service for user generated content. By uploading your addons to Steam Workshop you agree that anyone can download and use your uploaded content. Things like "you are not allowed to use this addon on your server" or "this was made for only this server" are not permitted on Steam Workshop."

Read what that does and does not say.

It does say an addon author cannot forbid you from running their Workshop addon on your server. A Workshop description reading "not for use on other servers" states a condition that Facepunch says is "not permitted on Steam Workshop" in the first place, and the same page treats code enforcing one as malicious:

"Adding code (or entities on your maps, etc.) that would discourage or prevent players from being able to use your addon on their servers or in singleplayer falls into the "Malicious Code" category."

It does not say you may sell somebody else's addon — it grants use, not resale. Facepunch's Modding Guidelines tie the right to sell to ownership:

"Who owns the Mods? You own Mods that you create."

"Can I sell a Mod I own? Yes."

That is "a Mod I own", not "a Mod I found". Valve's Subscriber Agreement makes the warranty for Workshop uploads a warranty of authorship:

"with respect to Workshop Contributions, you represent and warrant that the Workshop Contribution was originally created by you"

and section 3.G restricts the content itself:

"you are not entitled to: (i) sell, grant a security interest in or transfer reproductions of the Content and Services to other parties in any way, nor to rent, lease or license the Content and Services to others without the prior written consent of Valve, except to the extent expressly permitted elsewhere in this Agreement (including any Subscription Terms or Rules of Use)"

The distinction that keeps you clean

Sell access to your server, not access to an addon. "VIP on our DarkRP server, which includes the Mining job" is a subscription to your Servers under 2(a), and gating non-Facepunch Workshop content is expressly permitted by 3(b). "Buy the Mining job addon" is selling a file somebody else wrote. The perk is identical; only one framing is supported by anything published.

Two smaller Workshop rules touch monetisation directly. Reuploading an addon to make your own gated copy is banned outright — "Do not reupload addons - Reuploaded addons will be taken down." And in-addon advertising, including for your own server, is banned:

"Do not put unsolicited/intrusive/web advertisements into your addons - Self-explanatory, Steam Workshop is a place for people to get their addons/mods, not adware. Any pop up ads are not allowed, including server ads. This includes chat messages."

That one catches a common tactic: shipping a content pack whose Lua prints your server IP into everyone's chat. Facepunch calls it adware.

The Garry's Mod-Only Rules

The Server Operator Rules add obligations the general guidelines do not contain, and several of them constrain how you deliver a purchase.

"Malicious actions towards server's players are not allowed for any reason."

Its examples include wiping a player's data/ folder, altering their spawnlists, forcibly changing their settings — and one store operators run into:

"Asking players to install 3rd party software (a security risk for the player)"

If your donation flow ends with "download our launcher", that is the rule you are arguing with. Deliver perks server-side.

The page also declines, deliberately, to police your store's customer service:

"All Garry's Mod servers are hosted by the community. Your access to community server(s) is at the discretion of the administration of said server."

Facepunch will not arbitrate a refund dispute. Your terms are your problem, which is a reason to write them down.

Where the Wording Is Genuinely Ambiguous

Three places beyond "enhancements" where a careful owner should read conservatively.

Discretion. Section 4(g):

"Community Servers are at our discretion. Your ability to create, use and distribute Servers based on our Games is at our discretion and we can withdraw it in the future, particularly for the protection of Facepunch or our Games."

Complying with everything above is not a guarantee. The document softens this in the next sentence — "we don't plan to use this arbitrarily or randomly, there has to be sufficient reason" — but the reservation stands. Do not build a community whose survival depends on one revenue line.

The guidelines are not the top of the stack. Section 4(h):

"In addition to these guidelines there are our full legal rules in the Facepunch Terms of Service and Facepunch Privacy Policy at www.facepunch.com/legal. If there is any conflict between these guidelines and those documents, then those documents win."

The Source SDK clause, which we could not resolve. Garry's Mod ships with the Source SDK and Hammer, and Valve's Subscriber Agreement says of its Developer Tools:

"you may use the Developer Tools, and you may use, reproduce, publish, perform, display and distribute any content you create using the Developer Tools, however you wish, but solely on a non-commercial basis."

Read literally, that bears on selling a map you built in Hammer — yet Facepunch's Modding Guidelines say you may sell a Mod you own. The texts are in tension and we will not pretend to resolve them. If you intend to sell a map or addon rather than server access, that is worth an email to Valve at the address the SSA gives for commercial Source SDK use. Selling access to your own server is untouched by it.

What Happens If You Get It Wrong

Two penalties, from two documents. The guidelines:

"Failure to comply with these guidelines may result in delisting from the server browser or other sanctions (for example, serious or repeated breach of these guidelines may result in a game ban)"

The GMod page is blunter: "Violating these rules will get your server blacklisted." A blacklisted server has no discovery — your population becomes whoever already has the IP saved and cares enough to type it in.

One related obligation, section 4(a):

"Don't call it 'official'. It should be clear that your Server is unofficial - don't pretend to be us."

That covers your store front as well as your server name. A donation page dressed up as a Facepunch storefront is exactly what this clause exists for.

The Practical Layer: How a Purchase Reaches Your Server

None of the above explains how a payment becomes a perk. On GMod the chain is always the same:

Payment clears → your store fires an RCON command or HTTP callback → the server puts the buyer in a usergroup → your gamemode and addons check that usergroup.

Everything hangs on step three, your admin mod. On ULX — the community standard, covered in Garry's Mod Admin Commands — a rank grant is one command, whose own help text reads "Add a user by ID to specified group":

ulx adduserid STEAM_0:1:7099 vip
ulx removeuserid STEAM_0:1:7099

The group is created once with ulx addgroup vip user, and anything it may run is granted to the group rather than to each buyer. Other admin mods use different command names but the same shape: a named group, a grant, a revoke. Whatever you run, the group name is the contract between your store and your addons.

Gating a DarkRP job on that group

DarkRP checks the group in the job definition itself, via customCheck, in your darkrpmodification addon rather than in the framework — see Garry's Mod Gamemodes for why that separation matters:

TEAM_VIPCHEF = DarkRP.createJob("VIP Chef", {
    color = Color(180, 120, 40, 255),
    model = {"models/player/group01/male_07.mdl"},
    description = [[A donor job. What it does is written on the store page.]],
    weapons = {},
    command = "vipchef",
    max = 4,
    salary = 60,
    category = "Citizens",
    customCheck = function(ply) return ply:IsUserGroup("vip") end,
    CustomCheckFailMsg = "This job is available to VIP donors.",
})

customCheck and CustomCheckFailMsg are DarkRP's own fields, read when a player tries to change job. Player:IsUserGroup is a stock Garry's Mod function that "Returns whether the player is in specified group or not" — so ULX sets the group and DarkRP reads it, with nothing custom in between.

Taking payment

Neither the guidelines nor the Server Operator Rules name a payment provider, a processor or a platform — Facepunch does not restrict which storefront you use. What you may sell is settled above; the services below are only the tooling that collects the money and fires the command.

Three publish Garry's Mod support on their own sites:

• Tebex — Garry's Mod is a supported title, with its own integration guide.
• PayNow — names Garry's Mod among the games it officially supports, delivered through its own server plugin.
• CraftingStore — lists Garry's Mod, integrating over Steam login and RCON.

We are not affiliated with any of them and are not ranking them. Each publishes its own pricing and its own acceptable-use rules; those rules are the platform's, not Facepunch's, and can be stricter than the documents quoted above. Read both before you build a catalogue on one.

Whichever you choose, the store only ever sends a command. What turns that command into a perk is the usergroup structure in Garry's Mod Admin Commands, so build that first.

Mapping each permitted method to a delivery mechanism

Four things that break GMod stores in practice

• Key every purchase on the SteamID, never the display name. GMod names change constantly, and pasting the wrong kind of ID into ULX is the classic silent failure — article 390 has the detail.
• Your payment records are the source of truth; the usergroup list is a cache. ULX keeps users in the server's SQLite database. If that file is lost or reset, every active perk must be rebuildable from your store's records.
• DarkRP money persists separately from ranks. Ranks live in the admin mod, wallets in DarkRP's own database. A restore that fixes one will not fix the other. If you sell currency, back up both.
• Subscriptions need an expiry job. Nothing in ULX expires a group membership. Either your store revokes on cancellation, or you reconcile groups against payment records on a schedule.

A Pre-Launch Audit

Before you take a first payment, walk this against your live server:

1. Is every paid perk delivered through a usergroup, so it can be granted and revoked with one command, and is there a revoke path for refunds, chargebacks and lapsed subscriptions?
2. Does your store page state plainly what a rank changes, including anything affecting gameplay? That is "fairly labelled to players".
3. Does any purchase require the player to install third-party software? Remove it.
4. Do any addons you uploaded print server ads into chat? Banned by the Workshop Rules regardless of how well it converts.
5. Are you selling access to your server, or access to somebody else's addon? Only the first has published support.
6. Is the server clearly unofficial, on the server name and on the store?
7. Re-read the guidelines and the Server Operator Rules and compare their dates to the ones quoted here. If a date has moved, the document has changed.

What We Could Not Confirm

Stating this plainly is more useful than filling the gaps.

• Facepunch publishes nothing specific to Garry's Mod monetisation. The Garry's Mod Wiki has no page on monetisation, donations, VIP ranks or stores; its nine Server Hosting pages cover setup, content delivery and the Server Operator Rules, and that rules page never mentions money.
• "Enhancements" in 2(c) has never been defined by Facepunch, and we found no public ruling on a DarkRP donor job. Anyone claiming Facepunch has drawn the pay-to-win line is going beyond the text.
• We found no published enforcement examples for Garry's Mod monetisation — no blacklist notice tied to a store. The blacklist exists and the rules name it; we cannot tell you where the line has fallen in practice.
• The Source SDK non-commercial clause versus "Can I sell a Mod I own? Yes" is a real tension in the published texts, and we have not resolved it. It does not touch server-access sales.
• Payment processors and addon marketplaces publish their own rules, which can be stricter. This page covers what the publisher and Steam say, nothing else.

What to Read Next

• Garry's Mod Admin Commands: ULX and Server Console List — the group and permission model every paid perk hangs off
• Garry's Mod Gamemodes — DarkRP Modification and TTT, where donor perks are configured
• Setting up Steam Workshop and FastDL — delivering the content behind a gated rank
• Getting started with your Garry's Mod server — the server.cfg settings referenced here
• Rust Server Monetisation — the same guidelines read for Rust, where the DLC rules do most of the work

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