Discord Bot Monetisation: Premium Commands Without Violating Discord's Terms of Service
Your Discord bot processes millions of commands monthly. It is genuinely useful. At some point it's reasonable to generate revenue from it. Discord's Terms of Service and developer agreements set the boundaries — knowing them prevents your bot from being banned.
Discord's Official Monetisation: App Subscriptions
In 2023, Discord launched Application Subscriptions — an official way to charge for premium bot features through Discord's own payment system. Revenue share: Discord takes 10%.
// Check if user has premium subscription to your app
const entitlements = await interaction.guild.entitlements.fetch();
const hasPremium = entitlements.some(e => e.skuId === PREMIUM_SKU_ID && e.isActive());
if (!hasPremium) {
return interaction.reply({
content: 'This feature requires Premium subscription',
components: [premiumButton] // Launches Discord's subscription flow
});
}
App subscriptions are the cleanest monetisation path — fully TOS-compliant and integrated into Discord's UI.
Third-Party Platforms (Patreon, Ko-Fi)
Link your Discord server to Patreon. When users subscribe at specific tiers, they receive Discord roles automatically via Patreon's Discord integration. Your bot then gates premium features by role:
const PREMIUM_ROLES = new Set(['premium_role_id', 'vip_role_id']);
function hasPremium(member) {
return member.roles.cache.some(role => PREMIUM_ROLES.has(role.id));
}
This approach is widely used and TOS-compliant as long as the Patreon itself doesn't promise anything Discord prohibits.
What Is NOT Allowed
- Charging for roles not associated with bot features (selling community status through your bot)
- Storing payment card information yourself
- Gambling features that use real money (Discord prohibits this explicitly)
- Features that give premium users moderation abilities over non-paying users in servers they don't admin
Feature Ideas Worth Monetising
- Extended usage limits (50 AI responses vs. 5/day)
- Custom configurations (custom prefix, custom response persona)
- Advanced analytics (server statistics, detailed member tracking)
- Priority queue (commands processed faster during peak)
- Longer data retention (activity history stored for 1 year vs. 30 days)
These are genuinely useful premium differentiators that don't compromise server fairness.