If you are an artist, creator, or musician that wants to monetize a Discord server or use Discord to add a community to your current paid membership program, I’ve researched all of the options available to you and made this article.
The best way to make money from a Discord server as an artist or creator is to offer paid membership roles and subscriptions through bots, integrations, or Discord’s Premium Memberships.
If you already have a membership outside of Discord (like a Patreon or YouTube Membership program) you can integrate your membership platform directly with Discord to create servers that are locked by membership tier.
If you want to create a paid membership program using only Discord, you have the option to use 3rd-party Discord membership/subscription tools, Discord bots, or can create your own custom program with a bit of technical know-how.
To learn more about how you can monetize your Discord server or use Discord to add community to your paid membership program, simply keep on reading, my friend. 🙂
Discord Integrations With Membership Platforms
One of the simplest ways to monetize a Discord server is to integrate it with a paid membership program that you already have set up.
Paying members can get access to specific Discord channels based on what membership tier they are at on your membership program and have their access automatically removed as soon as their subscription expires.
Below you will find the most popular membership platforms that you can integrate directly with your Discord server and channels:
The Top 6 Membership Platforms That Integrate With Discord
- Patreon: With Patreon you can create patron-specific roles on your Discord server, connect your Discord server to Patreon, assign Discord roles to your Patreon tiers, and more.
- Twitch: With Twitch you can have a dedicated Discord server for your Twitch subscribers, change or remove roles if Twitch subscriptions aren’t renewed, and more.
- Youtube Channel Memberships: With YouTube, you can have a dedicated Discord server for your YouTube members, change or remove roles if YouTube memberships aren’t renewed, and more.
- Memberful: With Memberful you can create a members-only community that invites paid members to your Discord server, removes access when subscriptions aren’t renewed, and more.
- Buy Me A Coffee: With Buy Me A Coffee, you can connect a Discord server to your membership rewards, remove roles if Buy Me A Coffee memberships aren’t renewed, and more.
- Ko-Fi: With Ko-Fi, you can connect a Discord server for your supporter and members, remove roles if Ko-Fi membership tiers aren’t renewed, and more.
In addition to these 6, it is also possible to connect different membership platforms to Discord by using a program like Zapier or Integromat.
I’ll cover this more in the section below on custom Discord memberships & subscriptions, but first I want to go over Discord’s built-in “Premium Memberships” feature first.
Discord’s Premium Memberships Explained
As a direct response to membership and subscription bots and integrations with 3rd party membership platforms, Discord has introduced their very own Premium Memberships feature.
Discord Premium Memberships will allow users to monetize their Discord servers without having to rely on any bots, 3rd party integrations, or custom coding. Creators will be able to keep 90% of the revenue they receive, create tiered perks, access analytics, and lock channels to paying subscribers.
The revenue split, in particular, is nice to see considering YouTube Memberships takes a 30% cut and Twitch takes a 50% cut.
Unfortunately, this feature is currently in Beta and is only available for 10 creators on Discord.
3rd Party Discord Membership & Subscription Tools
…so what if you want to monetize your Discord server without having to pay for and set up a 3rd party membership program like Patreon or YouTube Memberships?
It is possible to use 3rd party membership and subscription tools, like LaunchPass and Upgrade.Chat, to monetize a Discord server by assigning and removing Discord roles based on what subscription the user is paying for.
Below you will find the most popular membership and subscription tools that allow you to monetize your Discord server without the need for an off-Discord dedicated membership program:
The Top 3 Membership & Subscription Tools For Discord Servers
- LaunchPass: With LaunchPass, you can assign Discord roles based on paid subcsriptions, remove roles if subscriptions aren’t renewed, automatically send out invites, and more.
- Upgrade.Chat: With Upgrade.Chat, you can assign Discord roles based on paid subcsriptions, remove roles if subscriptions aren’t renewed, manage members, and more.
- PayRole: With PayRole, you can sell subscriptions in exchange for digital rewards such as access to a Discord server.
In the next section, I’ll go over how it is also possible to create your own custom Discord membership program or connect any membership platforms or app to Discord by using a program like Zapier or Integromat.
Custom Discord Memberships & Subscriptions
It is possible to create a custom Discord membership or subscription program through the use of coding or no-code apps like Zapier or Integromat.
Because Discord is set up to use ‘webhooks’, it is possible to automate how Discord works (ie: assigning and removing roles) based on actions taken in other services (ie: making a payment or subscribing to a membership tier).
This can be done more manually through the knowledge of coding and a payment processing tool like Stripe.
Or…
This can be done a bit more easily by using a 3rd party tool like Zapier or Integromat to integrate your Discord server with a payment processor, membership program, or any other software or tool that you’d like.
Discord Membership & Subcription Bots
Although there aren’t many dedicated membership or subscription Discord Bots for running premium memberships, there are lots of bots for managing the roles of Discord members and leveling them up to different roles.
Below you will find the most popular membership and subscription bots that allow you to monetize your Discord server:
The Top 4 Discord Membership & Subscription Bots
- AccessDock: AccessDock is a Discord membership bot that allows you to charge access to your Discord server and create paid Roles.
- Patron Bot: PatronBot is used to allow access to a Discord server to paying Patreon subscribers and members.
- Buy Me A Coffee Bot: Buy Me A Coffee Bot is used to allow access to a Discord server to paying Buy Me A Coffee Bot subscribers and members.
- Kofi Bot: Kofi Bot is used to allow access to a Discord server to paying Kofi Bot subscribers and members.
Below you will find the most popular Discord bots that allow you to manage your members:
The Top 4 Discord Membership Management & Levelling Bots
- MEE6: MEE6 is a levelling bot that allows you automatically provide users with roles, remove users if they don’t follow your rules, and more.
- AmariBot: AmariBot is a levelling bot that allows you to automatically assign roles when users hit certain levels.
- Arcane: Arcane is a levelling bot that allows you to automatically assign roles when users hit certain levels and moderate your channels automatically.
- Slynx: Slynx is a levelling bot that allows you to create role categories to separate roles automatically, create membership screen autoroles, and more.
Discord Membership Screening
Discord Membership Screening is a feature in Discord that allows users to set up rules and questions that new members must agree to and answer before being allowed to join a Discord server.
Discord introduced Membership Screening as a way to replace “Rules Bots” or the need to create a very detailed and complex “Rules” section, however, this feature is still new so not all options are available.
To use the Membership Screening features, users need to have ‘Community’ enabled on their Discord server which will also give access to a few other features that Personal Discord accounts do not have.
