Texas custom license plates: what they cost and how to get one
Texas custom license plates are sold through My Plates, the state’s plate vendor: a personalized plate costs $150 for one year, or $450 if you buy five years at once. That’s for up to six characters; a full seven-letter message is $195 a year. Want a charity, university or military design instead? State-sponsored plates start at $30 a year, or $70 with your own letters. All of it is on top of your normal registration, and you pay again when the term runs out. Below: the exact prices, the rules TxDMV applies to messages, and what a plate really costs over the years you keep it.
What a custom plate costs you over the years
Pick a plate, how long you expect to keep it, and the term you would buy. Longer terms are cheaper per year, sometimes by more than you would guess: keeping a six-character plate for four years costs $600 on one-year terms, but $450 as a single five-year term.
Texas custom plate prices, by type and term
These are My Plates’ published prices, checked on October 23, 2026. The per-year figure under each multi-year price is what that term works out to.
| Plate | 1-year term | 3-year term | 5-year term |
|---|---|---|---|
| My Plates Select, background only | $50 | $130$43 a year | $175$35 a year |
| My Plates Select, personalized (up to 6 characters) | $150 | $400$133 a year | $450$90 a year |
| My Plates Select, 7-letter personalized | $195 | $445$148 a year | $495$99 a year |
| Premium Embossed, background only | Not offered | $205$68 a year | $250$50 a year |
| Premium Embossed, personalized | Not offered | $520$173 a year | $570$114 a year |
| State-sponsored design, background only | From $30 | Not offered | Not offered |
| State-sponsored design, personalized | From $70 | Not offered | Not offered |
Source: My Plates, pricing. State-sponsored prices are starting prices because each design sets its own fee. Restyling a Select plate onto a new background is a one-time $50, or $75 to move up to Premium Embossed.
Are personalized plates legal in Texas?
Yes, as long as the state issued them. Under Transportation Code §504.101, TxDMV issues personalized plates, including the ones sold by its private vendor, and that vendor is My Plates. What isn’t legal on the road is a plate you design and print yourself. Texas sells souvenir versions of many plates, $20 each plus $20 to personalize, but TxDMV is clear that they are not street legal and don’t count as registration. And a car still needs a plate on the front as well as the back in Texas (see front plate laws by state), so a custom plate comes as a pair.
Why are custom plates so expensive in Texas?
Two reasons. My Plates Select plates are the vendor’s own designs, with full-color backgrounds and room for up to seven characters, and they cost more than the state-sponsored plates. And under Transportation Code §504.102, the fee for personalizing a specialty plate is added on top of the plate’s own fee. That is why a state-sponsored design is $30 a year on its own but from $70 once you add letters.
The way to pay less is the term. A six-character message on a five-year term is $90 a year, 40% under the one-year price, and the seven-letter version saves 49%.
Do you have to pay every year for a custom Texas plate?
Not if you buy a longer term. TxDMV issues these plates for one, three or five years, and state-sponsored plates come in one-year terms only. When a term ends, the plate fee shows up as a line on the registration renewal notice you already get each year, so you renew both together.
Don’t let it lapse. If a specialty plate isn’t renewed within 60 days of expiring, TxDMV cancels it automatically and the message goes back into the pool for anyone to order. One more thing catches people out on a first order: My Plates warns that the county may add a prorated plate fee so the plate and the registration expire on the same date. On a three-year plate that extra can show up in the second year’s renewal; on a five-year plate, in the fourth.
Texas vanity plate rules: what TxDMV will turn down
TxDMV reviews every message before the plate is made, and it doesn’t go by what you say the message means. Its guidelines list the reasons it can say no:
- the pattern clashes with the state’s regular plate numbering;
- sexual or bodily references, which is why "69" is refused unless it is part of a full year like 1969 or clearly about a car;
- anything vulgar or derogatory, read forwards, backwards, phonetically or in a mirror;
- a negative instruction to other drivers;
- gangs, violence, threats or crime;
- drugs or being intoxicated;
- anything that looks like law enforcement or a government office;
- a pattern police could misread.
Military branches, ranks and units, and colleges and universities, are fine. Every message must also be unique: no two Texans can have the same characters. The full list is in TxDMV’s personalized license plate guidelines.
How to check if a personalized plate is available in Texas
Type it into the plate builder at myplates.com, which TxDMV names as the place to check. It tells you straight away whether the characters are free on the design you picked, and lets you preview the plate. A message that shows as available still goes through TxDMV’s review after you order, so a borderline one can be turned down at that stage.
How to order a custom plate, and how long it takes
Almost everything can be ordered online at My Plates, which also offers a no-fee layaway that splits a plate into five payments while the message is held for you. A few state-sponsored plates need a TxDMV form handed in at your county tax assessor-collector’s office instead. You can also buy a plate as a gift by naming the other person as the plate owner.
Plates go to the main office of your county tax assessor-collector, usually in three to four weeks, or four to five for a Premium Embossed plate. Call before you go to make sure they have arrived. A car or truck gets two plates; a motorcycle or trailer gets one.
Moving your custom plates to another car
It’s free. TxDMV says plainly that transferring plates to your next vehicle costs nothing, which settles a point some guides get wrong. Buying from a dealer, take the plates off and ask the dealer to move them; buying privately, register them at the county office when you title the car. The plates can only go to the same kind of vehicle, car or truck to car or truck, motorcycle to motorcycle. They can’t go to another person, with one exception: a My Plates Select plate won at a My Plates auction.
Already have a personalized state-sponsored plate and want a My Plates Select background? You can "port" the message over as part of a new Select purchase. Need to replace a worn or damaged plate instead? That’s handled by the county like any other plate, and the fee is on our Texas registration cost page.
Questions people ask
How much does it cost to have a custom license plate in TX?
For your own message, $150 a year on a My Plates Select background with up to six characters, or $450 for five years, which works out to $90 a year. A seven-letter message is $195 a year. State-sponsored designs are cheaper, from $70 a year personalized. Every one of them is charged on top of your registration.
Are custom plates worth it?
That depends on how long you keep the plate. On a five-year term a six-character message costs $90 a year instead of $150, and the plates can move to your next car for free, so the message is not lost when you change cars. If you only want a design and not your own letters, a state-sponsored plate starts at $30 a year.
Can I put a custom plate on my motorcycle?
Yes. My Plates says every design except Premium Embossed, which is for passenger vehicles only, can be ordered for passenger vehicles, motorcycles, trailers and private buses. A motorcycle gets one plate, where a car or truck gets two. Character limits vary from design to design, so check the one you pick in the plate builder.
How many letters can a Texas custom plate have?
Up to seven on the My Plates Select backgrounds that allow it, and up to six on state-sponsored plates. Spaces, hyphens, periods, hearts, stars and a Texas silhouette are allowed too. A plate with a logo, such as a university or military plate, leaves less room, because TxDMV fixes where the logo sits.
Can I get a refund on a Texas custom plate?
No. Both TxDMV and My Plates say custom plates are not refundable, because each one is manufactured for the order. That makes the availability check and the message review worth taking seriously before you pay. If you only want to change the look later, My Plates offers a restyle onto a new background instead of starting again.
Who makes Texas license plates?
Inmates at the Wynne Unit in Huntsville. TxDMV contracts with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to make every flat-printed plate, standard and custom. The raised Premium Embossed plates are the exception: My Plates sources those outside the prison system, and they take four to five weeks to arrive instead of three to four.
Sources: My Plates, pricing; My Plates, FAQs; TxDMV, license plates; TxDMV, personalized license plate guidelines (January 13, 2023); Texas Transportation Code §504.102.