Discord and Community Deliverables: Pricing Announcements, Roles, and Channels

More and more stream deals come with a line like "plus a post in your Discord." It sounds like a small extra. Your server is where your most engaged viewers hang out, though, and the brand knows it. That's exactly why it's asking.

A Discord deliverable is a real deliverable. It goes on the quote as its own line, it goes in the contract with its own terms, and it has to follow Discord's rules, which are stricter than many brands expect.

What brands ask for in a server

Most Discord requests fall into a few types:

• An announcement. A post in your announcements channel about the sponsor, the stream or a code. The big question is whether it pings everyone.
• A pinned message. A link or code that stays at the top of a channel for an agreed time.
• A sponsor role. A colored role or badge with the brand's name, for the brand's community manager or as a cosmetic perk for members.
• A sponsored channel. A channel named for the brand, for example for product questions, code drops or a sponsored game.
• A bot command. Members type a command and the bot replies with the sponsor's link or code.
• An event or giveaway run in the server.

Each of these uses something different: your members' attention, space in your server, or your moderators' time. That's why each one gets its own price.

Start with what Discord doesn't allow

Some common sponsor requests run straight into Discord's policies. Check these before you quote, so you don't sell something you can't deliver.

No mass DMs. Discord's Community Guidelines say: "Do not send unsolicited bulk messages (or spam) to others."¹ If a brand asks you to DM every member with its code, the answer is no. Put the code in a channel and let members come to it.

No buying growth. Brands sometimes want the server to grow as part of the deal: "join the server to enter," or extra entries for every friend you invite. Discord's platform manipulation policy treats engagement as inauthentic "if it is purchased, induced (like promises of financial reward), fraudulent (for example, it involves fake accounts), or falsified". It specifically rules out "artificially inflating server membership (for example, via “join-for-join,” “invite rewards,” purchasing fake members)" and "Purchasing or inducing server joins". Its advice is simple: "Grow your server organically and don’t artificially inflate its member count".² Don't sell member growth as a deliverable, and don't run a sponsored giveaway where invites earn entries.

Server permissions aren't for sale. The same policy says you "may not attempt to buy or sell Discord assets, such as accounts, usernames, servers, server permissions, or custom server invite links (also called “vanity URLs”)."² A sponsor role should be a label. If the brand's community manager needs to post, give them only what the job needs, and treat it as access you grant, not something they paid for.

The brand's bot has rules too. Discord's Developer Policy, which covers bots and other apps, says: "Do not contact users on Discord without their explicit permission." It also says: "Do not target users with advertisements or marketing."³ If a brand wants to add its own bot to your server, ask what it will do. A bot that replies when a member types a command is very different from one that messages members on its own.

Paid tiers have limits. If you use Server Subscriptions or the Server Shop, Discord's Monetization Policy says you may not monetize content whose "Primary purpose of marketing, advertising, or promotional benefit of the app or of a third party". Its list also includes "Alcohol branding" and "Gambling advice".⁴ So don't make a paid tier whose main point is a brand's promotion, and check the sponsor's category against the list before you put anything related to it behind a paywall.

Price each one as an add-on

The deliverable pricing post covers the main rule: price every deliverable on its own line, and add them up. Discord work fits that model with one difference. Most stream deliverables are priced off your CPVH rate because they run for a number of hours on stream. Discord deliverables don't. A pinned message might stay up for a month, and a sponsored channel might stay up for a whole season.

So instead of hours on stream, price them by what each one uses up:

• Pings. An announcement that pings everyone uses up your members' attention. Ping too often and they'll mute the server, and then nobody's announcements get through, including yours. Price a ping higher than a silent post, and cap how many a deal includes.
• Time. A pinned message, a role or a channel is priced for a fixed term. Put an end date in the contract, and say it comes down when the term ends.
• Upkeep. A sponsored channel needs moderating. Questions about the product will land on your moderators, so either price their time in or agree with the brand on who answers.
• Exclusivity. If the brand wants to be the only sponsor in your server for a period, that's an exclusivity term and is priced separately.

Don't price by member count. Your server's size is a fact the brand can see, but a big server that nobody reads isn't worth more than a smaller active one. And since Discord bans buying or inducing joins, member count is a number you shouldn't be selling growth on anyway.

Put it on the quote like any other line:

Stream: 2 mid-stream reads ($X) · Discord: 1 announcement with @everyone ping ($Y) · Discord: pinned code in #deals for 30 days ($Z) · Total: $X+Y+Z.

If you're willing to bundle, show the discount at the end, not by leaving the Discord lines off. A free Discord post today makes it harder to charge for one next time. The rate card template has room for these add-ons.

Disclose in the server, not just on stream

A Discord post about a sponsor is an endorsement, so it needs its own disclosure. The FTC's guidance covers the "free extra" case directly. Asked about a creator who adds an unpaid post on another platform for a brand that pays them elsewhere, it says: "Even if you weren’t specifically paid to make the Snapchat endorsement, you still have a paid relationship with the company that could affect the weight or credibility given to that endorsement."⁵ The same goes for a bonus Discord post.

It also says "if a disclosure is needed in one post for a brand, it’s probably needed in all posts, because you can’t assume that viewers will see multiple posts."⁵ A member reading your announcement may never have seen the stream where you disclosed the deal.

In practice:

• Announcements and pinned messages: start with "Sponsored" or "#ad," not at the end after the link.
• Sponsored channels: say it's sponsored in the channel topic and in the first pinned message.
• Bot replies: include the disclosure in the reply text itself.

Be careful with formats that can't carry a disclosure. The FTC says "Advertisers shouldn’t encourage endorsements using features that don’t allow for clear and conspicuous disclosures."⁵ A role color or a custom emoji on its own doesn't tell anyone it's paid. Pair it with a disclosed announcement explaining what it is.

If the brand writes the announcement, that's fine, as long as it's true. The FTC says: "There is nothing inherently wrong with using pre-written posts as long as the influencers are being truthful."⁵ Read it before it goes up, and change anything that claims you use the product if you don't. The FTC disclosure post covers the stream side.

Put it in the contract

Server deliverables are easy to agree to in a DM and then argue about later. Put these in the agreement:

• Each deliverable, separately. Number of announcements, whether they ping, which channel, and the dates.
• The term. How long a pin, role or channel stays up, and that it comes down at the end.
• Who writes the copy and who approves it. Agree on an approval round for server posts too, with a cap.
• What the brand can't ask for. No DMs to members, no invite or join requirements, no bot that messages members on its own.
• Access. If a brand representative joins the server, what they can do, and that you can remove them.
• Exit. If the deal ends early, the sponsored content comes down, and the kill fee terms cover what's already been delivered.

The contract checklist covers the rest.

Proof of delivery

Brands will ask what they got for the Discord lines. Collect it as you go:

• a link to each message (right-click, Copy Message Link) and a screenshot showing the date
• the dates a pinned message, role or channel went up and came down
• clicks or redemptions, if the brand gives you its own tracked link or code

Don't send exports of member lists or member data. The brand didn't buy your members' information. The proof of delivery post covers the report format.

A reply you can send

When a brand asks for "a post in the Discord too":

Happy to include the server. Here's what I can offer there: [one announcement in #announcements with an @everyone ping / a pinned code in #deals for 30 days / a "Supported by [Brand]" channel for the campaign], each disclosed as sponsored. I price these as separate lines, so the quote shows the stream and the server separately. A couple of things I don't do, because they're against Discord's rules: DMs to members, and join-or-invite requirements for entries. Want me to send the itemized quote?

FAQ

Should I charge extra for a Discord post in a sponsorship?
Yes. A Discord announcement, pin, role or channel is a separate deliverable. Put it on its own line in the quote, priced by whether it pings, how long it stays up and how much moderating it needs, then add it to the stream fee.

Can a sponsor ask me to DM my Discord members?
You should say no. Discord's Community Guidelines say "Do not send unsolicited bulk messages (or spam) to others." Post the offer in a channel instead.

Can a sponsored giveaway require people to join my server or invite friends?
Not under Discord's rules. Its platform manipulation policy rules out "Purchasing or inducing server joins" and inflating membership through "invite rewards." Run entry another way and keep the server growing organically.

Do Discord sponsor posts need an FTC disclosure?
Yes. If you have a paid relationship with the brand, a post about it in your server is an endorsement, and the FTC says you can't assume people saw your other disclosures. Start the post with "Sponsored" or "#ad."

Should I price Discord deliverables by member count?
No. Price by what the brand gets: pings, how long the post or channel stays up, and the upkeep. Member count doesn't say how many people read the server, and Discord bans buying or inducing joins.