It only knows about Discord
A download, a file or a page on your own site has no home in a membership platform, so a publisher selling both ends up running two systems.
All alternatives
Upgrade.Chat
Upgrade.Chat alternative: an honest comparison
A Discord membership platform rather than a locker: connect Stripe or PayPal, define plans, and the bot grants and manages the roles. Free to start, and it gates channels by role; serving your own files is a higher plan.
What people use Upgrade.Chat for
- Turning a Discord server into a paid membership with tiers, trials and coupons.
- Selling access to private channels, which is the paywall feature it advertises.
- Delivering digital products alongside roles, on its Max plan or with custom development.
- The audiences it markets to: coaches, traders, educators, musicians and community businesses.
Upgrade.Chat's published terms
| Cost to start | Free to start, per the site, with a volume discount offered above $50k a month in gross revenue. |
|---|---|
| Platform fee | Not readable from the site's static pages: the pricing table is drawn by script, and third-party comparisons contradict each other. Treat any single figure as unverified. |
| On top of the processor | Its own documentation states that processor fees are separate from and additional to its fee. |
| Where the money goes | Into your own Stripe or PayPal account when the customer pays, not into a platform balance you withdraw later. |
| Payment methods | PayPal, Stripe, Venmo, and crypto through PayPal or Venmo, in 20+ currencies. |
| What it gates | Discord channels, by role. Delivering your own uploaded files needs the Max plan or custom development. |
| Disputes | A chargeback revokes the member's access to the server. |
Checked on 29 October 2026. Rates and rules change, so confirm them before you move traffic, and tell us if something here is out of date. Sources: Upgrade.Chat, Upgrade.Chat docs on pricing.
What sends people looking elsewhere
There is no way to earn access
Members pay or they do not. The part of the audience that will complete a task but never enter a card has nowhere to go.
Delivery is a plan feature
Serving your own files sits on a higher plan, which makes the thing most publishers want to sell the thing that costs more.
Where UnlockHub is the better fit
- One page for more than a server: the same project gates a file, a download or a link, not only a channel.
- An offer route beside the price, so a member who will never enter a card can still earn access.
- A one-off window as well as a subscription: sell a day of access, not only a membership.
- File and download delivery on every project rather than as a plan upgrade.
What to check before you move traffic
- The fee actually charged at your volume, since the pricing table is not readable without running their script.
- Whether you need to deliver files as well as roles.
- Whether you want a one-off window as well as a subscription.
- That processor fees are additional, which their own documentation states.
When Upgrade.Chat is the right tool
- If the product is exactly a paid Discord membership, nothing else needs gating, and money landing in your PayPal as the customer pays suits you, it is a smaller system than this.
- If you already run it and it works, the switching cost is real and this page is not an argument to move for its own sake.
What UnlockHub does instead
One page per thing you sell, served from a portal domain you can point at your own domain. A sponsored offer and a card payment sit side by side, and what is handed over on completion is a Discord role with an expiry, a key, or a call to your own server. Nothing up front and nothing monthly: you keep 75% of every sale, the card processor's fee comes off first, and the 25% platform fee is taken when you withdraw. There is no payment account to connect.
It is not the right answer for every job on this page, which is why the section above exists. The full comparison covers how each tool differs, and the Discord guide covers what selling access to a server actually involves.
Questions about switching
What is the best Upgrade.Chat alternative?
If you need to gate more than the server, a content locker that grants roles as well as keys and links. UnlockHub sells a role with an expiry or a subscription, and can sell a download on the same kind of page.
Which one takes less of a cut?
Upgrade.Chat does not publish its percentage where it can be read without running their pricing script, and third-party comparisons contradict each other, so we will not quote one. Here it is fixed and written down: the publisher keeps 75% of every sale after the card fee, and the 25% platform fee is taken at withdrawal.
Can I sell Discord roles without a membership platform?
Yes. A role is something a bot can grant, so a portal that grants on completion is enough: the role a redemption grants, the window it lasts, and the role a lapsed member moves to.
What happens to a role when a subscription ends?
The member moves to the lapsed role you choose, so their history and their place in the public channels stay. Renewing restores the paid role immediately, with no moderator involved.
Try it on one page
Create a portal, put it in front of the thing worth paying for, and run the whole flow in a test session before any member sees a link.