Opening a FiveM server takes a bit more than a Start button. Here's the path, in order, with the traps that cost new owners the most time.
1. Get your Cfx.re key
That's the first step, and it's free. Head to the Cfx.re Keymaster, create a key with your server's IP address, then keep it: it goes into server.cfg afterwards.
A free key allows up to 48 players. Beyond that, Cfx.re has its own paid tiers — that's independent of your host.
2. Choose a framework
Three families dominate:
| Framework | For whom | Note |
|---|---|---|
| ESX | Beginners, large script library | The most documented |
| QBCore | Serious roleplay, more modern code | Very active community |
| qbox | QBCore fork, actively maintained | Easy migration from QBCore |
Don't mix frameworks. An ESX script installed on a QBCore server won't work without adaptation, and that's the number-one source of console errors for beginners.
3. Prepare the database
A roleplay server stores everything in the database: accounts, inventories, vehicles, properties. Create the database from the panel's dedicated tab, then import the SQL file supplied by your framework.
4. Size it properly
FiveM is demanding on CPU clock speed, far less on core count. Reference points:
- Pack Démarrage — test server or small community, up to 32 players with few scripts.
- Pack Débutant — active roleplay server, 48–64 players, full framework.
- Pack Avancé — established community, many custom scripts, dozens of resources.
Memory becomes the limit as resource count grows: every loaded script takes its share, even when idle.
5. Optimise from day one
Three habits that save months of grief:
Watch with resmon. Type resmon 1 in the client console: you see each resource's cost in real time. Anything permanently above 1 ms deserves a look.
Hunt down loops. A while true do Wait(0) end in a script runs every frame. Multiplied by twenty scripts, that's the leading cause of performance drops.
Don't install everything. The temptation is to add fifty scripts on day one. Add them one at a time, checking the impact each time.
6. Appear in the public list
Check that sv_master1 is enabled in server.cfg, and give it a clear name, description and tags. That's what players browsing the list see — and it's your main recruitment channel at the start.
What's included with us
All our FiveM plans come with the Pterodactyl panel, full access to the resources folder, a MySQL database, Premium DDoS protection and automatic restart after an incident. The nodes run Intel Xeon Gold 6248R at 4 GHz, precisely for this kind of load.