FiveM DDoS Protection: Inside the FairShield Gravity Network

TL;DR

FairShield Gravity is DDoS protection built specifically for FiveM servers. It routes your traffic through a 449 Tbit/s global scrubbing network across 7 global locations, filters L3-L7 attacks automatically, and uses Anycast routing to keep ping low. FairShieldAC subscribers get 35% off all plans plus free installation. Compare tiers on the Gravity page.

Why Every FiveM Server Is a Target

If you host a FiveM server, an attack is a matter of when, not if. A disgruntled ex-player, a rival community, or someone simply testing their tools can knock months of work offline in minutes. Worse, a lot of hosting "protection" null-routes your entire player base instead of scrubbing the malicious traffic.

That gap is exactly what FairShield Gravity was built to close. The question we hear most is simple: "Why should I trust your DDoS protection?" The honest answer comes down to three things: the architecture, the focus on FiveM specifically, and the global network standing behind it.

How Gravity Stops Attacks That Others Can't

Gravity is a fully independent, always-on mitigation layer that sits at the edge of the internet, tuned for real-time applications like FiveM. Instead of forcing you to choose between staying protected and staying fast, it filters attack traffic upstream while legitimate players connect normally. Here is how each layer works.

Volumetric Firepower (L3/L4)

Most attacks on FiveM servers are blunt volumetric floods designed to saturate your network pipe. Gravity absorbs these with a 449 Tbit/s global scrubbing network spanning 7 global locations. SYN floods, UDP amplification, and reflection attacks get detected and neutralized before they ever touch your server hardware.

Application-Layer Defense (L7)

The nastiest attacks are not the biggest; they are the smartest. Low-and-slow L7 attacks like HTTP floods and slow-loris can crash a server without ever maxing out the pipe. Gravity uses behavioral analysis and rate-shaping to tell real players apart from malicious requests, so it can stop application-layer attacks without locking out your community.

Most FiveM attacks abuse the CFX protocol handshake, a niche vector that generic CDN protections like Cloudflare do not handle well. Gravity is purpose-built for it, reading connection patterns specific to FiveM's networking layer so a real player join never looks like a connection flood.

Low-Latency Global Routing (Anycast)

A fair worry among server owners is that protection adds lag. Gravity answers that with a global Anycast network. Rather than funneling every packet through one central location, player traffic is routed to the nearest scrubbing center. That shortens the physical distance data travels and can actually *lower* ping for your global player base while the load of an attack is spread across the network.

This is the same class of routing that large CDNs use for low-latency global connectivity, brought to FiveM server owners at a fraction of the usual cost.

Built for Server Owners, Not Just Security Engineers

You do not need a networking background to secure your server. Onboarding is deliberately boring: point your records and Gravity takes it from there.

• Zero-config onboarding: Point your records and Gravity handles the rest. No agents to install, no kernel modules to configure, and zero performance penalty on your server.
• Always-on mitigation: Protection never sleeps. Attacks are detected and mitigated automatically within seconds, 24/7. You do not have to be awake to defend your community.
• Full visibility: A real-time dashboard shows live attack maps, traffic graphs, and mitigation events, so you always know what is happening at your network edge with no guesswork.

Where Gravity Fits in the FairShield Ecosystem

A genuinely secure FiveM server needs defense in depth, which is why Gravity is designed to run alongside the full FairShieldAC suite.

FairShieldAC guards your server from the inside, blocking mod menus, Lua executors, aimbots, ESP, and wallhacks with its real-time heuristic engine and global HWID ban network. But a cheater-free server is useless if nobody can connect. Gravity guards the outside, keeping your community able to join and stay online through an attack. FairShieldAC subscribers get an exclusive 35% discount on all Gravity plans, plus free installation, which makes adding network protection to your anti-cheat setup genuinely cheap.

Gravity Plans and Pricing

Gravity comes in three tiers so you can match spend to your size and threat exposure. See current options on the pricing section.

Whether you run a small whitelisted server or a network of them, there is a tier that fits. Uranus is the popular pick for multi-server networks, landing at just $26/month per endpoint after the subscriber discount.

Honest Trade-offs: When Gravity Is (and Isn't) Enough

No security layer is a silver bullet, so here is the straight version. Gravity is a paid layer on top of your hosting; it does not replace solid server hosting or in-game anti-cheat. The entry-level Venus tier covers L3/L4 volumetric attacks only, so a busy public server facing application-layer floods will want Saturn or Uranus for full L7 coverage. And because mitigation is always-on and automated, an unusual traffic spike from a legitimate event is handled by the same rules that stop attacks, which is why the live dashboard matters for tuning.

If your threats are purely in-game cheating rather than network attacks, start with the anti-cheat and add Gravity when uptime becomes the concern.

Gravity vs Generic CDN Protection

The difference between Gravity and a generic Cloudflare-style filter is specialization. Generic CDN solutions are built for web traffic (HTTP/HTTPS), while FiveM runs a custom TCP/UDP protocol stack that those filters handle poorly. Gravity's rules are tuned for FiveM's CFX protocol, so legitimate player traffic is never mistaken for an attack.

Gravity's Anycast network is also optimized for real-time gaming rather than web-page caching, which means lower jitter and steadier ping for players than routing through a general-purpose CDN.

FAQ

Does DDoS protection add latency to my FiveM server?

Usually the opposite. Gravity's Anycast routing sends players to the nearest scrubbing center, which can shorten the distance traffic travels and lower ping.

Can Cloudflare protect a FiveM server?

Generic CDN tools like Cloudflare are optimized for HTTP/HTTPS web traffic, while FiveM uses a custom TCP/UDP stack and the CFX protocol handshake. Those handshakes are handled poorly by web-focused filters, which is why Gravity tunes its mitigation specifically for FiveM's networking layer.

How fast does mitigation kick in?

Gravity is always-on. Attacks are detected and mitigated automatically within seconds, 24/7, with no manual intervention. You can watch it happen live on the real-time dashboard.

Which Gravity plan do I need?

Venus ($45/month) covers L3/L4 volumetric attacks for a single endpoint. Saturn ($80/month) adds full L3 to L7 coverage. Uranus ($120/month) extends that across 3 endpoints. FairShieldAC subscribers take 35% off every tier. Track new features on the changelog.

Don't Wait for the Attack

Your community trusts you to keep the game available. A DDoS attack can break that trust in minutes, and you cannot predict when one lands, only whether your server is ready when it does.

That is the whole case for FairShield Gravity: built by people who understand FiveM, backed by large-scale global infrastructure, and simple enough to set up in an afternoon. Read more and claim your 35% subscriber discount on the Gravity page, or browse more guides on the blog.

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