How Does Discord Make Money?
by Menka Dimitrovska, Money Columnist
Published in Money on 27th April, 2018
What is Discord?
Discord is a freeware VoIP application that's available on Android, Windows, iOS, macOS, Linux, and all web browsers. The application is designed primarily for the gaming communities.
It was initially released 3 years ago, and has been actively growing ever since.
Discord is available in 27 languages and is free to use, meaning that you are free to make as many servers, with as many slots as you need and never have to pay for voice chat ever again.
Discord's Reception and Popularity
By 2016, Discord already had 3 million users, and a growth of 1 million new users per month, reaching almost 90 million users by the end of 2017.
It is a really popular chat platform among gamers, although a small percentage of its users, use it for non-game related activities, like fantasy football, stock trading and more.
How to Use Discord
You can use Discord by downloading the app on your computer or mobile, or on your web browser. If you want to use it on your mobile phone, you'll have to download the app, since the browser version isn't available for mobile devices.
Next thing you'll need to do is create an account so that you can use the application, and not just the browser version.
Once you create your account you can begin to familiarize yourself with the app, and see just how everything works, and how everything's organized.
You can make changes and optimize your account, add friends to your Discord chat, edit notifications, connect the rest of your accounts, like Skype, Twitch and Stream if you want, and a lot more.
The next thing you'll probably want to do is connect with your friends, by inviting them, or joining a Discord server.
Once you've done all of those steps you'll be free to chat with your friends or other users, and enjoy your games or any other activity you're doing. All you need to have is a pair of headphones and a microphone, and you're good to go.
Pros of Using Discord
Other that the fact that it's a free to use service, Discord has a few more pros that keep its users interested, among those are:
Play with a peace of mind
Your communications are encrypted and your IP address is safe.
Stay connected with your friends
The mobile app allows you to chat even when you're AFK, and you can easily summon your friends by sending them push notifications, using @mention.
Easily share everything
You can share videos, GIFs, photos, and all kinds of links from your phone or desktop directly into your chat. The GIFs only play when you hover over them with your mouse, so that your CPU gets spared.
Don't let your game be affected and slowed down
You can use Discord while minimally affecting your CPU, and your game, so that your performance can't be imacted.
Easily set it up
Discord is the easiest thing to set up, and doesn't require any specific setting configuration or drivers.
Receive great voice quality
Simply put, you're going to love how clear Discord's voice quality is.
How Do They Make Money?
If using the application is completely free, and there are no ads displayed anywhere on it, then you're probably wondering how they make money.
Cosmetics
Similarly to League of Legends, a game we all know and love, Discord is free to use, although there are items and features that you can buy, such as Discord custom emotes, skins, and sticker packs. These are all items that make them money without offering a huge advantage to those people who buy them over the other users.
Merchandise
You can also find a lot of Discord merch, including hats, hoodies, sweatshirts and t-shirts that helps them make some extra money from their devoted fans.
Discord Nitro
The thing that helps Discord make money the most is their marketing strategy and the way they actually promote their product. They don't charge a dime for their app's free functions and in return they ask for support from their users, by buying merch, cosmetic items, and of course Discord's paid option, called Discord Nitro.
Discord Nitro is a paid subscription that helps support the app, and in return offers you a small set of perks, like having an animated avatar, a nitro profile badge, and a few other sweet features.
You can get your own subscription for $4.99/month, or $49.99/year, and you will not only get some features that regular users won't have, but you'll also contribute to the development of an app you enjoy using.
Discord's future will include many more features, and cosmetics, like more stickers, themes and so on, which will all be for purchase, although they're never planning on charging for its primary purpose, which is the voice chat.
Discord vs Skype
As Discord's site says: "it's time to ditch CPU hogs like Skype" and believe it or not, that's the main reason why more and more people, especially gamers prefer to use this voice call app instead of Skype and TeamSpeak, other than the fact that it's free to use.
Not only are these two apps not free, but they also come with risks of DDOS attacks, are heavy and are not specifically dedicated to gamers.
The thing that makes Discord so popular is the fact that you can use it on a browser, it's safer to use, isn't heavy and has all the features a gamer needs.
Does PointsPrizes Have a Discord Server?
Yes, we have a rather large Discord community with over 14,000 registered members. We talk about earning prizes, regular free gift codes and free game key giveaways plus tons of other cool stuff.
We highly recommend you click the 'Connect' button below, to sign up with the Discord web client. This way you can try out the software immediately, without having to download anything to your computer!
How Does Discord Make Money?
- By Selling Cosmetic Items. Such items include: sticker packs, discord emotes, and skins.
- By Selling Merchandise. A small part of their profit comes from selling branded tees, hats, hoodies and other merch.
- From Discord Nitro. Discord's paid monthly subscription offers users extra perks, like an animated avatar, sharing custom discord emotes in all servers, having a higher screen share and a boosted upload limit, and a few more bonus features.
