DonateBot Fees Explained: What the 3% Early-Access Rate Actually Covers

If you are evaluating DonateBot to sell roles and perks in your Discord server, the first question is almost always the same: what does it actually cost? This is a plain answer, sourced from what is published on the DonateBot site — no estimates, no "up to" ranges. For how the fee fits into pricing your first product, see the role shop setup guide.

The platform fee: 3% per successful sale

DonateBot's early-access platform fee is 3% of each successful sale. It is charged only when a sale completes — there is no monthly subscription, listing fee, or setup cost to add a product to your shop.

The word "early-access" is doing real work in that sentence: 3% is the current rate while the product is in early access, and it is described that way rather than as a permanent price. Treat it as the rate today, not a locked-in guarantee for the future.

Payment processing fees are separate and charged by the checkout provider, the same way they would be on any platform that accepts card payments. DonateBot does not mark these up.

A worked example: a €10 role

Say a member buys a €10 role through /shop:

• Sale price: €10.00
• DonateBot 3% early-access fee: −€0.30
• Card processing (typical EU card, ~1.5% + €0.25, paid to the provider): −€0.40
• You keep: ~€9.30

The same math on a €5 role lands around €4.85, and a €20 role around €18.60. Card processing rates vary by card type and country, so treat these as close approximations rather than exact figures.

Minimums that shape how you price products

Two floors are worth knowing before you set prices:

• €0.50 minimum product price — the lowest price you can list a role or perk for.
• €2 minimum payout — the balance threshold before funds can be withdrawn to your payout account.

At the €0.50 floor, the fixed part of card processing (~€0.25) is a large share of the sale, so very small perks are usually better bundled into a higher-priced role than sold on their own.

What the fee does not include

The 3% platform fee covers checkout, automatic Discord role delivery, and access to the owner dashboard where sales, volume, and available balance are tracked. It does not cover card network or processor fees, which are itemized separately by the checkout provider rather than folded into DonateBot's own rate.

Installing the bot is free

There is no cost to add DonateBot to a server or to browse the setup flow. The 3% fee only applies once a member actually completes a purchase through /shop.

How this compares

Discord's own Server Subscriptions take a 90/10 split plus processing on top, with first-payout thresholds; several third-party bots layer a monthly subscription on top of a per-sale percentage. A flat, disclosed per-sale rate with no monthly cost means a server owner can calculate exact take-home on any price point before listing a product. For the full picture, see Discord Server Subscriptions fees explained, the comparison of Discord monetization bots, and the alternatives hub.