Every new server owner wants their city to look amazing — custom maps, flashy UIs, hundreds of cars, and all the jobs you can find. It looks great in theory, but after a few days, players start complaining about lag, stutters, or long load times.
That’s because every resource you add eats memory and CPU power. Performance is the backbone of your server. You can have the best content in the world, but if it runs poorly, people won’t stay.
Step 1: Fewer Scripts, Better Quality
A professional-looking server isn’t about how much stuff you have, it’s about how well it runs. It’s smarter to have 20 optimized scripts than 200 broken ones. Start small. Add features slowly, and test everything as you go.
Step 2: Learn to Read the Profiler
FiveM comes with a built-in profiler. It shows you what scripts use the most time each tick. You can run it, play around for a bit, and then check the output. If you see one resource hogging performance, that’s your culprit.
Learning how to read this data gives you total control over how your city performs.
Step 3: Clean Up Code
Even small coding mistakes can eat performance. Infinite loops or constant checks can drag your FPS down. Understanding Lua lets you spot and fix these issues before they become a problem.
Step 4: Use Proper Hosting
If your server is constantly hitting 90% CPU usage, you might need to upgrade your host. A dedicated or high-quality VPS gives you stability, especially as your player base grows.
Once you understand how to optimize properly, you’ll feel the difference — smoother gameplay, faster responses, and happier players.
The FiveM Development Course at LearnFiveM.com even covers optimization concepts so you can build efficient code from the start. Don’t chase features. Build performance first — and then add the flash.