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CompareVerified 2026-11-07

MemberPad vs Discord

Discord is unmatched at voice, video and text chat, and it costs nothing to run. MemberPad exists for the part Discord was never built for: selling access, teaching courses, hosting a podcast, and owning the member relationship rather than renting a server.

The short version

Choose Discord if

  • Voice is the point. Discord voice channels people drop in and out of without calling anyone are the best version of that idea anywhere, and MemberPad audio rooms are a scheduled event by comparison.3
  • Your members are already there. A community on Discord asks nobody to install anything or make an account, and that alone converts better than any feature list.3
  • You want it on every screen including a console. Discord runs on Windows, Mac, phones, browsers and consoles, and MemberPad stops at desktop and mobile.3
  • You are not charging anything. Discord is free to run at any size, and always will be, where MemberPad only makes sense once money is involved.3

It is a tie on

  • Both are free to start and free to run for a community that is not charging anyone, with no setup fee and no minimum on either side.3
  • Both offer real time text chat, voice, video and desktop applications on Windows and Mac alongside phone apps.3
  • Both support paid tiers with free trials, and both take their cut only when a member actually pays rather than charging a monthly platform fee.2

Choose MemberPad if

  • You are not in the United States. Discord states plainly that Server Subscriptions will not be available outside the US, and you need a US bank account and US identification to turn them on at all.1
  • You teach, or you have a podcast. Discord has no course product and no podcast hosting, and MemberPad has both with quizzes, certificates and a private feed per member.2
  • Your pricing needs more than three tiers, or content that does not fit Discord’s monetization policy, which excludes political activity, charity, dating and third party marketing among other things.2
  • You want to be paid more than once a month. Discord processes payouts once a month on or before the fifteenth, where MemberPad pays on your own Stripe schedule.1

At a glance

One row per category. The full table, with every row and every source, is further down.

The eight categories at a glance. Every row here also appears in the full table below.
CapabilityDiscordMemberPad
Real time chatThe difference between a forum people check weekly and a room they sit in.YesThe best real time chat in this entire comparison3YesLive rooms with typing and presence, free on every community5
Build courses inside the platformA course hosted somewhere else is a second login and a second bill.NoNo course product exists anywhere on Discord2YesCourses, modules and lessons, with video uploaded here or linked from YouTube5
Private member only podcast feedA private feed puts your paid show in the app people already listen in.NoNo RSS feed for a show of any kind2YesAn RSS feed unique to each member, authenticated per person5
Broadcast to an audienceOne to many video, where the audience watches rather than joins.DifferentScreen sharing and streaming into a channel, not to an audience3YesAny audience size, but the community needs one paid tier5
What the platform takesThe number that decides how much of every membership actually reaches you.DifferentA 90 to 10 split, with various other fees on top1Different9% of what a member pays, and nothing at all before that4
Desktop appA window that stays open is very different from a tab that gets closed.YesWindows and Mac applications, plus console support3YesWindows and macOS installers that update themselves6
On demand video libraryA back catalog people can browse is worth more than the same videos buried in a feed.NoVideo lives as attachments in channels, never a library3YesUploads or YouTube links, browsable, with progress, bookmarks and comments5
Start without paying anythingWhat you owe in the months before the community is earning anything at all.YesFree to run a server of any size, permanently3YesNothing. There is no MemberPad subscription to buy4

What each one costs

Running a Discord server costs nothing and always has, which makes this the only comparison here where the free option is genuinely free forever. If you are not charging members anything, Discord wins on price and there is nothing else to weigh.3

Once money is involved, Discord describes a 90 to 10 split and notes that various fees affect the final payment without stating them. MemberPad takes 9% with Stripe charged separately, so the headline numbers are close and Discord’s is the less fully published one.1

The restriction that matters more than any percentage is who can charge at all. Discord states that Server Subscriptions will not be available outside the United States, and requires a US bank account and US identification to enable them.1

Discord

$0/moplus 10% of each sale

  • Free to run a server
  • United States creators only
  • Payouts once a month

MemberPad

$0/moplus 9% of each sale

  • No plans and no tiers
  • Available wherever Stripe is
  • No feature behind a higher plan

What each one takes on top

Where a percentage is shown above, Discord charges it on top of card processing, which Stripe bills separately, so what a sale really costs is the two added together. MemberPad takes 9% of what a member actually pays you, and card processing sits on top of ours as well, billed by Stripe on your own account. There is one plan, nothing is held back behind a higher one, and a month where nobody pays you costs nothing.

There is no crossover to find, and this time it runs our way. On fees alone Discord costs the same or more than MemberPad at every level of revenue, so whatever the reason to choose them is, it is not the cut they take.

Community

Nothing else here is as good at people being in a room together

Discord voice channels are the feature the rest of this industry keeps trying to copy. People drop in without calling anyone, the conversation carries on before and after whatever they came for, and you can see who is around without asking.3

The permission and role system underneath it is also the deepest here, custom emoji and stickers and soundboards give a server its own texture, and none of it costs anything at any size.3

MemberPad chat is good and it is not that. Rooms grouped into sections with presence and typing, free on every community, alongside a feed, profiles, follows and notes. If real time conversation is the only thing you need, Discord is better and free.

Courses

Discord has no course product, and it never claimed one

There is nothing to compare here. Discord has no courses, no lessons, no progress, no quizzes and no certificates, and people teaching on Discord are posting into channels and using roles to open later ones.2

That approach works until it does not. Attachments have size limits, a channel scrolls, and nobody can tell you who finished, so the moment your teaching needs structure you are assembling it out of bots and goodwill.2

MemberPad has modules and lessons with hosted video, quizzes that hold the next lesson shut until passed, assignments a creator reviews and sends back, and certificates generated on completion.

Podcasting

Audio everywhere, and no way to publish a show

There is an irony in this row. Discord is the most audio native product in this comparison and has no podcast hosting at all, because its audio is people talking live rather than a recording anybody distributes.3

A paid show on Discord means posting files into a subscriber only channel, which members play in the app rather than in whatever they normally listen in. No RSS feed exists, so Apple Podcasts never sees it.2

MemberPad hosts the audio and gives every member their own authenticated feed, so the show turns up on a commute rather than requiring somebody to open a chat app and scroll.

Live

Live is free and constant, and nothing is ever saved

Voice and video on Discord are unmetered, unscheduled and free, which is a completely different proposition from every other platform here. Screen sharing is high quality and low latency, and people use it casually in a way they never use a scheduled broadcast.3

Two things it does not do. Nothing is recorded, so a session exists only for the people who were there, and there is no broadcast format where an audience watches rather than joins.3

MemberPad is the opposite trade. Broadcasts, video rooms and audio rooms with replays saved automatically to the library, in exchange for a metered minute pool and a requirement that your community has at least one paid tier before any of it starts.

Money

The restriction that matters is not the percentage

Discord takes 10% and MemberPad takes 9%, and on a headline basis those are nearly the same. Discord also notes that other fees affect the final payment without publishing them, so its real number is slightly less clear than ours.1

The rule that actually decides this is geographic. Discord states that Server Subscriptions will not be available outside the United States, and enabling them needs a US bank account and US identification. If you are not American, this comparison is already over.1

Then read the monetization policy before building anything. Political activity, charity, online dating, sexually explicit content and marketing third parties are all excluded, and several legitimate businesses fall inside those lines without expecting to.2

Access

Discord reaches more screens than anything else here

Windows, Mac, browser, iPhone, Android and consoles, with a member switching between them without thinking about it. MemberPad covers everything on that list except consoles, which for most communities is not a gap.3

The larger advantage is that the app is already installed. A member joining a Discord server does not download anything or create an account, and no feature on our side compensates for that at the moment somebody decides whether to bother.3

Console support sounds like a detail and is not, for the audiences it fits. A community where people are already in a voice channel while they play has a kind of presence no scheduled session reproduces, and nothing else in this comparison reaches that screen at all.

Content

Everything scrolls, which is fine until it matters

Discord is a river. Messages, files, images and links all flow past and a channel is searchable rather than organized, which is exactly right for conversation and wrong for anything somebody needs to find again in March.3

MemberPad gives things a place to stay: a video library with progress and bookmarks, a file library with folders, photo albums, notebooks, events with timezones and a shop. Discord does have scheduled events and polls, which are genuinely good.

Pinned messages are the usual answer and they are a patch rather than a fix. A pin holds one thing in one channel with no structure around it, and a server that has been running a year has far more worth keeping than a pin list can hold.

Value

Free is hard to argue with, right up until you charge

For a free community, Discord is the answer and this page should not pretend otherwise. It costs nothing, it scales to enormous numbers, the chat is the best there is and your members are already on it.3

The case for moving starts the moment you want to sell something, and it is mostly about constraints rather than features. United States only, three tiers, a content policy, one payout a month, and a member list you cannot email because you never had their addresses.1

A lot of creators end up running both, keeping the free Discord as the front door and putting the paid part where it can be sold properly. That is a perfectly sensible answer and it is often better than picking one.

Everything we checked

Every row carries a note rather than a tick, and every claim about Discord links to the page it came from.

Discord and MemberPad compared. Every claim about Discord is sourced, and was last checked on 2026-11-07.
CapabilityDiscordMemberPad
Community Whether people actually talk to each other, and what happens when the room gets busy.
Separate spaces for separate topicsOne undifferentiated feed is where a growing community starts to feel noisy.YesText and voice channels, organized into categories3YesChat rooms grouped into sections, beside one community feed5
Real time chatThe difference between a forum people check weekly and a room they sit in.YesThe best real time chat in this entire comparison3YesLive rooms with typing and presence, free on every community5
Direct messages between membersMembers who can reach each other privately stay for each other, not only for you.YesDirect and group messages, free for everyone3PartialOne to one or groups of up to 10, but starting one needs a paid tier5
Member profilesA face and a history is what turns an account into a person other members recognize.YesAvatars, custom status and a profile you write yourself3YesPublic profiles with follows, blocks and private member notes5
Moderation toolsWhoever helps you run the place needs powers that stop short of your own.YesDeep role and permission system, with bans and timeouts2YesPick each moderator's powers: moderate messages, time out, ban5
Points, levels or a leaderboardVisible progress is one of the few things that reliably brings people back daily.DifferentRoles and premium emoji rather than points or levels2YesPoints, levels, streaks, badges, celebrations, and a leaderboard the creator switches on5
Courses Whether you can teach something and check that it landed, not just publish videos.
Build courses inside the platformA course hosted somewhere else is a second login and a second bill.NoNo course product exists anywhere on Discord2YesCourses, modules and lessons, with video uploaded here or linked from YouTube5
Course video hosted for youEmbedding from YouTube means your paid lessons live on someone else’s player.NoUploads are attachments with a size limit, not lessons2YesHosted and streamed by us, uploads capped at 1080p5
Quizzes and graded assessmentsChecking that someone learned it is the difference between a course and a playlist.NoNothing native. Bots are the only route to this2YesGraded quizzes that hold the next lesson shut until passed5
Assignments you reviewWork handed in and marked up is what cohort programs are built on.NoNo submission or review flow of any kind2YesAssignments a creator reviews, approves or sends back5
Certificates on completionA certificate is the thing a member posts, which is free marketing for you.NoNothing completes, so nothing gets issued2YesGenerated on completion, in the community accent color5
Release lessons on a scheduleDrip keeps a cohort together and stops a member finishing in a weekend and leaving.DifferentRoles can open channels over time, which is not lesson release2YesOn a fixed date, or a number of days after each member starts5
Courses that unlock by taking partEarning your way into the next course is a reason to show up that a paywall never gives anybody.DifferentA role can open a channel, but there is no course to open2YesA course can open at a level, showing the climb rather than a paywall5
Podcasting Whether a paid show reaches members in the app they already listen in.
Host podcast audioPodcast hosting is otherwise a separate product and a separate monthly bill.NoNo audio hosting product, only file attachments2YesAudio hosted here, organized into shows and episodes5
Private member only podcast feedA private feed puts your paid show in the app people already listen in.NoNo RSS feed for a show of any kind2YesAn RSS feed unique to each member, authenticated per person5
Plays in normal podcast appsAudio that only plays on the website is not really a podcast.NoNothing reaches Apple Podcasts or any other player2PartialOne tap subscribe covers Apple Podcasts and Overcast only5
Lock a show to a paid tierAudio is one of the easiest things to charge for, if the platform lets you.DifferentGate a channel by subscription tier and post files there2YesA whole show can be held to a paid tier5
Live experiences What you can run live, and whether the platform runs it or points at something else.
Broadcast to an audienceOne to many video, where the audience watches rather than joins.DifferentScreen sharing and streaming into a channel, not to an audience3YesAny audience size, but the community needs one paid tier5
Two way video roomsOffice hours, coaching calls and cohort sessions all need faces on both sides.YesVideo chat in any voice channel, free and instant3YesTwo way rooms, and again a paid tier is required5
Audio only roomsFar lower effort to show up to than video, so far more people do.YesVoice channels you drop into without calling anyone3YesAudio only rooms with a stage, paid tier required5
Replays saved automaticallyMost of a live session’s value is watched by people who missed it.NoNothing is recorded or saved by Discord itself3YesSaved automatically and publishable to the video library5
How live time is meteredEvery platform meters live somehow, and the shape of the limit decides what you can run.YesNo metering at all, since live is simply part of chat3DifferentA monthly minute pool that grows with your own revenue4
Monetization How money gets from a member to you, and how much of it survives the trip.
Recurring paid membershipsRecurring revenue is the reason most creators move onto a platform at all.PartialServer Subscriptions, United States only, up to three tiers1YesMonthly and yearly tiers, charged on your own Stripe account4
One time purchasesNot everything should be a subscription, and not every buyer wants one.PartialServer Products are in beta for a select group of servers2YesAny piece of content can be sold once instead of gated5
Digital products and downloadsA template pack or a preset is often the first thing a member ever buys.PartialServer Shop downloads, still in limited beta testing2YesDownloads or external links, sold from a shop tab5
Sell physical merch you shipA shirt, a record or a print is something a fan will buy long before a membership.NoServer Products are digital only, with no support for physical goods2YesVariants, stock and shipping rates. You ship within the US, and buyers need no account5
Coupons and promo codesA launch or a seasonal offer needs a code you can hand out and expire.NoNo discount or promotion codes are offered2YesPercent or amount, once, repeating or forever, scoped per tier5
Free trials on a paid tierA trial is the cheapest way to show someone what is behind the wall.YesFree trials with a duration you set, and giftable months2YesUp to 365 days, with the card taken up front5
Affiliate program for membersMembers who earn for referring are the cheapest growth channel there is.NoNo referral or affiliate commission program exists2YesMembers earn a commission on referrals at a rate you set5
What the platform takesThe number that decides how much of every membership actually reaches you.DifferentA 90 to 10 split, with various other fees on top1Different9% of what a member pays, and nothing at all before that4
Access Every screen a member might open it on, and whether it feels native there.
Web appWhere most members will actually read, and the only surface search engines see.YesDiscord opens in a browser with no install needed3YesA full web app, server rendered for speed and search6
iPhone appPush notifications and a home screen icon are what make a community a habit.YesA mature iPhone app most members already have3YesPublished on the App Store as a native app6
Android appHalf the phones in most audiences, and often the majority outside the US.YesThe same mature app on Android phones3YesPublished on Google Play as a native app6
Desktop appA window that stays open is very different from a tab that gets closed.YesWindows and Mac applications, plus console support3YesWindows and macOS installers that update themselves6
Your own domainThe address decides whether the community reads as yours or as rented.NoServers live on discord.com with an invite link3YesYour own domain on any community, with no upgrade5
Content What else can live alongside the conversation without a second product.
Posts with mediaThe everyday surface. Whatever is awkward to post here will simply not get posted.DifferentMessages with attachments rather than composed posts3YesCreators and admins post text, sixteen images, video and polls, and members comment and react5
On demand video libraryA back catalog people can browse is worth more than the same videos buried in a feed.NoVideo lives as attachments in channels, never a library3YesUploads or YouTube links, browsable, with progress, bookmarks and comments5
Events and a calendarAnything recurring needs a place members can see it coming.YesScheduled server events members can mark interest in3YesRepeating events with timezones, RSVPs, a waitlist, and reminders to everyone going5
File libraryTemplates, worksheets and swipe files are what members quietly value most.DifferentFiles post into channels and scroll away with them2YesA file library, 50 MB a file, folders one level deep5
PollsThe lowest effort thing a quiet member will ever do, and often their first.YesPolls can be posted directly into a channel3YesIn posts and in chat rooms, results hidden until you vote5
A public page that sells the communityThe page a stranger lands on decides whether they ever become a member.PartialPromo pages for subscriptions, not a page you design2YesA public page by default, a block builder, and a link in bio page5
Value What the whole arrangement costs you, including the parts that are not the fee.
Start without paying anythingWhat you owe in the months before the community is earning anything at all.YesFree to run a server of any size, permanently3YesNothing. There is no MemberPad subscription to buy4
Members without a capA member cap turns your own growth into a bill you did not plan for.YesServers scale to very large member counts for free3YesMembers, communities, posts, courses and tiers are all uncapped4
Email your membersEmail is the only channel you keep if the platform ever goes away.NoNo email tool, and no member email addresses to use2Partial5,000 sends a month to start, growing with your revenue4
API and webhooksThe difference between a platform you can build around and one you cannot.YesA deep public API and the largest bot ecosystem anywhere3YesA documented public API and outbound webhooks5
Remove the platform brandingWhether the product reads as entirely yours, or visibly built on someone else.NoThe server is Discord, visibly and completely3NoA Powered by MemberPad link always sits on the public page5

Moving from Discord to MemberPad

  1. Decide whether you are moving or adding

    Most people who ask this question should keep Discord for the free conversation and put the paid tier elsewhere. Moving a whole server is a much bigger decision than adding a place to sell.

  2. Collect email addresses before anything else

    This is the hard part. Discord gives you usernames, not email addresses, so you have no way to contact members off the platform unless you ask them directly while you still have their attention.

  3. Map channels onto rooms and sections

    Text channels become MemberPad chat rooms grouped into sections. Expect to end up with fewer, because a Discord server accumulates channels in a way a smaller community does not need.

  4. Rebuild roles as tiers and titles

    Discord roles do two jobs at once: access control and status. On MemberPad those split into billing plans for access and custom roles for display titles, so work out which of your roles is which.

  5. Move the things that were scrolling away

    Pinned files, resources and recordings buried in channels are usually the strongest argument for the move. Put them in the file library and the video library where members can actually find them.

What does not come across

You cannot take your members with you in any form. Discord gives you usernames rather than email addresses, so there is no list to export and no way to reach anyone who does not follow you across voluntarily.3

Voice will be worse. MemberPad audio rooms need at least one paid tier before they will start, they are metered, and nothing replaces a voice channel people wander into without it being an event.

Members will resist installing something new, and reasonably so. They already have Discord, it is already open, and asking for a new app is the single biggest cost of this particular move.3

Questions people actually ask

Can I charge for a Discord server?

Only if you are in the United States. Discord states that Server Subscriptions will not be available outside the US, and enabling them requires a US bank account and US identification through Stripe, plus a verified email, two factor authentication and an account in good standing.

How much does Discord take from server subscriptions?

Discord describes a 90 to 10 split, keeping 10%, and notes that various other fees affect your final payment without publishing what they are. MemberPad takes 9% with Stripe processing charged separately, so the headline figures are close and ours is the more fully stated one.

Can I run courses on Discord?

Not natively. Discord has no course product, no lessons, no progress tracking, no quizzes and no certificates, so teaching there means posting into channels and using roles to open later ones. MemberPad has all of those, including assignments a creator reviews and sends back.

Is MemberPad a good Discord alternative?

It depends what is pushing you. If you need to sell outside the United States, teach a structured course, or host a podcast with a private feed, MemberPad covers all three. If you mainly want voice channels people drop into casually, Discord is better and free.

Can I keep Discord and use MemberPad too?

Yes, and it is what many creators end up doing. Keep the free Discord as the open front door where conversation happens, and put the paid membership, the courses and the podcast on MemberPad. Neither platform requires exclusivity and the two jobs are genuinely different.

How often does Discord pay out?

Once a month, processed on or before the fifteenth, with a failed payout retried in the following month’s run. MemberPad runs checkout as a direct charge on your own Stripe account, so payouts follow whatever schedule you have configured there, commonly daily or weekly.

What is the best Discord alternative for selling memberships?

Almost anything here, because Discord's monetization is the narrow part rather than its community. MemberPad, Circle and Skool all sell memberships outside the United States, which Discord does not, and all three put courses or content behind the paywall in ways a gated channel cannot really match.

Can I use Discord outside the United States?

You can run a server anywhere. You cannot charge for one: Discord's own creator support states that Server Subscriptions will not be available outside the United States, and enabling them requires a US bank account and US identification through Stripe. For most creators outside the US this ends the comparison on its own.

Does Discord have courses or a way to sell one?

Not natively. There is no course product, no lesson structure, no progress tracking and no certificate, so teaching there means posting into channels and using roles to open later ones as people progress. Selling the course means a separate checkout somewhere else, then granting a role by hand or with a bot.

How this was checked

Every figure about another platform on these pages came from that platform’s own published pricing, feature or documentation pages, and each one is listed with the date it was read. Where a company does not publish an answer, the page says that rather than guessing at one.

Nothing here is based on testing a competitor’s product hands on, and no page claims otherwise. Claims about MemberPad are checked against the code that ships rather than against our own marketing, which is why several of them are unflattering.

Fee comparisons put both sides on the same footing. Some platforms quote a percentage that already covers card processing and some quote one that sits on top of it, and treating those two numbers as the same thing is the most common way a comparison like this misleads.

Last verified

Who published it

This comparison was written and published by MemberPad, so read it knowing we make one of the two products in it. We have tried to earn your trust the only way that works, which is by being specific about what the other platform does better and where ours falls short.

Competitor pricing and features change. If you find something here that is out of date or wrong, the sources and the date we checked them are listed on every page so you can see exactly what we were looking at, and we would rather hear about it than have it sit here.

Drew AumanFounder, MemberPad

Sources

  1. 1Creator Revenue FAQDiscord · creator-support.discord.com · checked 2026-11-07
  2. 2Server Shop for server owners and adminsDiscord · creator-support.discord.com · checked 2026-09-17
  3. 3Discord, group chat that is all fun and gamesDiscord · discord.com · checked 2026-09-17
  4. 4PricingMemberPad · memberpad.com · checked 2026-11-07
  5. 5FeaturesMemberPad · memberpad.com · checked 2026-11-07
  6. 6AppsMemberPad · memberpad.com · checked 2026-11-07

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Try it before you decide.

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