Carl-bot Review 2026: Pricing, Features and Verdict

What it is

Carl-bot is a multi purpose, modular Discord bot from BotLabs, around since 2018 per its Patreon page. Its site says it is trusted by 15,342,752 servers; its top.gg listing shows 3.4M. Configuration happens on the dashboard at carl.gg or with commands, and its docs are open source on GitHub.

The feature list on carl.gg: reaction roles, moderation, automod, logging, custom commands (TagScript), suggestions, greetings, permissions, engagement tools like starboard and sticky messages, Twitch and YouTube notifications, free game alerts and a public server directory.

Pricing explained

Plan	Price	What you get
Free	$0	250 reaction roles, 5 YouTube and 2 Twitch alerts, 100 weblog entries, automod, logging, custom commands
Premium, 1 server	$7.99 per month	1,000 reaction roles, 20 YouTube and 5 Twitch alerts, 500 weblog entries, levels, sticky messages, auto purge, voice role links, timed reaction roles, custom avatar and banner
Premium, 2 servers	$12.99 per month	Same, 2 slots
Premium, 3 servers	$16.99 per month	Same, 3 slots
Premium, 5 servers	$24.99 per month	Same, 5 slots

Prices are from Carl-bot's Patreon post announcing the June 2025 price change for new subscribers. Existing subscribers keep their old price until they cancel. Premium bought through Discord covers one server; carl.gg does not list that price.

Multi server pricing is the deal. At 8 servers the cost per server is $4.50 a month, about 44% less than the single server tier.

Sales are frequent. Carl-bot's Patreon posts list a Halloween sale (50% off the first month for new members, 35% off annual), a Black Friday sale and an end of year sale.

Against rivals: Dyno Standard with leveling is $5.99 a month or $49.99 a year, MEE6 is $11.99 list, Arcane $7. See the Price Index.

Key features

Reaction roles

The headline. Up to 250 pairs per server on free (1,000 on Premium) with unique, verify, reversed, binding and temporary modes. Premium adds timed reaction roles that auto expire, useful for event access.

Logging

Deleted and edited messages, joins, leaves, role changes, bans and invites, split across channels. Premium adds ban logs for bans made by other mods or bots.

Automod

Blocks bad links, spam, mass mentions, attachment spam and slurs with per rule punishments, custom rate limits and channel whitelists. Premium adds Drama Watcher, which sends automod incidents to a channel where mods act with reactions.

Custom commands with TagScript

Build your own commands and features with TagScript; Premium allows multiple command blocks in one tag.

Suggestions, greetings and starboard

Members suggest and vote on ideas, with anonymous mode and a decision log. Welcome embeds with variables, a separate DM and farewells (a separate farewell channel is Premium). Premium adds starboard customization.

Notifications

Twitch and YouTube alerts (2 and 5 free, 5 and 20 Premium), plus free game and sale alerts.

Levels (Premium)

Role rewards, level up announcements and a public leaderboard.

What users say

Carl-bot rates 3.14 on top.gg from 595 reviews, the weakest score of the big general bots we compared (Dyno 4.38, Arcane 4.67, Sapphire 4.83). Its Patreon has 34.9k members. Fans praise reaction roles and logging depth; the low score points to frustration with setup and support. Carl-bot's own Patreon notes that chats there are not actively monitored, so support runs through its Discord server.

Privacy and security

Carl-bot's invite link requests a broad permission set for moderation and roles, but not Administrator. Its site links terms, a privacy policy, a GDPR notice, a cookie policy and an EULA under BotLabs. As with any mod bot, keep its role below staff roles.

Setup

Invite Carl-bot from carl.gg, log in to the dashboard with Discord and choose your server. The docs walk through a getting started page, then one page per module: config, automod, embeds, feeds, greetings, levels, logging, moderation, notifications, roles, starboard, suggestions, tags and triggers.

A typical setup order:

1. Logging: create separate channels for message logs, member logs and mod logs, then route each event type. Splitting keeps the important logs readable.
2. Reaction roles: build role menus on the dashboard. Use unique mode for pick one menus (like a color), verify mode for a rules gate, and temporary mode for event access.
3. Automod: turn on link, spam, mention and slur filters with per rule punishments, and whitelist channels where links are fine.
4. Permissions: set per command rules so only staff see mod commands, and redirect bot output to a commands channel.
5. Greetings and suggestions: welcome embed with variables, and a suggestions channel with voting.

Commands work as slash commands or by mentioning the bot, per its docs. TagScript custom commands take longer to learn, but the docs are open source and the support server is active.

Cost over a year

Servers	Patreon tier	Monthly	Per server	Yearly
1	1 Server	$7.99	$7.99	$95.88
2	2 Servers	$12.99	$6.50	$155.88
3	3 Servers	$16.99	$5.66	$203.88
5	5 Servers	$24.99	$5.00	$299.88

Carl-bot's sale posts have offered 35% off annual upgrades, so check its Patreon before you pay full price.

Who it is for

• Servers built around self assigned roles: games, regions, pronouns, pings.
• Mod teams that want detailed, split logs.
• Power users who want to script custom commands.
• Networks of several servers, where Patreon slots get cheap.

Who should skip it

• Servers that want free leveling: use Arcane, which gives 15 role rewards free.
• Beginners who want the simplest dashboard: Dyno or MEE6.
• Anyone who weighs public ratings heavily.

Alternatives

• Dyno review: free automod and tickets, cheaper annual premium.
• MEE6 review: easiest setup and ten alert sources.
• Sapphire: free reaction roles, buttons and 80+ log types.
• More in Carl-bot alternatives, Dyno vs Carl-bot and MEE6 vs Carl-bot.

Verdict

If reaction roles and logs are what your server runs on, Carl-bot's free tier is the best in Discord. Pay $7.99 only if you need leveling or more than 250 role pairs, and buy a multi server tier if you run several communities. For an all round first bot, Dyno is simpler and better rated.