Money-Making Meta Over Time

How the best ways to make money on DonutSMP changed from 2024 to the June 2026 update and the November 2026 tax.

This page covers the money-making methods that guides and creator videos recommended in each period, and the server changes that ended or changed them. Each method is dated to the source that described it. Methods from an earlier period may no longer work. For the current markets, see Economy and Making money FAQ.

Summary table

PeriodMethods that sources from the time recommendedWhat changed it
Dec 2024 – mid 2025Buying items from /shop and reselling them on the auction house or into orders. Crop farms sold into the then-new /orders. Crafting redstone parts for the auction house. Enchanted gear. Skeleton spawners for bones. Holding rare items such as elytras [1][2]–
Late 2025 – May 2026AFKing skeleton spawners for bones. Buying through orders and reselling on the auction house. AFK shards spent on crate keys or spawners. The sell multiplier. Auction house sniping. Gathering sand, logs and other blocks [3][4][5][6][7][8]Feb 26, 2026: spawners set to 1,500 shards, key prices raised, Gold and Amethyst keys removed [9]. June 2–3, 2026: AFK shards, crates, /shop and the sell multiplier removed [10]
June 9 – Nov 10, 2026Order and auction house flipping of high-value items. Stack splitting. Crafting ordered items into higher-value items. Large cobblestone farms. Gathering raw blocks for orders and the auction house [11][12][13][14][15]June 9: /sell and the auction house linked with orders [16]
Nov 11, 2026 –Farming and /sell, which is not taxed [17][18]. Order-flipping gilded blackstone [19]2% tax on /pay, /ah purchases and placing orders [17]

Before June 2026

/shop resale and the arrival of orders (late 2024 – 2025)

In a December 14, 2024 video, Tree Gaming's first method was buying nether quartz from /shop, crafting it into quartz blocks and selling them on the auction house. Nether wart could be bought from the shop and resold on the auction house the same way [1]. The same video called /orders "a new command". It advised crop farmers to fill other players' orders instead of using /sell, because orders often paid more [1]. It also recommended crafting redstone parts (sticky pistons, dispensers, hoppers, repeaters, comparators) for the auction house, enchanting gear to sell on the auction house, and buying elytras to sell later [1].

In a May 24, 2025 video, Jettism bought shulker boxes from /shop and sold them into orders, which paid more than the shop price [2]. Other methods in the video were blowing up sand with TNT and selling it into orders, selling bones from skeleton spawners, and holding elytras or spawners as investments [2].

In a November 9, 2025 video, b0red still listed buying quartz from the shop and reselling it on the auction house [3]. The video also ran 100 skeleton spawners for an hour and sold the bones through orders. b0red said many "pro players" scale this to thousands of spawners [3]. Another method in the video was order-to-auction-house flipping: placing the highest order for redstone repeaters and listing them on the auction house for more [3]. In a December 29, 2025 video, Donut Grandson also listed skeleton spawner bones and digging sand for orders [4].

Shards, crates and spawners (early 2026)

Before June 2026, shards were earned in the AFK zone at 1 shard per minute, plus 10 shards per player kill [10][7]. They were spent in the Shard Shop, a section of /shop, on spawners and crate keys [6].

  • In a February 21, 2026 video, Logix spent AFK shards on Prime keys and sold the netherite armor from them on the auction house. He compared this with Amethyst keys, which players opened for amethyst pickaxes [6].
  • A SoulFire guide from February 24, 2026 described spending shards on spawners and selling the spawner drops [7]. SoulFire is a tool for running many bot accounts [7]. The rules ban macros and automation tools of this kind (see Rules) [20].
  • On February 26, 2026, spawners were set to 1,500 shards each. Prime keys went up to 2,000 shards and Crimson keys to 2,500, and Gold and Amethyst keys were removed, according to the fan-run donutsmp.wiki [9].

The sell multiplier

According to the SoulFire guide, each player's /sell multiplier started at 1.0x and rose to 3.0x as their total sales grew [7]. The guide described buying items through orders at base price and selling them with /sell at a 3.0x multiplier [7]. The Minecraft Forum article on the June update says removing the multiplier "broke the old system" [10].

Trading

Several sources from this period describe making most of the money by trading, not farming:

  • A February 2, 2026 blog post describes going from $0 to about $100 million in a weekend. The author resold cheap shop items and crafted items such as bone meal, then used /orders to buy items below auction house prices and resold them [5].
  • Logix's February 2026 video covers overnight order flipping (placing orders below the market and waiting for them to fill), order-to-auction-house flips of expensive items such as dragon heads and elytras, and auction house sniping [6].
  • In a May 23, 2026 video, SlaySlasher's methods needed no farm: selling logs, digging sand for orders, crafting iron into shears, making concrete and picking up loot at streamers' loot drops [8].

The June 2–3, 2026 update

The update removed /shop, crates, the AFK lobby and AFK servers, spawn lobbies, the sell multiplier, Duels and Teams [10]. The fan-run Donutpedia dates the update June 3, 2026 and says the changes were meant to "appeal to vanilla players" [21]. It says Teams were replaced by a Friends and Following system, and that many old shop items can now be bought with shards [21].

Effects on money-making:

  • AFK shards ended. Shards could no longer be earned by AFKing [21][9]. Sources disagree on what replaced it. Donutpedia says shards can only be bought with real money [21]. The Minecraft Forum article says every player gets 1 shard per 10 minutes of playing time, or can buy them from the official store [10].
  • No new spawners. The article says the Shard Shop no longer sells spawners "and nothing else creates them" [10]. It says guides telling players to "buy spawners from the Shard Shop" are out of date [10]. See Spawners FAQ.
  • No /shop to buy from. The /shop resale methods described above relied on it [1][2][3][10].
  • No crates or keys. Key-based methods ended with them [9][10].
  • No sell multiplier. The article calls /sell "the floor" [10].

A change.org petition to revert the update was created on June 3, 2026. It said "The update has wreaked havoc on the game's economy" [22].

June 9, 2026: orders linked with /sell and the auction house

According to donutsmp.wiki, the June 9 update made three changes [16]:

  • Items sold with /sell can go to a higher-paying matching order.
  • An auction house listing can sell straight into an order that pays more than the asking price.
  • A new order can automatically buy matching auction house listings priced at or below the order price.

DonutOrders describes /sell and /orders as "the same market": what /sell pays for an item is the price of the buy orders for it [23].

June to November 2026

In a June 18, 2026 video, SaturnZ said that as a free player he had fewer auction house slots after the update. He also said piglin trading had become slower, and that leaves had become more expensive because enderman farms had become more popular [24].

Sources from this period name these methods:

  • Cobblestone farms. In a June 28, 2026 reaction video, Jestica showed another creator's farm video. That video said kelp farms had been the best method before, and that TNT dupers now allowed "mega farms" making unlimited cobblestone [11]. Jestica noted that the order price of the farm's output, cobblestone walls, fell to a third of its earlier level after many players built the farm [11]. The official rules do not mention TNT dupers. They do ban duplicating items "using bugs, glitches, or unintended game mechanics" [20]. Live prices: cobblestone.
  • Gathering raw blocks. In a July 19, 2026 video, Julfish tested mining dirt, sand and gravel and selling them into orders and on the auction house [12].
  • Flipping high-value items. In an August 3, 2026 video, ProfessorMinesIron bought dragon heads and elytras through orders and resold them on the auction house [13]. In a September 2, 2026 video, Ikaria Games described stack splitting (buying a stack and reselling it in smaller lots), overnight order flipping, order reselling and auction house sniping [15].
  • Crafting conversions. In a September 2, 2026 video, natorMC bought spruce logs through orders and crafted them into slabs, which sold for more per log [14]. Live crafting margins: most profitable crafts.
  • Spawners. In an August 17, 2026 reaction video, Jestica said nobody AFKs spawners "this season" and that they had been "nerfed", although AFKing spawners had been the main method of the previous season [25].

The Minecraft Forum article on the post-June economy ranks methods by starting money: /sell with no money, filling orders with a farm, auction house listings with some money, and flipping between the auction house and orders with money and market knowledge. It says "Real money is made on Orders and the AH" [10].

The November 11, 2026 tax

On November 11, 2026, DonutSMP added a 2% tax, announced by DrDonut on the DonutSMP Discord [17]. DonutOrders' in-game tests found [17]:

ActionWho pays the 2%
/payThe sender, on top of the amount
/ah purchaseThe buyer. The price shown already includes it, and the seller gets the full listing price
Placing an orderThe player placing it, on top. It is refunded if the order is cancelled
/sell into ordersNo one
BountiesNo one

In a November 11 video, Sidewxys said a seller would receive 2% less, which differs from these tests [26]. In another November 11 video, SMV5 showed the tax charged when placing an order [27].

What got worse

  • Small flips. DonutOrders says "Small flips get squeezed": trades with only a small margin may no longer be worth it [17]. A flipper who buys through an order pays 2% when placing it [17].
  • Moving money. Paying alts, friends or shops with /pay now costs 2% each time [17].

What got relatively better

  • Farming and /sell. /sell is not taxed, and DonutOrders says "Farming gets relatively better" [17]. Sidewxys said the tax was added to slow inflation, and that the developers hoped it would make farms and other ways of making money "more profitable and worthwhile again" [26].
  • Which farms. DonutOrders ranked farms using its November 11 order data. A gold farm selling nuggets came first because of the number of buyers. Gold blocks, experience bottles from villager trades, ghast tears, wither skeleton skulls, dried kelp blocks, nether wart and white wool followed [18]. The full ranking is in Best money farms.

Older farms do not automatically pay again. In a November 13, 2026 video comparing old and new methods, Itz_Snowy ran a small kelp farm for about 30 minutes and earned less from the kelp than the bone meal had cost [19]. The same video called order-flipping gilded blackstone a newer method [19]. Live prices: kelp, dried kelp block.

For current numbers on crafting, smelting, stonecutting and other conversions, see the DonutSMP money guides on DonutOrders [28].

Rules

Some methods in older guides break the rules. The official rules ban macros that automatically sell items, macros used on spawners, auto-clickers for farming, and duplicating items with unintended mechanics. They also limit each person to 5 accounts [20]. Exchanging in-game items or services for real-world money is forbidden [20]. See Rules and Rules and bans FAQ.

Farms That Make MoneyFarms DonutSMP players use to make money - kelp, cobblestone, gold, spawners and more - and where they sell the output.Making Money With SpawnersHow spawners make money on DonutSMP, how to get them after the June 2026 update, and what players reported earning.Where to Sell: /sell, Orders or Auction HouseWhen to use /sell, buy orders or the auction house on DonutSMP, how they are linked, and how the 2% tax affects each.Flipping and TradingHow flipping works on DonutSMP - buying low on the auction house or through orders and reselling - and what the 2% tax changed.

Sources

  1. 10 Ways to Get RICH on Donut SMP - Tree Gaming (YouTube, 2024-12-14) - youtube.com
  2. 20 Money Making Methods On The Donut SMP! - Jettism (YouTube, 2025-05-24) - youtube.com
  3. 25 Money Making Methods on Donut SMP! - b0red (YouTube, 2025-11-09) - youtube.com
  4. 10 OVERPOWERED DonutSMP Money Making Methods - Donut Grandson (YouTube, 2025-12-29) - youtube.com
  5. From $0 to $100 million in DonutSMP over the weekend (blog post, 2026-02-02) - blog.vjeux.com
  6. THE 4 BEST MONEY MAKING METHODS On The Donut SMP! (NO FARMS!) - Logix (YouTube, 2026-02-21) - youtube.com
  7. DonutSMP and the Real-Money Economy - SoulFire blog (2026-02-24, refreshed April 2026) - 15867255-soulfire-website.alexprogrammerde.workers.dev
  8. 5 Best MONEY Making Methods on DonutSMP (NEW METAS + NO FARMS) - SlaySlasher (YouTube, 2026-05-23) - youtube.com
  9. The DonutSMP Economy - donutsmp.wiki (fan-run, updated 2026-09-07) - donutsmp.wiki
  10. DonutSMP Economy After the June Update - Minecraft Forum - minecraftforum.net
  11. This Makes Infinite Money on Donut SMP - Jestica (YouTube, 2026-06-28) - youtube.com
  12. I Tested The #1 Starter Money Making Method on Donut SMP - Julfish (YouTube, 2026-07-19) - youtube.com
  13. Is Order Flipping the New Meta? (Donut Smp) - ProfessorMinesIron (YouTube, 2026-08-03) - youtube.com
  14. The Fastest Way to Get Rich on Donut SMP - natorMC (YouTube, 2026-09-02) - youtube.com
  15. The 5 BEST new Money Making Methods on DonutSMP (NO FARMS!) - Ikaria Games (YouTube, 2026-09-02) - youtube.com
  16. Orders - donutsmp.wiki (fan-run, updated 2026-09-07) - donutsmp.wiki
  17. DonutSMP 2% tax - in-game tests - DonutOrders (2026-11-12, updated 2026-11-13) - donutorders.com
  18. The best money farms on DonutSMP right now - DonutOrders (2026-11-11, updated 2026-11-12) - donutorders.com
  19. Old Vs New Money making methods on Donut SMP! - Itz_Snowy (YouTube, 2026-11-13) - youtube.com
  20. DonutSMP Rules (official, last updated 2026-11-11) - rules.donutsmp.net
  21. Shop removal update - Donutpedia source (fan-run wiki, GitHub) - github.com
  22. Revert the new DonutSMP update - change.org petition (created 2026-06-03) - change.org
  23. How /orders works on DonutSMP: buy orders and /sell - DonutOrders (fan price tracker, 2026-11-12) - donutorders.com
  24. How To Get Rich On DonutSMP (33 Methods) - SaturnZ (YouTube, 2026-06-18) - youtube.com
  25. The 5 Strangest Money Making Methods On Donut SMP - Jestica (YouTube, 2026-08-17) - youtube.com
  26. DonutSMP Just Added TAXES... - Sidewxys (YouTube, 2026-11-11) - youtube.com
  27. New Donut Smp Tax Update Is Insane and No information about Border Expansion !!! - SMV5 (YouTube, 2026-11-11) - youtube.com
  28. DonutSMP money guides (live) - DonutOrders - donutorders.com

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