Discord giveaway bot guide: run a giveaway that grows your server (2026)
Which Discord giveaway bot to use in 2026, the entry requirements that stop alt accounts, why Nitro is the worst prize, copy-paste templates and how to measure retention.
The right discord giveaway bot matters less than three decisions you make before you press start: a prize that only your kind of member wants, entry requirements that cost an alt account time rather than a click, and a plan to measure who is still around 14 days later. Below is what Discord's rules actually say about giveaways, which requirements stop alts, why Nitro is the worst prize you can pick, an honest October 2026 comparison of GiveawayBot, Giveaway Boat, Carl-bot and MEE6, copy-paste announcement templates, and how to read the result in Server Insights.
What Discord's rules say about giveaways
Discord has no rule that mentions giveaways by name. Two policies decide what you can and cannot do.
Platform manipulation. The Community Guidelines (last updated 29 August 2025) say "Do not engage with our service in an inauthentic way", including "artificially inflating server membership". The Platform Manipulation Policy Explainer is more specific: engagement is inauthentic if it is "induced (like promises of financial reward)", and it names "join-for-join," "invite rewards" and purchasing fake members as examples of inflating membership. In practice, "invite five friends to enter" or "more invites, more entries" is the riskiest giveaway format you can run. A giveaway open to people already in your server is not.
Gambling. Discord's Gambling Policy Explainer says its policy is violated when all four of these are true: there is "a payment or wager of real-world value to participate (this includes betting or entry fees)", prizes of real-world value are awarded, the outcome is "predominantly determined by chance", and the activity is prohibited by applicable law. A free-to-enter draw does not meet the first condition. A draw where entry requires a Server Boost, a paid server subscription or buying something does, and then local law decides the rest.
Off-platform tasks. Discord's policies do not address giveaways that require following an account on another platform, but that platform has its own promotion rules, and you cannot verify the task inside Discord anyway. Keep entry on Discord.
The law. Prize draws are regulated differently in every country, and in many places the combination of chance, a prize and paid entry makes a draw an illegal lottery. This is not legal advice. If entry costs anything, the prize is large, or winners can come from anywhere, check the rules where you and your winners live before you announce, and say who is eligible in the giveaway text.
Why Nitro giveaways pull alt accounts
Nitro is worth exactly the same to every Discord account on earth, which is the problem. A prize everyone wants tells you nothing about who entered. Accounts that join servers only to enter giveaways, and people running several accounts to multiply their chances, are attracted by prizes with general value. They are filtered out by prizes with value only to your members.
Nitro also has practical traps. Discord's Nitro Gifting article says that if a gift link is shared in a server channel, "anyone can claim it", and that once a gift is claimed it "cannot be switched to another user account" and support cannot refund it. Deliver Nitro by DM only, after you have checked the winner.
Pick prizes that self-select the people you want:
| Prize | Who it attracts | Alt risk |
|---|---|---|
| Nitro, generic gift cards, cash | Everyone, including giveaway hunters | High |
| A key for a popular game | Gamers in general | Medium |
| A key or in-game item for the game your server is about | Your existing audience | Low |
| A custom role, colour or channel name for a month | Active members who care about status here | Very low |
| An art commission, coaching session, code review or feedback from a known member | People who want what the server is for | Very low |
| Merch or a physical prize | Your audience, but needs a shipping address | Low, more legal and privacy work |
If you want to give away something with broad appeal, raise the requirements to match it.
Entry requirements that actually stop alts
No single requirement stops alts. Stack two or three that cost time, not a click.
| Requirement | What it filters | How to set it |
|---|---|---|
| Phone-verified accounts | Throwaway accounts | Server Settings → Safety Setup → DM and Spam Protection → Verification Level → Highest (server-wide) |
| Account age | Accounts created for the giveaway | Check winners on the Members page with the Joined Discord filter |
| Time in the server | Drive-by joiners | A role-gated giveaway channel, or check Member Since on the Members page |
| Role | Anyone who has not reached a stage you define | Giveaway Boat lock role, MEE6 allowed roles, or channel permissions with any bot |
| Level or message count | Lurkers and fresh alts | Giveaway Boat lock level and lock messages |
| Rules accepted | People who never read the rules | Rules Screening, which the Members page now shows per member |
| Alt detection at the door | Second accounts of the same person | A verification bot such as Double Counter |
A few details matter. Discord's Verification Levels article notes that a verified phone number "supersedes all other requirements", and the Highest level is the only built-in setting that demands one, so it is the strongest native alt filter, at the cost of some legitimate joiners. The Members page shows when each member joined the server, how old their account is, how they joined (by invite code, Discovery or vanity URL), how many messages they have sent and whether they agreed to the rules, which is everything you need to vet a winner in a minute. Double Counter describes itself as a verification system that blocks alts, raids and VPNs by checking joining users against data from its server network, including risky IPs. Its default setup sends new members a verification link, so they visit an external page; say so in your rules.
Message requirements need care: "50 messages" rewards people who type "hi" fifty times. Pair them with slowmode in the giveaway period and count messages in topic channels only if your bot allows it. The AutoMod and permissions baseline catches the spam bursts that requirements tend to cause.
A sensible starting point for a normal community giveaway: account at least 30 days old, in the server at least 7 days before the giveaway starts, and one activity requirement (a level role or a daily message count). For a Nitro-sized prize, add phone verification or an alt-detection bot.
Discord giveaway bots compared (October 2026)
Every bot below picks winners at random from the people who entered. They differ in how much filtering they do for you.
| Bot | Entry | Built-in requirements | Free limits | Paid tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GiveawayBot | Button | None | 2 weeks, 20 winners, 20 running giveaways | Supporter levels raise this to 5–6 weeks and 30–50 winners |
| Giveaway Boat | Dashboard or g. commands |
Role, level, messages, bypass and blacklist roles | Unlimited running giveaways, up to 100 days | Not documented on its public listing |
| Carl-bot | Slash command | None documented | Not stated | Carl-bot Premium exists; giveaways are not marked premium |
| MEE6 | Participate button | Allowed roles, per-role winning chance | Not available | Giveaways plugin is Premium-only, up to 100 giveaways |
GiveawayBot
The jagrosh GiveawayBot is the simplest option and still the default for a reason. /gstart 3d 2 Steam key starts a giveaway in the current channel (time takes s, m, h or d), /gcreate walks you through the same setup interactively, and /gend, /gdelete, /glist and /greroll do what they say. Ended giveaways can also be rerolled from the message's context menu under Apps → Reroll Giveaway. /gsettings set color and /gsettings set emoji change the embed colour and button.
The limits come from the bot's open-source code: free servers get giveaways of up to 2 weeks with up to 20 winners and 20 running giveaways; Patreon supporters (from $1 a month) and boosters of its support server get 5 weeks, 30 winners and 25 giveaways per channel; the top tiers allow 6 weeks and 50 winners. The commands default to members with Manage Server, which you can change under Server Settings → Integrations.
What it does not have is requirements. The workaround is clean: post the giveaway in a channel that only a role can see, such as a level role from a levelling bot or a role you hand out after members have been around a week. People who cannot see the channel cannot press the button.
Giveaway Boat
Giveaway Boat is the most configurable of the free options. Its listing documents templates, scheduled giveaways, logging, custom entry and winner DMs, a dashboard, unlimited simultaneous giveaways and durations of up to 100 days. Requirements are set per giveaway by message ID: g.lock role, g.lock level (for example level 10), g.lock messages (for example 10 messages daily), g.bypass role for roles that skip requirements and g.blacklist role for roles that may not enter. Multiple entries are listed as a feature. The listing does not say which levelling system the level requirement reads from or whether any of this is paid, so check both in its support server before relying on a level lock.
Carl-bot
If Carl-bot already runs your server, its giveaways cover the basics without another bot. Per Carl-bot's documentation, /giveaway create 10m 1 Nitro starts one (an optional channel argument posts it elsewhere), /giveaway reroll can replace only named winners or exclude members, /giveaway participants lists who entered and /giveaway list shows active or ended giveaways. All need Manage Server. There are no entry requirements, so use the same role-gated channel trick. Carl-bot disabled prefix commands on 5 October 2026, so old !giveaway instructions in your staff notes no longer work; mention commands still do. Note that Carl-bot's levels are a premium feature, so you cannot use its level roles for gating on the free plan.
MEE6
MEE6's Giveaways plugin is marked Premium-only in its own free-versus-premium comparison. If you already pay, it adds what the free bots lack: you choose which roles may participate and can adjust each role's winning chance, for example better odds for regulars, and up to 100 giveaways. Members join and leave with a Participate button.
Verdict. For most servers: GiveawayBot plus a role-gated channel, or Giveaway Boat if you want requirements without channel juggling. Carl-bot if you want one bot fewer. MEE6 only if you already pay for it. Whatever you choose, install only the bot from its official site or a listing you trust; Discord's own support article on scam bots says it has "never created a bot designed to offer you free products".
How to run the giveaway, step by step
- Write down the goal. "Get 30 new members who are still chatting in a month" leads to different settings than "thank the regulars".
- Pick the prize from the table above and decide who is eligible (age, country, one win per person).
- Create a dedicated invite for anything you post outside the server: right-click a channel,
Invite People, edit the link and set it to never expire. Its code lets you filter the Members page by Join Method later. Directories that check invites, including Discordfinder every 15 minutes, need a link that does not expire; see how to make a permanent invite. - Set the requirements and test them with a member account that should fail.
- Add an opt-in giveaway ping role in
Server Settings → Onboardingso you never need@everyone. Discord's own growth guide warns that over-pinging makes members mute or leave. - Run it for 3 to 7 days. Long enough for members in every time zone, short enough that people still remember entering.
- Draw, then vet the winner on the Members page: account age, time in the server, messages sent. Reroll anyone who fails the published rules.
- Deliver the prize by DM, give the winner 48 hours to claim, and post the result.
Announcement templates
Copy, then replace the parts in capitals.
Announcement
GIVEAWAY: PRIZE
What you can win: PRIZE (X winners)
Ends: DAY, DATE at TIME UTC
How to enter: press the button below.
Who can enter: members with the ROLE role who joined before DATE.
Your Discord account must be at least 30 days old.
Rules: one entry per person. Alt accounts are disqualified and banned.
Winners are checked by staff and contacted by DM within 24 hours.
Unclaimed prizes are rerolled after 48 hours.
Staff will never ask for your password, payment details or a login link.
Winner post
Congratulations to @WINNER, who wins PRIZE!
Check your DMs from STAFF NAME within the next 48 hours.
If the prize is not claimed by DATE, we will reroll.
Next giveaway: DATE. Want the ping? Pick the Giveaways role in Channels & Roles.
Rules line for your rules channel
Giveaways are free to enter. Using more than one account to enter
any giveaway is a permanent ban for every account involved.
If your rules channel needs a fuller rewrite, the rules templates include an alt-account rule you can reuse.
How to measure whether it worked
Entries are not the result. Members who stay and talk are.
Server Insights is available to Community servers with more than 500 members; anyone with the View Server Insights permission can open it. Open it from the server name dropdown, inside Server Settings, or at discord.com/developers/servers. The Growth and Activation tab shows where new members came from, whether they managed to talk and how many retained. Discord defines first-week retention as "the proportion of members that visit your server again between seven and 14 days after joining", so a giveaway's real number arrives two weeks after it ends. Data goes back up to 120 days for most servers and every chart can be exported to CSV. Referrers with fewer than 50 joiners in the chosen range are grouped into "Other", so a small campaign may not show up as its own line.
Compare three numbers for the giveaway period against the two weeks before it:
- New members, split by source where Insights shows it.
- First-week retention of members who joined during the giveaway.
- Communicators, the members who actually posted.
A giveaway that doubles joins but halves retention brought you hunters, not members.
Under 500 members, use the Members page. Filter Join Method by your giveaway invite code, then check 14 and 30 days later how many of those members are still there and how many have sent any messages. A spreadsheet with three columns (joined, still here, has posted) is enough. If most of them never posted, change the prize before you change the bot.
For growth that does not depend on prizes at all, the 30-day plan without bumping pairs well with a monthly giveaway for existing members.
Try it: see how other servers run regular draws and events in the giveaways and events tags, compare bots in the bot directory, then list your server for free once the giveaway invite is set to never expire.