Discord makes most of its money from Nitro, a paid subscription that adds features such as larger uploads, HD streaming and custom emoji. The rest comes from Server Boosts, items in the Discord Shop, Quests advertising and a share of creator and developer sales.
Discord is private and does not publish financial results. Its revenue quadrupled between 2020 and 2024 to more than $600 million on an annualized basis, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg.
How Discord makes money: revenue streams at a glance
| Revenue stream | What it is | Who pays |
|---|---|---|
| Nitro | Premium subscription, $9.99 per month | Users |
| Nitro Basic | Lower-cost tier, $2.99 per month | Users |
| Server Boosts | Paid perks for one server | Users |
| Discord Shop | Avatar decorations, profile effects and other cosmetics | Users |
| Quests | Sponsored video and gameplay challenges | Brands and game publishers |
| Server Subscriptions | Paid memberships set up by community owners | Users, with a share to Discord |
| Apps and in-game items | Paid apps and digital goods sold inside Discord | Users, with a share to Discord |
Discord Nitro subscriptions
Nitro is Discord’s largest revenue source. Bloomberg reported that Discord charges $3 to $10 per month for Nitro, and co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Stanislav Vishnevskiy said the product was doing well.
Nitro costs $9.99 per month in the US. It includes larger file uploads, higher-quality screen sharing, animated avatars, custom emoji across servers and two Server Boosts.
Nitro Basic costs $2.99 per month and covers a smaller set of perks, such as custom emoji and larger uploads than the free plan.
The free tier still covers voice calls, video, text chat and server creation. Nitro sells add-ons on top of that core service.
Server Boosts
Server Boosts add perks to one community, such as better audio quality, more emoji slots and custom banners. Users can buy boosts one at a time or get two with a Nitro plan.
The Discord Shop and digital items
The Discord Shop sells cosmetic items, including avatar decorations and profile effects. Users can pay with money or with Orbs, a reward currency Discord added in 2025.
In December 2025, Discord announced a commerce feature that lets players buy and gift in-game digital items through Discord servers.
Quests: how Discord sells advertising
Quests are Discord’s ad format. Brands and game publishers pay to run Video Quests, where users watch a promoted video, and Play Quests, where users play or stream a game.
Users who finish a Quest earn rewards. Since Discord rolled out Orbs worldwide on July 15, 2025, those rewards often come as Orbs that users spend in the Shop.
Orbs also connect ads to subscriptions. A three-day Nitro credit costs 1,400 Orbs, so non-subscribers can try Nitro after completing sponsored Quests.
Discord said 70% of Orbs participants were not Nitro subscribers. It also added a measurement partnership with Kantar so advertisers can track Quest results.
Video Quests reached Discord’s mobile app in June 2025, which moved the ad format beyond desktop and web.
Creator and developer revenue
Server Subscriptions let community owners charge members for paid tiers with private channels or extra perks. Discord keeps a share of each payment.
Developers can sell premium app subscriptions and digital items inside Discord, again with Discord taking a share. Game studios can also add Discord features to their games through the Discord Social SDK.
Discord revenue, valuation and ownership
Bloomberg’s sources put Discord’s annualized revenue above $600 million in 2024. With more than 200 million monthly active users, that works out to about $3 per user per year.
Discord last raised primary capital in September 2021. A $500 million round led by Dragoneer valued it at about $15 billion, months after Discord ended acquisition talks with Microsoft, as the Wall Street Journal reported in April 2021.
The secondary market now prices Discord lower. Forge Global priced Discord shares at $31.31 on July 8, 2026, which implied a valuation of $8.53 billion.
Co-founder Jason Citron is the largest individual shareholder, with Dragoneer, Greenoaks, Benchmark and Tencent among the institutional holders. This breakdown of Discord’s shareholders covers each funding round.
Discord’s IPO plans
Discord filed a confidential draft for a US IPO in early January 2026, working with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, Bloomberg reported. Bloomberg’s sources said a debut could come as early as March 2026.
That target passed without a public S-1. As of the latest reports, Discord has not set a listing date, price range or ticker.
Humam Sakhnini, former vice chairman of Activision Blizzard, became CEO on April 28, 2025. Co-founder Jason Citron stayed on the board as an adviser.
Reddit, another community platform, made the move to public markets in March 2024, and this look at Reddit’s current ownership shows who holds its shares today.
Twitch, a rival gaming community platform, took a different route and has belonged to Amazon since 2014. The details are in this summary of Twitch’s ownership history.
Revenue streams compared
| Stream | Started | Pricing model |
|---|---|---|
| Nitro | January 2017 | Monthly or annual subscription |
| Quests | 2024 | Paid by advertisers per campaign |
| Orbs | July 2025 (global) | Earned through Quests, spent in the Shop |
| In-game item commerce | December 2025 | Share of item sales |
FAQ
How does Discord make money?
Most revenue comes from Nitro subscriptions. Discord also earns from Server Boosts, Shop cosmetics, Quests advertising and a share of creator Server Subscriptions and developer app sales.
How much does Discord Nitro cost?
Nitro costs $9.99 per month and Nitro Basic costs $2.99 per month in the US. Annual plans and regional prices are also available.
Does Discord show ads?
Yes, through Quests. Brands pay for sponsored videos and game challenges, and users who complete them earn rewards such as Orbs, which they can spend in the Discord Shop.
How much revenue does Discord make?
Bloomberg reported that Discord’s revenue quadrupled from 2020 to 2024, reaching more than $600 million on an annualized basis. Discord has not confirmed newer figures.
Is Discord profitable?
Discord has not said. It is private, and its January 2026 IPO filing remains confidential, so audited profit figures are not public.
