Discord Server Subscriptions: What Are the Requirements?

Discord requires a server owner to be 18+, in good account standing, email- and two-factor-verified, and US-based with a US bank account and a US identification document verified during payout onboarding; the server itself must have Community enabled, moderation MFA set up, and not be primarily NSFW. Discord's listed requirements do not include a member-count or follower minimum.

Discord splits its own documentation across three separate help pages — a Creator Support setup guide, a Monetization Policy, and a Monetization Terms doc — so the full eligibility list rarely shows up in one place. Discord's Creator Support article breaks it into three layers: what your account must meet, what your server must meet, and what has to be switched on before payments start. Discord reports 90M+ daily active users, attributed to Discord internal data as of Q4 2025; Server Subscriptions, however, is open only to servers whose owners clear Discord's published eligibility rules. Payouts run through a named third party: Discord's payout onboarding guide states that receiving Server Subscription revenue in a bank account requires completing payout onboarding with "Discord's payment processor, Stripe". The three eligibility layers — owner account, server, and settings — are covered in order below.

What account-level requirements does a server owner need to meet?

A Discord server owner must be 18 or older, keep the Discord account in good standing, verify an email address, enable two-factor authentication, and be based in the United States with a US bank account and a US identification document. Any single missing item blocks Server Subscriptions from being enabled at all.

Discord's Monetization Policy defines "good standing" as not actively violating Discord's Terms or Guidelines, no safety violation in the past 30 days, no suspicious-activity flag reserved for safety, abuse, or fraud cases, and no outstanding dues owed to Discord. The two-factor requirement is sticky once a server is live: Discord's setup guide states an owner cannot remove two-factor authentication while published subscription tiers exist. Discord's Monetization Terms require an eligible creator to "create an account with a third-party payout provider made available to you on Discord" before any money is released, and Discord's payout onboarding guide names that provider as Stripe. Discord's Creator Revenue FAQ states the geographic limit plainly.

"Server Subscriptions will not be available outside of the United States." — Discord Creator Support, Creator Revenue FAQ (verified 3 September 2026)

The US-bank rule is specific to Discord's own built-in Server Shop and its Stripe payout onboarding, not a general rule about who can get paid by fans on the internet.

What must the server itself qualify for?

Discord's Monetization Policy sets four server-level requirements: the majority of membership and activity must not be bots or inactive accounts; ownership must not have changed in the past 30 days without Discord's approval; the server must not be bought or sold without approval; and the server must have no safety violation in the past 30 days.

"The majority of your server's membership and activity is not composed of bots or inactive accounts." — Discord, Monetization Policy, "In Order to be Eligible for Server Monetization, Your Server Must Meet the Following Requirements" (verified 3 September 2026)

Discord's server-level checks apply on top of the owner-level account requirements. An eligible owner whose server fails the Monetization Policy list still cannot monetize until the server itself qualifies (Discord — Monetization Policy).

What three settings must be turned on to earn?

Discord requires three specific server settings before Server Subscriptions can start earning: Community must be enabled, Multifactor Authentication must be set up for moderation actions, and the server cannot be primarily built around NSFW content. All three settings are server-level, separate from the owner's personal account checks, and payments do not begin until each one is on.

"In order to start earning, your server must have the following three requirements: Community must be enabled on your server. Multifactor Authentication (MFA) must be set up for moderation actions. Your server cannot be primarily built around NSFW content." — Discord Creator Support, Server Shop for Server Owners and Admins (verified 3 September 2026)

Community mode is a server-level Discord feature (welcome screens, safety setup, discovery options) that is separate from the owner's personal 2FA — Community mode is a toggle in Server Settings, not an account setting. If Community mode, moderation MFA, or the non-NSFW condition is unmet, the Server Subscriptions tab will not finish activating even after the owner account and the server both pass eligibility.

Does Discord require a minimum number of members?

No. Discord's listed requirements for Server Subscriptions do not include a member-count or follower minimum; the published checklist covers owner age, account and server standing, email and two-factor verification, US banking, and three server settings. A 50-member server and a 5,000-member server face the identical published checklist.

The absence of a size gate is worth naming because other creator programs publish one explicitly. TikTok's Creator Rewards Program requires at least 10,000 followers and 100,000 authentic video views in the last 30 days (TikTok Creator Academy — Creator Rewards Program eligibility, verified 3 September 2026). The Twitch Affiliate Program publishes four numeric thresholds — 25 followers, 4 hours streamed, 4 different broadcast days, and an average of 3 concurrent viewers (Twitch Help — Joining the Affiliate Program, verified 3 September 2026).

Discord's Server Subscriptions documentation lists no equivalent number, so server size is not the gating factor for a small server. Discord also publishes no activation or review waiting period for Server Subscriptions, so enablement timing is undocumented rather than guaranteed to be immediate; Discord's launch blog describes turning the feature on "within the settings tab of your server, under the Monetization category".

How much can a subscription tier cost?

Discord lets an eligible server price Server Subscription tiers from $2.99 to $199.99 per month, a range published in Discord's blog post of December 1, 2022 and run between one and three tiers with different perks. Discord operates a 90/10 split on Server Subscriptions, so a server owner receives 90% of the money from each membership and Discord keeps 10%.

Pricing and tier count sit with the server owner inside Discord's published range, and Discord's published Server Shop and Creator Revenue documentation does not describe a separate approval step for a specific price point. Discord's current member-facing help page states that "at the discretion of the creator/admin of the server, membership can be divided into tiers; each tier may have unique pricing and perks". The $2.99–$199.99 band itself is published in Discord's launch blog post dated December 1, 2022 rather than restated numerically in the current help articles, so treat the live tier editor in Server Settings as the final word on the range Discord will accept today.

A full breakdown of Discord's cut, including how the payment-processing deduction sits on top of the 10% platform fee, is covered in what percentage does Discord take?

When does the first payout actually land?

Discord reviews eligible servers at the end of each month and releases a first payout only once the server's balance reaches $100, with a $25 minimum balance required for every payout after that. A server below $100 at its first monthly review is reviewed again the next month, and monthly after that, until the $100 threshold is met.

For example, a server that starts monetizing January 1 and earns $100 by January 30 is reviewed January 31 and typically paid in February (Discord Creator Support — Server Shop). A server that crosses $100 mid-cycle still waits for the next scheduled monthly review, because Discord's documentation describes no on-demand payout trigger. Discord's $100 first-payout floor sits above Twitch's, which requires at least $50 with most payout methods or $100 with wire transfer before each payout is initialized (Twitch Help — Twitch Affiliate Program FAQ, verified 3 September 2026). Discord also requires a completed payout-onboarding account with its payment processor Stripe before any Server Subscription money is released, on top of the account-level, server-level, and settings requirements.

What if you don't qualify for Discord's own Server Subscriptions?

A creator who fails Discord's Server Subscriptions eligibility list can still take payments through a link hosted outside Discord — Patreon, Ko-fi, Buy Me a Coffee, and FanBell each publish their own platform fee and their own country coverage. Discord's account, server, and settings checklist gates Discord's built-in Server Shop only; Discord's conduct rules still apply inside every server.

Discord's Terms of Service state that "all users must follow our Community Guidelines and other policies," while server owners and admins control permissions and rules inside their own servers. Posting an external payment link therefore avoids the Server Subscriptions eligibility checklist, but it does not exempt a creator from Discord's Terms of Service, the Community Guidelines, or whatever rules the individual server sets about self-promotion and links.

Fees are the first thing to compare across off-Discord options, because each platform publishes its own rate. Patreon charges a standard 10% platform fee to creators whose pages were published after August 4, 2025, before payment processing. Ko-fi's help centre states that its Standard plan has no monthly cost and applies a flat 5% fee to one-time tips, shop items, commissions, monthly tips, and memberships. Buy Me a Coffee's help centre states that creators keep 95% of earnings because the platform takes 5%, and that the service is supported in 110+ countries.

Payout geography is the second thing to check before assuming an external link solves a Discord eligibility problem. Stripe is "available for businesses in 46 countries", and no off-Discord tool can pay a creator whose country its processor does not cover. FanBell's own Stripe onboarding lists exactly 41 payout countries and excludes Brazil and the United Arab Emirates — a first-party figure taken from FanBell's own signup flow rather than an independent source, last verified 3 September 2026 (how it works). FanBell publishes no monthly fee and a 12% platform fee charged only when a fan pays, also a first-party figure from FanBell's own published pricing page, last verified 3 September 2026 (pricing).

Neither Discord Server Subscriptions nor an external payment link replaces the other. A Discord server owner who does qualify can run Server Subscriptions for gated channels and separately post an external link — Patreon or Ko-fi for recurring support, or a per-interaction page such as FanBell for one-off requests, custom asks, or Tips. FanBell does not read or plug into Discord DMs or channels; a creator shares the link, and fans pay on that page. Ideas for what to actually sell to a paid Discord audience, beyond the eligibility mechanics covered here, are in how to monetize a Discord community.

Frequently asked questions

The questions below cover the eligibility points creators most often get wrong about Discord Server Subscriptions: whether a follower count is required, whether two-factor authentication can be removed later, whether a US bank account is mandatory, and what changes when a creator uses a payment link hosted outside Discord instead.

Do I need a certain number of Discord followers or members to enable Server Subscriptions?

No. Discord's published eligibility checklist covers age, account and server standing, verification, and US banking, and Discord's listed requirements do not include a follower or member-count minimum.

Can I keep Server Subscriptions if I remove two-factor authentication?

No. Discord's setup guide states you cannot remove two-factor authentication once you have published subscription tiers in your server.

Do I have to be based in the US to use Discord's Server Subscriptions?

Yes, for Discord's own built-in feature — the server owner must be US-based with a US bank account and a US identification document. A direct payment link outside Discord is not subject to that Discord-specific rule, though every alternative has its own geography: Buy Me a Coffee states support in 110+ countries, while FanBell's own onboarding lists 41 payout countries (first-party).

Does posting an external payment link get around Discord's rules?

It gets around the Server Subscriptions eligibility checklist, not Discord's rules. Discord's Terms of Service require all users to follow the Community Guidelines and Discord's other policies, and server owners and admins set additional rules for their own servers.

What's the difference between the account requirements and the server requirements?

Account requirements (age, standing, verification, US banking) apply to the person who owns the server. Server requirements (bot/inactive-account ratio, no recent ownership transfer, server-level good standing) apply to the server itself — both sets must pass, and a third checklist of settings (Community mode, moderation MFA, non-NSFW) must be turned on before payments actually start (Discord — Monetization Policy).

Does FanBell have the same eligibility requirements as Discord Server Subscriptions?

No. FanBell publishes no monthly fee, a 12% platform fee charged only when a fan pays, and no follower or member minimum — figures published by FanBell itself rather than by an independent source. Payments and payouts run through Stripe in the creator's own country rather than through Discord's Server Shop, so Discord's US-bank and server-settings checklist does not apply.

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