Custom Plates Are Made on Rockstar's Website, Not in the Game
The License Plate Creator is a free web tool on Rockstar's site that lets you design custom license plates for your GTA Online vehicles. You build the plate in a browser, order it, then pick it up in game at Los Santos Customs.
You can hold up to 30 custom plates per account, each with up to eight characters of text and a choice of background styles. Orders are currently free, according to Rockstar's own support pages.
The tool launched on 20 April 2023 and replaced the old iFruit phone app, which was removed from app stores in December 2022. This guide walks through the full order process, what happens at pickup, and how to manage a full plate collection.
Key Takeaways
- The License Plate Creator lives at rockstargames.com/gta-online/license-plates and works on desktop and mobile browsers.
- Plates are currently free to order. You can store up to 30 per account, and each plate allows up to eight characters.
- You order while signed in and in a GTA Online session, then collect the plate by driving the chosen vehicle into Los Santos Customs and using Process Order.
- Once collected, a plate can be applied to any of your vehicles from the Plates menu in a mod shop, with any background style.
- The creator also shows plates you made years ago in the iFruit app, and lets you delete old plates to free up space.
1. What the License Plate Creator Is
The License Plate Creator is the official way to make vanity plates in GTA Online. It is a web page, not an in-game menu and not an app, so there is nothing to download.
You sign in with the Rockstar account linked to your GTA Online character. The plates you create belong to that account and that character, and they work across your whole garage.
Rockstar built it to replace the iFruit companion app, which previously handled plate orders alongside features like ordering car parts. When iFruit was retired, custom plates disappeared for a few months until the web creator arrived in April 2023.
Because it runs in a browser, you can design plates on your phone while the game is running on your console or PC. That split, design outside the game and collect inside it, is the one idea to understand before you start.
2. How to Order a Plate, Step by Step
First, join a GTA Online session with the character who will own the plate. Rockstar's support FAQ is explicit that you should be in a session before ordering, because the order is delivered to that character.
Open the License Plate Creator in your browser and sign in with your linked Rockstar account. Choose NEW ORDER to start a fresh plate.
Type your text, up to a maximum of eight characters. Pick the background style you want as the default; you can change the background later in game, so this choice is not permanent.
Next, choose the vehicle the plate is first delivered to. The tool lists vehicles you have recently driven that are eligible for the order, so if your target car does not appear, drive it in game first and then refresh the page.
Press PLACE ORDER to finish. The order is placed against that vehicle, and pickup happens in game rather than on the website.
3. Picking the Plate Up In Game
Within a few minutes of ordering, an in-game text message tells you the order is ready. Get into the same vehicle you selected when you ordered.
Drive it into any Los Santos Customs. A Process Order option appears at the top of the mod shop menu while the order is waiting.
Select Process Order and the plate, with its background, is applied to the vehicle automatically. There is no fitting mini-game and, at the time of writing, no charge for processing the order in game.
From that moment the plate is part of your account's collection. Open the Plates category in Los Santos Customs or any vehicle workshop and you can fit that same plate text to your other vehicles, choosing whichever background suits each car.
That last point is the one most players miss. You only order a plate once. After pickup it behaves like an unlocked customisation option, so one good plate can dress your whole garage, from your best cars in GTA Online to a battered daily driver.
4. Backgrounds, Text Rules and the 30-Plate Limit
The creator offers a set of background styles for your text, including the classic blue-on-white San Andreas look and the popular yellow-on-black design, among others. The background you pick at ordering is only the starting point, because backgrounds can be swapped freely in the mod shop afterwards.
Text is limited to eight characters, which is enough for a short name, a crew tag or a joke, but not a sentence. The creator applies text filtering, and Rockstar has reset plates that break its rules in the past, so keep the wording clean if you want the plate to survive.
Your account can hold up to 30 plates at once, and that total includes plates carried over from the iFruit era. If you hit the cap, you must delete an existing plate before you can order a new one.
Plates live at account level rather than on a single car. Deleting a plate in the creator removes it from your collection, so check which vehicles wear a plate before you delete one you still use.
5. Managing Old Plates, Including Your iFruit Ones
Open the creator while signed in and you will see every plate on your account, including ones made in the iFruit app years ago. For long-time players this page is a small museum of old car builds.
From the same page you can delete plates you no longer want. Deleting is how you stay under the 30-plate cap, and it is also worth doing before a big garage reorganisation.
If an order does not arrive in game, the usual causes are mundane: you were not in a session with the right character, the vehicle chosen was not the one you drove to Los Santos Customs, or the order needs a few more minutes. Re-checking those three things fixes almost every failed pickup.
One more practical tip: because delivery is tied to a recently driven vehicle, order plates right after a driving session. Your current favourites will be sitting at the top of the eligible list, ready to select.
Sign-in mistakes are the other common trap. The creator only shows the plates and vehicles of the Rockstar account you sign in with, so if your garage looks wrong, you are almost certainly signed in to a different account than the one linked to your character. Sign out, sign back in with the linked account, and your collection will be there.
6. Custom Plates and Your Cars
A custom plate is the finishing touch on a build, and it works on most personal vehicles, from supercars to motorcycles. It is also genuinely useful, because a unique personal plate makes a vehicle unmistakably yours.
That identity matters when vehicles change hands. Our guide to how to sell cars in GTA Online explains how personal vehicles and their plates interact with selling, and why your own custom plate on your own car is the clean, safe arrangement.
Plates pair naturally with the rest of the customisation game. The workshops in the GTA Online Auto Shop handle the same categories of visual upgrades, and a plate that matches your paint and livery finishes a theme properly.
If you are choosing which car deserves your best plate first, our speed ranking of the fastest cars in GTA Online is a sensible place to start. Your quickest car is the one other players will actually see.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a custom license plate cost in GTA Online?
Ordering a plate through the License Plate Creator is currently free, in Rockstar's own wording on its support pages. Picking the order up at Los Santos Customs is also free. Rockstar describes the pricing as current, so it could change in future.
How many custom plates can I have?
Up to 30 plates per account. The count includes any plates you created in the old iFruit app. If you reach the limit, delete a plate in the creator tool to make room for a new order.
How many characters can a plate have?
A maximum of eight characters. That limit covers letters and numbers, which is enough for a short word, a name or a tag, but designs need to be concise.
Where do I pick up my plate in game?
At any Los Santos Customs. After ordering on the website, wait for the in-game text, drive the vehicle you selected into the mod shop and choose Process Order from the menu. The plate is fitted automatically.
Can I put one custom plate on several cars?
Yes. Once you have picked up an order, that plate joins your account's collection. You can then apply it to any of your vehicles from the Plates category in a mod shop, and choose a different background for each car.
Can I change the plate background later?
Yes. The background chosen during ordering is just the default. In the mod shop's Plates menu you can re-fit the same plate text with any of the available background styles, whenever you like.
What happened to the iFruit app?
Rockstar removed iFruit from app stores in December 2022 and retired it. The web-based License Plate Creator replaced its plate-ordering feature in April 2023, and your old iFruit plates carried over to the new tool automatically.
Why is my vehicle not listed in the creator?
The tool only lists vehicles you have recently driven that are eligible for an order. If a car is missing, take it out for a drive in GTA Online, then reload the creator page and it should appear in the list.
Why hasn't my order arrived in game?
Check three things: that you were in a GTA Online session with the right character when you ordered, that you are driving the exact vehicle you selected, and that a few minutes have passed. One of those explains almost every stuck order.
Can Rockstar remove my plate?
Plates pass through text filtering when they are created, and Rockstar has reset plates that violate its rules in the past. Keeping your plate text clean is the reliable way to make sure it stays on your account.
Wrapping Up
The License Plate Creator is a small tool that does one job well: design a plate in your browser, order it free, and collect it at Los Santos Customs a few minutes later. Build a handful of plates you love, keep the collection under the 30-plate cap, and every car you own can carry a piece of your identity.
