In December 2021, Discord began testing a new feature called Premium Subscriptions (opens in new tab). At the time, the feature was limited to a "handful" of the Discord community, but has now been rolled out to all server owners in the US under a new name: Server Subscriptions (opens in new tab).

The Server Subscriptions feature is exactly what it sounds like: server owners can offer multi-tier subscription plans for "unique roles, perks, and benefits" on their servers. Pricing is open-ended, and you can charge as much as you like for the options you want, and Discord receives a relatively small cut of 10% of the payments earned (plus a possible "refund, chargeback, and related fees").

This is like having Patreon built into Discord, which makes sense for everyone involved: Patreon users typically receive access to Discord's dedicated servers as part of their monthly package, which essentially means that Discord to some of their activities while opening up another monetization channel to those users. (Incidentally, Patreon offers three different user plans (open in new tab) with fees ranging from 5-12%, plus variable payment processing fees.)

Patreon even looks like:

Patreon screen (via The Try Guys (opens in new tab)):

Discord server subscription screen:

To activate your subscription, the server must meet some basic minimum requirements:

Naturally, there are minor caveats to these terms and policies. For example, the server owner cannot charge the first payment until revenue reaches a minimum of $100. There is also a long list of things that cannot be monetized through server subscriptions, including sexually explicit content, online dating, charity, gambling, drug dealing, gun running, "financial fraud," or "dangerous behavior or activities" of any kind.

While not as straightforward as "do as thou wilt," it would still be a boon to a great many content creators, especially those who do not want to use services like Patreon or Fanhouse across the board.

To help server owners spread the word, Discord also offers a new promo page (opens in new tab). Promo pages are automatically generated and will be available after owners set up their first subscription tier. And for those new to the world of monetization, Discord's Creator Portal (opens in new tab) has a Server Subs 101 (opens in new tab) guide on how to make money through servers.