Best Discord Moderation Bots of 2026

How to choose

Moderation bots fall into three jobs. Most servers need the first, many need the second, and public servers need the third.

1. Everyday moderation. Warn, mute, kick, ban, timeouts, case history and mod logs. Every bot here does this.
2. Automod. Filters for spam, links, invites, mentions, slurs, caps, walls of text and attachments, with automatic punishments. Dyno, Sapphire, Carl-bot and Wick are strongest.
3. Security. Join gates, captcha verification, raid detection and anti nuke protection against rogue or hacked staff. This is Wick's specialty.

Then check four things:

• Logs. How many event types, and can you route them to different channels? Carl-bot and Sapphire lead.
• Dashboard or commands. Dyno and MEE6 are dashboard first; Carl-bot rewards learning its system.
• Free limits. Dyno and Sapphire give the most moderation free.
• Price per server. Premium runs $0 (Sapphire) to $11.99 a month (MEE6 list).

What it costs

Bot	Free automod	Free logs	Anti raid	Cheapest premium
Dyno	Yes	Mod logs	Autoban rules on join	$5.99 per month, $49.99 per year
Sapphire	10+ modules	80+ log types	Automod conditions	Free
Carl-bot	Yes	Detailed, split by channel	Not a focus	$7.99 per month
Wick	Heat automod	Security logs	Join gate, captcha, anti nuke	$5 per month
MEE6	Yes	Yes	Not a focus	$11.99 per month list
ProBot	Basic	Yes	Advanced protection on premium	$5 per month
Arcane	Discord AutoMod	1 hour on free	Not a focus	$7 per month

Prices from each bot's premium page, October 2026. See the Price Index.

A free moderation stack: Sapphire or Dyno for daily moderation and automod, plus Wick for security. Both free, and together they cover more than any single paid bot.

Moderation bot vs security bot

General moderation bots react to bad messages. Security bots protect the server's structure.

A raid is many accounts joining at once to spam. Dyno's autoban rules and Sapphire's automod catch the messages; Wick's join gate stops the accounts at the door, flags new accounts or accounts without avatars, and can force captcha.

A nuke is a hacked admin or a malicious bot deleting channels, roles or banning members. Normal moderation bots cannot stop an admin, because the admin outranks them. Wick sits at the top of the role list, watches for mass actions, quarantines the account and restores from backups. That is why Wick needs Administrator and why it is placed above every other role.

If your server is small and private, you likely do not need a security bot. If it is public, runs giveaways, or covers crypto or NFTs, you do.

Setup checklist for any moderation bot

1. Put the bot's role above member roles and below your own admin role (Wick goes at the top).
2. Create a private mod log channel and point all moderation logs there.
3. Turn on spam, link and mention filters first; add word filters after you see what gets through.
4. Set escalating punishments: delete and warn, then timeout, then kick or ban.
5. Whitelist channels where links are expected, like a media or promo channel.
6. Set an autorole or verification step for new members.
7. Test every rule with an alt account in a private channel before you go live.

Recommended setups by server type

Friends server under 50 members

One bot is plenty. Sapphire or Dyno free, with spam and link filters on and a mod log channel. No security bot needed if invites are private.

Growing public community, 500 to 5,000 members

Dyno free or Standard ($49.99 a year) for automod, autoban rules on new accounts, reaction roles and a ticket panel for reports. Add Wick free for join gates and captcha if you advertise your invite link.

Large public server, 10,000+ members

Two bots minimum. Wick at the top of the role list for anti nuke, join raid detection and verification, plus Dyno, Sapphire or Carl-bot for daily moderation and logs. Carl-bot is the pick if your mod team needs split audit logs and infraction history. Consider Wick Premium ($5 a month) for smart backups and advanced lockdown.

Server network of 5 to 12 servers

Wick VIP at $20 a month covers 12 premium servers. Carl-bot's largest Patreon tier covers 5 servers for $24.99 a month. Sapphire costs nothing across every server.

Streamer or creator community

MEE6 for an easy dashboard plus alerts from ten platforms, with Wick added before you run giveaways, since giveaways attract raid accounts.

Log events worth turning on

Whatever bot you choose, these logs pay off the first time you handle an appeal or a staff dispute:

• Message deletes and edits, so you can see what was said before it vanished.
• Member joins and leaves, with account age, to spot raid waves.
• Role changes, especially on staff and bot roles.
• Bans, kicks and timeouts, including who issued them. Carl-bot Premium also logs bans made by other bots and mods; ProBot premium adds the executioner to log entries.
• Invite creation and use, to find where spam accounts come from.
• Channel and webhook changes, which are the first signs of a nuke.

Keep these in a private channel only senior staff can read, and keep message logs separate from moderation logs so neither gets buried.

Red flags

• One bot doing everything with Administrator. Give general bots only the permissions they use.
• Duplicate automod rules across two bots, which double punish members.
• No log channel. Without logs, you cannot review appeals or catch rogue staff.
• Unverified copycat bots. Invite from the official site only.
• Relying on prefix commands that changed. Dyno moved to slash commands; update your staff guides.

How we picked

We ranked moderation bots on free automod and moderation depth, logging, security features, ease of setup, premium price per server and top.gg ratings with review counts. Every fact comes from the bot's own site, docs, premium page or top.gg listing in October 2026. We compared published facts and did not install the bots. See how we score.