Discord moderation bots compared: AutoMod, MEE6, Dyno, Carl-bot and more

Search "best Discord moderation bot" and most lists you find are written by a bot maker who ranks its own bot first. This guide does it differently. It starts with the moderation tool every server already has, Discord's built-in AutoMod, then compares seven moderation bots on what AutoMod can't do. It ends with what no bot does for you: choosing the people who moderate. We checked every price on the bots' official pages, and every server count on top.gg, on 23 October 2026.

Disclosure: Toscio is our bot. It is not a moderation bot, so it isn't in the comparison. It appears once, in the section about recruiting moderators, because that's the job it does. Nobody paid to be in this list.

Quick picks

• Start with: Discord's AutoMod, free and built in.
• Moderation with a dashboard for your team: Dyno.
• Easiest all-in-one: MEE6.
• Cases, detailed logs and reaction roles: Carl-bot.
• Free moderation, no Premium at all: Sapphire.
• Raids and nukes: Wick.
• Alt accounts and ban evasion: Double Counter.
• Welcome images with protection features: ProBot.

Discord moderation bots compared

Server counts are the ones top.gg showed on 23 October 2026; "not shown" means the bot has no count there. MEE6 prices are the regular ones shown to a visitor in Europe: promotions can lower the first period, and you may see another currency where you are. "See their site" means the pages we checked didn't publish that detail.

Start with Discord's built-in AutoMod

Before adding any bot, turn on AutoMod. It's free, available to every server, runs inside Discord (so it never goes offline when a bot does) and stops a message before anyone sees it. You set it up in Server Settings on the desktop app; rules can't be edited on mobile.

What AutoMod gives you:

• Commonly flagged words: ready-made lists maintained by Discord, in three categories: insults and slurs, sexual content, and severe profanity.
• Custom keywords: your own rules, up to 1,000 terms each, up to 60 characters per term, with * wildcards to catch variations.
• Block spam content: a machine-learning filter for messages that look like spam.
• Mention spam: blocks messages that mention too many members or roles at once; you set the limit, up to 50 mentions per message.
• Member names: it can also block words in member names, not only in messages.

When a rule matches, AutoMod can block the message, send an alert to a channel your moderators watch, and time out the member. Timeout is only available on custom keyword and mention spam rules.

Its limits are worth knowing:

• The word lists and the spam filter work in English only. Custom keywords work in any language, but you write them yourself.
• Admins and members with Manage Server are exempt, so test rules with a normal account.
• AutoMod acts on one message at a time. It doesn't remember that a member was warned last week, can't ban for 7 days and lift the ban on its own, and doesn't give your team a shared record of who did what.

AutoMod vs a moderation bot

The best setup for most servers is both: AutoMod blocks the obvious, and a bot handles everything that needs memory and judgment.

What a moderation bot adds

A moderation bot is less about filtering and more about keeping a record. That's what lets a team of moderators act consistently instead of each person guessing.

• Warnings and history. /warn sends the reason to the member and saves it. The next moderator sees that this is the third warning, not the first.
• Cases. Each action gets a number, so "case 214" means the same thing to everyone, and a wrong warning can be removed by its number.
• Timed actions. A 24-hour mute or a 7-day ban that lifts on its own, without someone setting a reminder.
• Logs. Deleted and edited messages, joins and leaves, role changes and every mod action, posted in a private channel.
• A dashboard. Settings in a web page your staff can open, instead of commands only one person remembers.
• Extra automod. More filters (links, invites, caps, repeated messages) and escalation, like a mute after three warnings.

The moderation bots, one by one

MEE6

The best known bot on Discord, on 19.5 million servers according to top.gg: moderation, leveling, welcome messages, reaction roles, custom commands and social alerts, all from a web dashboard. It's the easiest to set up, which makes it a good first bot for a team without a technical person. Many features need Premium, which costs €11.99/month or €49.99/year at regular price, and one subscription covers one server. Pick it if you want one bot for most jobs and don't mind paying.

Dyno

A moderation favorite, on 11,627,549 servers: automod, timed mutes and bans, logs, custom commands, auto-roles and a clear dashboard your whole team can use. Premium is sold per server, by the year: Standard $49.99, Premium $59.99 and Custom $99.99. Pick it as a solid default for moderation.

Carl-bot

On 3,395,239 servers, Carl-bot is the most complete here for cases and logs. Its docs list ban (which works even if the member already left), tempban, softban (clears recent messages), massban, warn, mute, timeout and kick. Reasons show up in its mod log and in Discord's audit log, warnings have case numbers you can remove one by one, and you can lock a channel or the whole server during a raid. It's also the reference for reaction roles: 250 free, 1,000 with Premium, which goes through Patreon or Discord. Its levels are now Premium only. Pick it if you want a precise record of every action.

Sapphire

On 1,865,300 servers, and its developers say it is completely free. It adds 10+ automod modules and can add actions on top of Discord's AutoMod, so the two work together instead of competing. It has 80+ log types, cases, reason aliases and custom DM notifications. Pick it if you want a capable moderation bot without paying anything.

Wick

Wick is a security bot more than a moderation bot, on 1,000,349 servers. It focuses on anti-raid and anti-nuke: it watches for mass bans, channel deletions and other destructive actions, including from a compromised staff account, and stops them. It has a Premium tier; see their site for the price. Pick it once your server is big enough to be a target, alongside your main moderation bot.

ProBot

On 10,200,000 servers, ProBot is known for its welcome images, protection features and leveling, with paid tiers for more. Pick it if a custom welcome card matters to you and you want protection in the same bot.

Double Counter

Double Counter makes new members verify when they join and detects alt accounts, the usual way around a ban. Its site says it can also block VPNs and proxies, and it gives moderators the reason behind each flag. It's free for most servers, with a Pro plan billed through Discord. Pick it if banned members keep coming back with new accounts.

For bots beyond moderation (tickets, applications, leveling, music, events), see our best Discord bots by use case.

Free moderation bots

You can moderate a server well without paying anything:

• Discord AutoMod: free for every server.
• Sapphire: everything is free.
• Carl-bot, Dyno and MEE6: moderation commands on the free plan; Premium adds more, and MEE6 keeps many features behind it.
• Double Counter: free for most servers.

A free stack that covers most small and growing servers: AutoMod plus Sapphire or Carl-bot, and Double Counter if alts are a problem. Open-source bots on GitHub are another free route, but you host them yourself, which means a server to run and updates to apply.

AI moderation: what it can and can't do

Some bots now use AI to read messages and flag the ones that look toxic, even without a banned word. Discord's own spam filter already uses machine learning. It can help, but know the limits before you rely on it.

What it does well: catch insults written in ways a keyword list misses, sort a large volume of messages so moderators read the worst first, and work around the clock.

Where it struggles:

• Context. Friends joking, a quote, irony or a reclaimed word can look like abuse.
• Languages and slang. Quality often drops outside the main languages and in fast-moving community slang.
• Mistakes in both directions. It will flag innocent messages and miss real problems. Silent automatic bans make those mistakes hard to see.
• Privacy. Messages may be sent to an outside AI service. Check where they go and say so in your rules.

Use AI to flag, and let a person decide. Bans, appeals and anything involving context still need a moderator.

How to choose by server stage

A new or small server. AutoMod with the commonly flagged words lists and a mention limit, plus one moderation bot: MEE6 if you want the easiest setup, Sapphire or Carl-bot if you'd rather not pay. Write your rules before you need them: our Discord server rules template gives you a version to copy.

A growing server. This is when one person can't watch everything. Add a mod-log channel, use warnings so your history builds up, and set clear steps (warning, timeout, ban). If raids or alt accounts appear, add Double Counter. This is also when you need your first real moderators: see the last section.

An established or monetized server. Protect what you built. Add Wick for anti-nuke, in case a staff account is compromised. Review who has which permission. Give banned members a fair way to appeal, and run your mod team with a trial period, clear expectations and a written process.

Set up a moderation bot safely

• Add it from the official site or the App Directory, never from a link sent in DMs.
• Give only the permissions it needs. Moderation bots need things like Ban Members, Kick Members, Timeout Members, Manage Messages and Manage Roles. Avoid Administrator unless the bot really requires it.
• Put its role high enough. A bot can only act on members and roles below its own role in Server Settings > Roles, and it can never act on the owner. See the role order rule.
• Create a private mod-log channel that only staff can read, and point every bot's logs there.
• Don't run two bots for the same job. Two automods on the same rule mean double warnings and confused members.
• Test with a normal account. Admins are exempt from AutoMod and often from bot filters too.

A bot doesn't replace moderators: recruiting your mod team

Every bot above blocks, logs and counts. None of them can calm a heated argument, tell a joke from harassment, or decide whether a banned member deserves a second chance. That's your moderators' job, and picking them is one of the most important decisions on a server.

Most servers recruit badly: the owner's friends, the most active members, or whoever asks first in DMs. A better process looks like this:

• A real application with the same questions for everyone. Our staff application questions has a set to copy.
• A review by the team, not one person, so the decision doesn't depend on who saw the DM.
• A rules quiz, to check candidates actually know the rules they'll enforce.
• A trial period with a limited role before the full one. Our trial moderator guide explains how to run it.

This is where Toscio fits, and it's our bot. Toscio is not a moderation bot: it won't filter messages or ban anyone. It runs applications. Members click Apply and fill in a form right inside Discord, and each application lands in a staff channel with Accept, Decline and Interview buttons. Your staff can vote, with a decision taken at the threshold you choose (Premium). Choice questions can be graded as a rules quiz, with a pass mark. A trial stage gives a role like @Trial Mod on the first accept, and the full role on the second. The quiz and the trial stage are on the free plan. Toscio is newer and much less installed than the bots above.

The free plan has 2 forms with 20 questions and unlimited applications; Premium costs $4.99/month per server. Toscio also handles ban appeals, which closes the loop with your moderation bot: the bot bans, the appeal form gives a fair second look. See how it works for staff and moderator recruitment, or what a Discord form bot can do.

How we picked

We kept bots that are active in October 2026, have an official site or listing and do moderation or server security well. Every price comes from the bot's own website, docs or premium page, and every server count from its top.gg page, both checked on 23 October 2026. We don't give stars or scores to other people's bots. Toscio is our bot, which is why it isn't in the comparison and only appears in the recruiting section, with its limits. We update this page when a bot changes its prices or features.