What Are Premium Apps?

Arwen
  • Updated

⚠️ Currently Premium Apps are available to developers based in the US, UK, and EU but check the Supported Locales section and in the Discord Developers server for future announcements.

Developers can monetize their apps, specifically bots and activities with Premium Apps! Using Premium Apps, developers can offer premium features to users in the form of App Subscriptions and One-Time Purchases. To monetize an app using Premium Apps, a series of terms and policies will need to be met and maintained. This article is a broad overview of what this process looks like.

Upgrading an app to premium consists of 3 main phases:

  • Onboarding - A series of requirements and automated checks in the Developer Portal
  • Integration - Developers add premium SKUs to which users can subscribe
  • Payout - After an app makes its first $100 and subsequent $25 increments on a monthly basis, it will be eligible for payout. The app will then undergo a review process to ensure compliance with Discord's policies before payouts can begin.

In order to complete these phases app owners, teams, and apps will all need to meet many requirements and complete a series of steps.

Step 1 - Onboarding Requirements

The onboarding flow consists of checks for the following requirements:

App Requirements

A Premium App must:

  • Be verified
  • Belong to a Developer Team
  • Have a link to your Terms of Service
  • Have a link to your Privacy Policy
  • Not contain any harmful or bad language in the name, description, commands, or role connection metadata.

Developer Team Owner Requirements

Developer team owner must:

Developer Team Member Requirements

All developer team members must:

  • Have a verified email and 2FA set up

For more information on the Onboarding process visit the Premium App Onboarding article.

Step 2 - SKUs and Monetization

After successful onboarding SKUs can be added to the app. The 4 types of SKUs are: User and Guild (Server) Subscriptions, as well as Durable and Consumable Items, also known as One-Time Purchases (OTPs). Multiple Subscriptions and One-Time Purchase SKUs can be published at a time, however there is a limit of 50 SKUs per app.


Types of SKUs

Subscriptions:

User Subscription

  • A recurring subscription that allows a user to purchase access to an app’s premium features across all servers they are in with that app.

Guild Subscription

  • A recurring subscription that allows a server owner to purchase access to your app’s premium features that can be offered to all members on that server.

One-Time Purchases (OTP):

Durable OTPs

  • A one-time purchase that is permanent and is not subject to either renewal or consumption, such as lifetime access to an app's premium features.

Consumable OTPs

  • A one-time, non-renewable purchase that provides access, such as a temporary power-up or boost in a game.

Once SKUs have been added within the Developer Portal, developers can access them through the API and code the subscription functionality into their app. These SKUs can then be published and featured on an App’s Store Page and other Discovery surfaces.

Monetization

Once an app has a SKU set up, integrated into the app’s code and published, there are 4 ways users will be able to subscribe or purchase premium features:

  • Bot profiles will offer the Store button, leading users to the App’s Store page
  • App Directory profiles offer a Store button leading users to the App’s Store page
  • Server admins can use the Integrations settings menu
    • Go to Server Settings → Integrations → [App Name] → scroll to the bottom of the page, and see the Store button

Step 3 - Payout

Once an app has made its first $100 it will become eligible for payout. A review will automatically be conducted and if everything looks good, your team will be able to receive payouts.

For more information please visit the Premium Apps Payouts article.

Once you have a verified app, owned by a team, that supports slash commands or has the message content privileged intent, you can check out the How Do I Monetize My App? article for next steps!

After reviewing this and other linked articles, if you have any questions about Premium Apps and App Subscriptions, please reach out to our Developer Support team!

 

Can I keep using my existing payment system?

Yes. You can continue using existing payment systems, such as Patreon or Stripe integrations on external websites. However, developers who offer paid capabilities or other offerings for their apps are required to support purchase of such items through Discord’s Premium App monetization features at a price no higher than those offered through other payment options. For more information about this Monetization Requirement please visit the Premium Apps' Required Support for Monetizing Apps article.

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