Discord is an incredible tool for growing online communities. It allows all the basic functionality one would expect from a next-gen messaging service and so much more. Having a Discord Moderation Bot can ensure communities suffer from spammers and unwanted users as little as possible.
Discord bots come with a range of features—where most popular bots are considered multi-purpose. One common feature category for Discord bots is that of moderation features.
These feature sets allow communities to ensure a higher quality discussion takes place based on community preferences. This article details the most popular Discord moderation bots, how they can
Note: Stats are casually included from Top.GG at the time of writing and may not reflect current metrics.
ProBot
Probot is an incredibly popular multi-purpose Discord bot with powerful moderation tools. This includes common moderation task features but also some more extended features one might not expect from a free service. These include:
- Setting nicknames of server members
- Bans/Warnings
- Kicking/Muting
- Move members
- Clear text
- Role management
Probot is included here for its moderation tools but offers other features as well. Check out the ProBot website for a full list—these are the basics:
- General Purpose – Move to another channel, change colors, shorten URLs, dice
- Social – View profiles on user cards, reputation, community stats, titles
- Information – User info, avatars, server stats, roles, etc.
- Music – Plays music and allows controlling of the queue, playback, volume, etc.
Advocates of ProBot note the freeness being attractive and also praise its wide range of functions and utility. It’s hard to find users will negative sentiment but those that do generally express minor issues with uptime or a lack of features (keep in mind its free.)
Stats
- Active Servers: 3.5M
- Pricing: Free
- Avg. Rating: 4.56
Dyno
Dyno is a bot, like many other Discord bots, that offers a range of features reaching beyond simple moderation tasks. It offers a freemium model with premium plans offering features like social integration, additional server roles, and more complex management functionality. Generally, premium offers the following:
- Auto purging
- Voice-Text Linking
- Slow mode
- Custom Avatars
- Unlimited Custom commands
- Unlimited Giveaways
- Unlimited Reaction roles, Automessages, & Autobans
A full list of premium vs. free feature comparisons is available on the Dyno website. Dyno offers servers a slew of features including roles, moderation, management, fun, and utility. Generally, the moderation and management features include the following:
- Ban/Unban/Warn
- Mute/Unmute
- Role Management
- Lockdowns
- Filters/Automodding
Dyno makes this list by merit of its moderation features. In addition, the Dyno Discord bot comes with many other sought-after features. Broadly, these include the following:
- Utility – AFK statuses, Remindme, Server info, list server emojis
- Engagement/Fun – Games like rock/paper/scissors, retrieval of pictures, random jokes, polls, and even getting info on a song via iTunes.
Advocates of Dyno note its offering of free features for which other Discord bots charge premiums and continued updating by developers. Critics note uptime issues and some lack of popular features such as music integration.
Stats
- Active Servers: 5.7M
- Pricing: Free + Premium
- Avg. Rating: 4.56
Arcane
Arcane is another multi-purpose Discord bot with a slew of moderation features. These include all the common commands and also offer some useful additional features. Arcane is a freemium-based bot with premium subscription levels affording higher capacity and features. The moderation features of Arcane include the following:
- Banning/Locking/Muting
- Slowmode
- Warnings
- User History
- Message Purging
In addition to these moderation features, Aracne also provides some more general-purpose features as well. These are, in no particular order:
- Reaction Roles
- Custom Boosters
- User Leaderboards
- Rewards
- Stats/Server Info
- Voting
Advocates of Arcane note the ease of use with which admins can implement this bot to their servers, particularly the onboarding process. Critics cite a lack of features in the free version which are common among other free versions.
Stats
- Active Servers: 850K
- Pricing: Free + Premium
- Avg. Rating: 4.56
MEE6
MEE6 is one of the most popular Discord bots on the market today. It offers a freemium subscription model with an optional lifetime-access one-time payment option. Free and premium plans are separated mostly by the following:
- Number of reaction roles
- Custom commands
- Social Connectivity (Twitter, Reddit, etc.)
- Engagement features (social, gaming, music, rewards, etc.)
For a full list of features, comparisons visit the MEE6 plan comparison page. The core of MEE6 moderation features includes the following:
- Filters – Profanity, ALL CAPS, Emoji Rage, Spoilers, Excessive mentions
- Logging – Keep a log of message deletions, updates, mod actions, and etc.
- Default Commands – Server admins have access to a range of commands to manage users
- Custom Commands – Define custom commands for your server admins based on community needs
- Welcoming – Welcome new users with customized messages, roles, and confirmation actions.
- Reaction-based Roles – Allow users to select the role they feel most appropriate for themself within a community
The MEE6 bot is on this list for its moderation features but it comes with many more as well. This makes MEE6 an attractive option for those seeking a bot to manage moderation and other server tasks. MEE6 offers the following extensions (plugins) beyond simple moderation:
- Utilities – Recoding, searches, temporary channels, etc.
- Social Connectors – Twitter feeds, Reddit, etc.
- Engagement/Fun – Gaming, music, memes, etc.
Common advocates of MEE6 note its versatility, ease-of-setup, and customization features while critics cite the limitation of features since the project went closed-source—noting many premium features are available from other bots for free. For context: a lifetime plan is only $90 and can be transferred to another server.
Stats
- Active Servers: 14M
- Pricing: Free + Premium
- Avg. Rating: 4.6
Bonus: Server Captcha Bot
Discord moderation largely takes place after users have joined a server. However, measures to limit fake and bot accounts preemptively can reduce the total moderation load of any server.
Most bots offer some degree of verification service such as clicking reactions, requiring certain actions, or even agreeing to a ToS. Discord even provides servers the ability to require a certain degree of user-account verification such as time since creation, phone verification, and etc.
For those seeking a bit more stringent verification, the Server Captcha Service prompts users with a Captahc challenge to verify. The Servier Capcha Bot is a free service (with optional support plans) and provides the following functions:
- Multiple Captcha Types
- Restrict non-validated Users from Certain Channels
- Verification time limits
- Bot protection
- Raid protection
From a user perspective, the Captcha Bot does require a bit of extra legwork to join a server. If a server’s goal is to grow a community as large as possible this service is not ideal. The Server Captcha Bot is, however, an excellent choice for communities seeking to ensure the highest quality of membership.
Final Thoughts
Discord moderation is essential to maintaining a healthy and enjoyable community. Thwarting off would-be raiders, kicking spammers, and managing toxic users can be seamlessly handled with Discord moderation bots. The bots listed here are among the most popular on the market—all with some free level of use. There are plenty more bots out there and those managing a Discord server should browse sites like Top.GG for a broader perspective both on other moderation bots as well as other types of bots that could benefit their server.
