FiveM Server Not Showing in the Server List

A server that runs fine but never appears in the public browser is failing one specific check, and there are only a handful of candidates. They are below in the order they turn out to be the answer.

First, separate the two failures

Before working through the list, establish which problem you have. Try a direct connect to your address and port from a machine outside your network. If you get in, the server is healthy and the problem is the listing. If you do not, the server is unreachable and the listing is a symptom rather than the fault. The two lead to different halves of this page and confusing them costs the most time.

The five causes, in order

1.The game port is open on TCP but not UDP

FiveM needs port 30120 on both. Firewalls and router UIs default to TCP, and the result is the specific, confusing symptom of a server that appears in the list while nobody can actually connect. Open both, then test from outside your own network rather than from the machine hosting it.

2.sv_maxclients is above 48 without Element Club

This one is invisible unless you know it exists. Cfx.re caps a server at 48 slots unless the licence key carries an Element Club Argentum subscription, at $15 a month paid to Cfx.re with OneSync enabled. Set the count higher without it and the server runs perfectly, answers direct connects, and fails its heartbeat check so it never appears in the public browser. If you recently raised your slot count and the server vanished, this is almost certainly why.

3.The licence key is missing, wrong, or belongs to another server

FXServer refuses to start without a cfx.re key and exits with "This server does not have a license key specified", which txAdmin then retries in a loop. A key already bound to a different IP behaves differently again. Keys are free from the Cfx.re portal and issued per server to your own account.

4.The server is listed but you are filtering it out

The in-game browser hides full servers, filters by region and by name, and remembers filters between sessions. Before assuming the listing is broken, search by the exact sv_hostname with filters cleared, or use a direct connect to the address and port to confirm the server itself is reachable.

5.sv_endpointprivacy or an unset hostname

A server with no meaningful sv_hostname is hard to find rather than absent, and gets lost among the defaults. Set a distinctive hostname, and set your tags and locale with sets rather than set, because only the replicated form reaches the server-list info blob.

Reading the console rather than guessing

txAdmin prints the reason on startup in nearly every case. A licence problem names itself. A heartbeat rejection over the slot limit says the maximum is 48. A database failure appears as oxmysql errors before the framework finishes loading. Open the live console, restart the server, and read the first thirty seconds rather than the last thirty, because the cause is almost always in the boot sequence and the loop that follows only repeats it.

If it is the slot ceiling

The fix is one of two, and neither is a hosting change. Either drop sv_maxclients to 48 and the server returns to the browser on the next heartbeat, or attach an Element Club Argentum subscription to your licence key and keep the higher count. It is worth being deliberate about that choice, because 64 slots costs $15 a month at Cfx.re on top of whatever you pay a host, and a server that comfortably fills 40 gains nothing from it.

We say the same thing on our own pricing page, because a 64-slot plan sold without that context is a plan the buyer cannot use.

Or start from a server that is already wired

Ports published on TCP and UDP, txAdmin on its own address, database connected before the first resource loads. First month free if your Flux account is new.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my FiveM server not in the server list?

It is failing the heartbeat check or it is unreachable. The most common causes are port 30120 open on TCP but not UDP, sv_maxclients set above 48 without a Cfx.re Element Club Argentum subscription, and a missing or invalid licence key. Direct connect first to find out which half of the problem you have.

My server works on direct connect but is not listed. Why?

That combination points almost exclusively at the heartbeat, and the usual reason is a slot count above 48 without Element Club. The server runs, accepts players who know the address, and is refused a listing. Drop sv_maxclients to 48 and it returns on the next heartbeat.

Does FiveM need UDP as well as TCP?

Yes, port 30120 on both. Opening only TCP is the single most common misconfiguration and produces the confusing case where the server appears but nobody can join. txAdmin sits on its own port, 40120 by default, and should never be exposed publicly without a strong password.

How long until my server appears after a fix?

The next successful heartbeat, which is a matter of minutes rather than hours. If it has not returned after a restart and a few minutes, the cause was not the one you changed. Go back to the console and read the boot sequence.

Can a host cause this?

Only by getting the ports or the licence wrong, both of which are visible to you. The slot ceiling, the key and the hostname are all yours to set. What a host can do is remove the failure modes it controls: publishing both protocols on 30120, giving txAdmin its own address, and having the database connected before the framework starts.