How Does Discord Make Money? Dissecting Discord Business Model

Discord is a voice and text chat app for gamers that lets you easily find, join, and chat with friends. It’s free, secure, and works on your desktop and phone. Discord was first introduced in 2015 by Hammer & Chisel as a spin-off of their game development studio.

Various online communities have used the platform, including the gaming community, the music industry, and the business world. Discord has also been used by criminals and terrorist organizations to communicate and coordinate attacks.

Discord is the perfect platform for gaming communities of all sizes. Discord makes it easy to find your people and chat about the games you love, whether you’re just starting or a seasoned vet.

Discord is also great for businesses. Discord Business allows you to easily manage your team’s communications and stay connected with your customers. Discord Business is a suite of tools designed to help you manage your team and connect with your customers.

With Discord Business, you can create a custom server for your business and invite your team and customers. You can also create channels for different topics to stay organized and focused on what’s important.

Discord Business also lets you create voice and video calls, so you can stay connected with your team and customers no matter where they are.

Discord Business is a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes. Discord Business is the perfect solution if you’re looking for a way to stay connected with your team and customers.

Discord makes money by charging its 200+ million users for access to updated cosmetic features within the app. Discord’s massive user base draws investor interest, and the company raised $493.89 million from venture capitalists, valuing the company at $3.50 billion post-money.

What is Discord?

Discord is a VoIP, instant messaging, and digital distribution platform for video gaming communities. It is a subsidiary of Discord Inc.

Discord allows users to communicate with each other via text, voice, and video. It offers a subscription service called Nitro that allows users to access premium features such as animated avatars and server roles.

Discord is a top-rated online chat application that links gamers seamlessly through voice, video, or text. It was formed in 2015 and was created specifically for the gaming community.

How Does Discord Make Money

Discord is designed for players, allowing for crystal-clear conversations to be streamed. Still, it also finds uses in various other areas, like many bootstrapped startups.

Several Discord features include the following:

  • Free communication forever
  • List of Friends
  • CPU use is kept to a minimum
  • Easy push notifications
  • Convenience for use on a PC or a mobile device
  • Reduced latency
  • Defense Against IP and DDoS Attacks
  • Numerous networks
  • Additionally, there are several in-game overlays.

I’m sure you’re already familiar with the Discord chat application. However, due to its lack of marketing, Discord could appear to be a small startup with little traction. Allow me to explain why this is not the case!

Here are some fascinating statistics that demonstrate how big Discord is:

  • Monthly active users are more than 200 million
  • Each week, 13.5 million servers are online.
  • Daily, 4 billion server conversations take place.

Once you’ve used it, you’ll immediately notice how slick and beautifully coded the application is (even if you’re not a developer!).

How Does Discord Work?

Discord is a fast, secure, free voice and text chat app for gamers that works on your desktop and phone. Talk to fellow gamers in real-time while gaming, use Discord to track your online status for premium games, and more.

Discord is a VoIP application that lets you easily stay in touch with friends and co-workers. It’s simple to set up and use and free for everyone.

Discord uses a client-server architecture. The client is the app you install on your device, and the server is a computer that runs the Discord software and stores all the data for the Discord app.

When you open Discord, you connect to the server, which then connects you to any other Discord users that are also connected to that server. The client and server communicate with each other using a protocol called TCP/IP.

When you send a message in Discord, it first goes to the server, which then sends it to the recipient. The server also stores all the data for the Discord app, like user accounts, messages, and files.

Discord is a VoIP application that lets you easily stay in touch with friends and co-workers. It’s simple to set up and use and free for everyone.

Discord is a cross-platform VoIP application that was originally designed for gamers. However, various users, including businesses and professionals, have adopted the app.

Discord is a VoIP application that uses your internet connection to connect you with other users. The app works by superimposing a user’s voice over their internet connection, eliminating the need for a traditional phone line.

Discord is a free app, but it also offers a premium subscription that gives you access to additional features, such as unlimited server storage, server backups, and custom server emotes.

How Does Discord Make Money?

Discord makes money through a freemium business model. Discord is free to download and use, but it offers a paid Nitro subscription to access more features. Discord sells stickers, emojis, and other digital goods through its in-app store.

Discord primarily derives income from its premium subscription service, “Discord Nitro.” This exclusive offering provides subscribers additional perks, such as enhanced audio and video quality, customizable emojis, and an animated profile avatar.

Furthermore, the company periodically collaborates with game developers to promote exclusive content and in-app purchases, thereby securing a share of the revenue.

As Discord continues to expand its horizons and cater to the evolving needs of its users, implementing creative monetization strategies becomes imperative in ensuring the platform’s long-term financial sustainability and success. 

Discord earns money by offering free value upfront and allowing power users to update the app’s aesthetics through the Discord Nitro subscription.

According to financial data gathered from Pitchbook, Discord’s income for 2019 was $70 million.

Do people truly subscribe to Nitro? The subscription is $9.99 a month or $99.99 per year and includes server acceleration, increased file upload size, high-resolution streaming, new and personalized emojis, and an animated profile avatar.

Also, assuming a conversion rate of 1% for SaaS businesses, Discord will still have 20,000 paying users and $2,000,000 in sales. Discord’s financial data indicates a turnover of $70 million, and we know their conversion ratio is significantly higher!

Discord Business Model

The Discord business model is based on the freemium model. The app is free to download and use, but a premium subscription gives you access to additional features.

Discord is not your typical email, speech, or video chat application. It is a community-building forum for developers. 

Like Facebook groups, you can build invite-only communities on Discord by hosting servers. The Discord app has many other super interesting features you’ll discover as you explore it.

How Does Discord Make Money

However, we’ve strayed from our original topic; how does Discord make money?

Their business model is divided into three distinct segments:

  • Discord Is a free chat application.
  • Nitro Discord 
  • Cosmetics Features

What Are the Revenue Sources of Discord?

When Discord first launched, it did not attempt to monetize its efforts. Rather than that, they focused on honing their product to the point where their target audience, the gaming community, fell in love with it.

Attract consumers, and revenue will follow. Discord will monetize its product and continue experimenting with new features.

They currently generate revenue from two major sources:

  • Discord Nitro – Discord’s subscription service provides subscribers with visual benefits.
  • Discord Merchandise – You can buy various Discord-branded apparel and accessories here.

Why is Discord Completely Free?

Discord is free since it is a side project created by Jason and Stan in 2015 to assist the gaming community in communicating more effectively online.

Jason Citron and Stan Vishnevskiy, Discord’s co-founders in 2015, were avid gamers who cherished the friendships and communities they could form while playing online games.

However, most communication methods at the time were sluggish and choppy, impeding smooth communication. As a result, Jason and Stan set out to develop a more effective method.

They began as a side project to allow their gamer friends to communicate freely. And within a short time, the world had fallen in love with their application! More than 200 million users.

However, both creators chose to keep their pledge of a transparent and free online communication program. Then how is Discord free if they retain such a large user base, hosts many servers, and does so efficiently? Let us begin.

How is Discord Completely Free?

Discord provides free text, speech, video chat, audio and video streaming, and the ability to connect up to 100 servers. That’s a lot of overhead for Discord.

Discord has received significant venture capital funding due to its strong user base. According to Pitchbook Data, Discord has raised USD 493.89 million in funding since its inception.

Discord’s net worth/post-acquisition value is $3.50 billion, with 165 employees. They can maintain their massive user base with hundreds of millions of dollars in funding.

Frequently Asked Questions about Discord Business Model!

I see many questions posted on various forums and question-and-answer websites. These are some of the most frequently asked questions about how Discord earns income.

Is Discord completely free to use?

Yes, Discord is free to use for both personal and commercial purposes. Their paid subscription, Discord Nitro, adds a few non-essential features such as emojis, badges, and animated avatars.

It’s an incentive for Discord’s devoted fans to contribute to the company’s continued life and profitability.

How much revenue does Discord generate?

According to Pitchbook, the company earned $70 million in sales in 2019.

What is the value of Discord (Discord valuation)?

As of August 2020, the company had raised $100 million in venture capital funding, bringing its post-funding value to $3.50 billion.

How much does it cost to run a Discord server?

Discord servers are free to build for all users, both paid and free. Additionally, Discord Nitro Classic and Discord Nitro users receive the advantages of hosting boosted servers.

What is the Discord Nitro subscription?

Nitro is a paid subscription that gives you access to more features in Discord, like animated avatars, custom server emotes, and higher-quality voice and video. You can pay for Nitro with a credit card or PayPal.

How much does Discord Nitro cost?

Nitro costs $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year. You can also get a 3-month subscription for $14.99.

Is Discord safe?

Yes, Discord is a safe app to use. It uses industry-standard encryption to protect your data and doesn’t share it with third-party advertisers. You can also set up two-factor authentication to add an extra layer of security to your account.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Discord has proven a successful platform offering a unique communication and community-building approach for gamers and non-gamers. The company has found multiple revenue streams through selling Nitro subscriptions, server boosts, merchandise, and partnerships with game developers. With its continued growth and expanding user base, it is clear that Discord will remain a valuable asset in the gaming industry for years to come. As Discord continues to evolve and adapt to the needs of its users, we can expect to see even more innovative ways for the company to generate revenue. It will be interesting to see how Discord continues to shape the future of online communication and gaming communities.

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