How to Make a Paid Discord Server with Whop (Fees Compared)

Paid Discord server options compared

You can charge for Discord access three ways: a bot service such as Whop or LaunchPass, a membership platform with Discord role sync such as Patreon, or Discord's own Server Subscriptions. On the rates Whop's fee page lists, it's the cheapest of them. If the 3% fee on Whop's Discord app listing applies, it still costs far less than Discord or Patreon and is about level with LaunchPass Premium at high volume. Discord's built-in option is the simplest for members but the most expensive. If you already run a paid server on LaunchPass, our LaunchPass to Whop migration plan shows how to move members' Stripe card subscriptions without new card details.

Prices as of October 2026, from each company's public pricing and help pages. Sources at the end of this page.

Every fee in this table assumes a US card and a monthly subscription. Whop's figure counts its 0.5% billing fee, which its fee page lists "when enabled", and leaves out its $0.07-per-transaction Radar fee, which the page lists without saying whether every payment gets it. The LaunchPass, InviteMember and Memberful rows count only Stripe's standard 2.9% + $0.30; add 0.7% if Stripe also bills you for Stripe Billing. Whop's fee page lists no Discord fee, but its Discord app listing says adding the app brings a 3% fee on that product's payments; we couldn't confirm which applies, so both numbers are shown. For a deeper look at the Discord-native route, see Whop vs Discord Server Subscriptions.

What you keep at three revenue levels

At $20 a month per member, here's what lands in your account after platform and processing fees.

Prices as of October 2026. Sources at the end of this page.

How we got there, rounded to whole dollars, with no add-ons, Whop Radar fee, Stripe Billing fee, payout fees, taxes or currency conversion:

• Whop = revenue × (2.7% + 0.5% billing when enabled) + $0.30 per payment, plus 3% of revenue in the 3% column.
• Discord = revenue × 15.4% (6% processing, then a 10% platform fee on the rest), desktop or web purchases.
• LaunchPass Premium = $29 + revenue × (3.5% + Stripe's 2.9%) + $0.30 per payment.
• Patreon Standard = revenue × (10% + 2.9%) + $0.30 per payment.

If Whop charges Radar on every payment, take another $3.50, $35 or $175 a month off both Whop columns. That puts the 3% column just behind LaunchPass Premium at $50,000 ($45,975 against $46,021), unless Stripe also charges you 0.7% for Stripe Billing on the LaunchPass side, which would cost LaunchPass another $350.

Try your own price and member count in the fee calculator, and see every Whop fee explained for payouts, disputes and international cards. This page explains published fees. It isn't financial or tax advice.

Before you start

A few decisions made now save you from re-doing roles and permissions later.

• Your Discord server, where you're the owner or can add bots and manage roles.
• A paid role for each tier (for example "Members" and "VIP") and a plan for which channels each role should see.
• A Whop account. Whop asks for identity verification before payouts, and its docs say new accounts can have part of their balance held in reserve, for example 10% for 90 days. New accounts are also capped at $2,500 per checkout link until Whop approves them.
• Your price, billing period and whether to offer a free trial.
• What should happen when someone stops paying: lose the role, get kicked, or move to a past-due role first.
• A second Discord account and Whop account for testing.
• If another bot (LaunchPass, Patreon, a custom bot) already manages paid roles, a plan to switch it off before Whop takes over, so the two don't remove each other's members.

Set up a paid Discord server on Whop, step by step

These steps follow Whop's April 16, 2026 walkthrough and its help docs, checked on October 3, 2026. Button names can shift, so look for the closest match if a label has changed.

Step 1: Create your whop and a product

Sign up on Whop, create your whop, then use Create product and name the product after the paid part of your server, for example "Trading Room membership." Write the description as a sales page: what members get, how often you post, and what they'll see in the server.

Common mistake: naming the product after the server itself. Buyers see the product name at checkout, so make it describe what they're paying for.

Step 2: Add a pricing plan

Add a plan with your price and billing period. Whop plans can renew weekly, monthly, yearly or on a custom number of days, or charge a one-time price, and one product can carry several plans, such as monthly and annual. Free trials are available on recurring plans only, with lengths like 1, 7 or 30 days.

Common mistake: offering a trial on a one-time plan. Whop's docs say trials only work on recurring checkout links.

Step 3: Add the Discord app to the product

Click Add app, find Discord in the Whop app store and add it. Whop's walkthrough notes you may be prompted to add the Chat app first; choose Continue with Discord to skip ahead.

You'll land on the app's settings. Nothing is connected yet, so members can't use it.

Step 4: Connect your server and authorize the Whop Bot

Open the Discord app's settings and click Connect Discord. Discord's authorization screen opens: pick your server from the dropdown, review the permissions, and click Authorize.

The Whop Bot now appears in your server's member list. If your server isn't in the dropdown, you're signed in to a Discord account that can't add bots to it.

Step 5: Move the Whop Bot role to the top

In Discord, open Server Settings, then Roles, and drag the Whop Bot role above every role you want it to hand out. Save, then click Refetch roles in the Whop app so it sees the current list.

Common mistake: leaving the bot below your paid role. Discord only lets a bot manage roles that sit below its own, so payments go through but nobody gets a role.

Step 6: Choose roles and the cancellation action

In the app's Roles tab, click Add Role and pick each paid role this product grants. Then open Settings and choose what happens when a membership ends:

• No action
• Remove the role
• Kick the user
• Remove all of their roles

You can also give members with a past-due bill a separate role, which works as a grace period, and name an event log channel so you can see membership activity in Discord. Keep the app set to product gated rather than public, or anyone can claim it.

Step 7: Lock your paid channels in Discord

Make each premium channel or category private, then allow only the paid role to view it. Keep at least one public channel (rules, a preview or an announcements feed) so visitors can see what they'd be paying for.

Common mistake: giving the paid role access but forgetting to remove @everyone from the channel, which leaves it open to all.

Step 8: Test with a second account, then share your link

Add a hidden $0 plan to the product, claim it with your second account, then follow the member steps: connect Discord under social accounts in Whop's settings, open the product, choose the Discord app and press Claim Access. Confirm the role appears and the paid channels open. Then delete the test plan and share your real checkout link.

Common mistake: testing with your owner account. You can already see every channel, so a missing role won't show up as a problem.

Check that everything works

Run through this list before you announce the server:

• The test member got the right role and can see every paid channel, and nothing else that's private.
• Your event log channel shows the test member's join.
• When the first real cancellation or failed payment comes through, the log shows the role removed (or the member kicked, or moved to the past-due role) exactly as you set it.
• Your public channels make clear what the paid tier includes.
• You've added a payout method and started identity verification in Whop.
• After your first real payment, you've read its fee lines, including whether a 3% app fee appears.

Troubleshooting

Most problems come down to role order, account linking or a second bot.

What Whop can't do for a paid Discord, and workarounds

Whop covers the payment and role side, but a few things sit outside it.

• It can't import members from Discord, Patreon or a member list. Whop's API has no way to create memberships directly, so current paying members either move through Whop's own Stripe migration (active and trialing card subscriptions in your Stripe account only; Stripe emails each member a cancellation notice, so warn them first) or subscribe again, ideally with a trial that covers time they've already paid for.
• It can't take over Discord Server Subscriptions. Discord bills those subscribers itself, so they subscribe again on Whop.
• It has no Slack app. If your community is on Slack, move it to Discord, Telegram or Whop's own Chat.
• It doesn't use your own Stripe account. Payments run on Whop Payments, so payout timing and any reserves follow Whop's rules.

Moving a paid Discord you already run

If your server already makes money through another tool, the move order matters more than the setup. Members from LaunchPass and other Stripe-based bots who pay by card can usually keep their cards and renewal dates through Whop's Stripe migration (it skips Link, ACH and SEPA subscriptions, and Stripe emails each member a cancellation notice, so warn them first); members from Discord's own subscriptions or Patreon subscribe again. The subscription migration guide covers both paths, and the free migration tool creates the Whop products and plans you confirm in its wizard and cleans up your old platform's member export.