How to grow a Discord server with giveaways

Updated 10 November 2026 · By the Vast team

A giveaway can bring hundreds of people to a Discord server in a few days. The hard part is that prize hunters leave as fast as they arrive. What decides whether a giveaway grows your server is not the size of the prize but three choices: who the prize attracts, what you ask people to do, and what they find when they get in.

Vast is our product, so weigh that. We checked Discord's own pages on November 10, 2026. Discord's help center blocked us (HTTP 403), so for its Onboarding and Server Insights articles we read the latest Internet Archive copies, from October 2026. The Community Guidelines loaded normally.

Step 1: Set one goal

Pick the one result you want before you pick a prize. Each goal points to a different giveaway.

GoalWhat to ask forHow to measure
More membersJoin the serverNew members who stay a week
More talk in the serverJoin, then post in a channelMembers who send a message
Players for a gameJoin, wishlist or play the gameWishlists, playtests started
A stream audienceJoin and follow on TwitchTwitch follows, viewers in chat

If you ask for everything, you get a long list of tasks and fewer people finish it. Start with two or three actions.

Step 2: Pick a prize that fits your community

A prize that anyone wants, such as Nitro or cash, brings anyone. A prize only your community wants brings your community.

If you give away Steam keys, read our Steam key giveaway guide first. Valve has rules on key giveaways.

Keep the prize one that a real member would value. A single good prize beats many small ones for attention, and it lets you tell the story of who won.

Step 3: Choose the entry actions

The action that grows the server is "join the server". Add one or two more so the giveaway also builds something you care about.

On Vast, the Discord action is join a Discord server. You enter the server name and an invite link in the form `https://discord.gg/yourcode`, and players earn entries for the action. Other actions you can pair with it include Twitch follow, Steam wishlist, X follow, an email newsletter sign-up and a custom action. Each action is worth a number of entries, so you decide which matters most by giving it more.

Two things to know about Vast. First, Vast does not check Discord joins automatically today, so a player can press Join without joining. Second, Vast has no Discord role action. Gleam lists role, boost and join actions in its Discord docs (see our Gleam vs Vast comparison), and bots such as MEE6 and Dyno have role rules, so if holding a role is the point, weigh that.

What to do about the check: before you announce winners, open your server's member list and confirm each winner is there. Ask winners to claim in the server, for example with a post in a claim channel. A winner who won't show up in your server forgoes the prize, and you say so in your rules.

Discord's Community Guidelines do not mention giveaways, but they do ban "artificially inflating server membership" (rule 15) and sending unsolicited bulk messages (rule 13). So:

An invite for a giveaway is a normal invite that people click because they want the prize. That is fine. Paying for members is not.

Step 4: Bot or platform

A Discord giveaway bot is the fastest option for a giveaway that happens inside your server: one command, a button, a random winner. A giveaway platform is a web page that can also ask people to do things outside Discord, such as follow on Twitch or wishlist on Steam. We compare the two in Discord giveaway bot vs giveaway platform.

Bot in your serverPlatform page
Who can enterPeople already in your serverAnyone with the link
Grows the server?No, they're already inYes, if "join the server" is an action
Entry effortOne clickSign up, connect accounts
Best forRewarding current membersBringing new people in

For growth, use a platform, because a bot only reaches people who are already in the server. Then use a bot or a simple post inside the server for the weekly drop that keeps members engaged.

Vast's weak spots for this: entrants need a Vast account, or must give a name and email in the embedded widget, which is more friction than a button. Checked actions need players to connect accounts such as Twitch, and Discord joins are not checked.

Step 5: Announce it where new people will see it

Your own server is the wrong place to announce a giveaway meant to grow it. Post the link where people who aren't members yet will find it.

Say clearly what the prize is, when it ends, and what you ask people to do. Put your official rules a click away. Vast writes rules for you in the builder, and a link to them shows in the entry panel. Our rules generator guide covers what they contain.

Run the giveaway for about a week. Short enough that it feels urgent, long enough for people to find it.

Step 6: Keep new members after the giveaway

Most of the growth work happens after the giveaway ends. Discord says that new people who find a server confusing "just leave." Its Community Onboarding article (archived October 11, 2026) describes a setup for Community servers where new members answer questions and pick their own channels and roles. Its advice:

A short plan to start from:

  1. Welcome post. Pin a message in the main channel with what the server is for and where to start.
  2. Make the giveaway part of the story. Post the winners, with their permission, and say what's next.
  3. Run something small within a week: a game night, a Q&A, a playtest.
  4. Give the winners a reason to talk. Ask them to share what they got.
  5. Don't message new members in bulk. Discord's rule 13 bans unsolicited bulk messages.

Step 7: Measure what worked

You want to know how many people joined, how many stayed and how many did anything. Discord's Server Insights (archived October 30, 2026) covers Community servers with more than 500 members and is labelled an experimental alpha feature. It has a Growth and Activation view showing where new members come from, whether they can talk and how many stay. For a smaller server, count by hand: write down your member count before the giveaway, the day it ends, a week later and a month later.

On the giveaway side, the Vast analytics dashboard needs a Pro plan ($49 a month, as of November 10, 2026). Without it, count by hand. Compare these numbers:

NumberWhat it tells you
EntriesHow many people took part
Members gainedJoins during the giveaway
Members at one weekHow many stayed
Members who postedHow many are real members

Use a different invite link for each giveaway so you can tell where joins came from. Next time, change one thing, such as the prize or the length, and compare.

Mistakes to avoid

Run a giveaway with a Discord join action, Twitch and Steam actions, and official rules drafted for you. Start a giveaway

FAQ

Can a giveaway really grow a Discord server? Yes, if the prize fits your community and you give newcomers a reason to stay. A generic prize mostly grows the number of people who leave.

Are giveaways allowed on Discord? Discord's Community Guidelines don't mention giveaways. They do ban inflating server membership artificially, self-bots and bulk spam. Read the terms of any bot you add.

How long should a Discord giveaway run? About a week works for most servers. That is our rule of thumb, not a Discord figure.

Does Vast check that someone joined my Discord server? Not automatically today. Check your member list before you announce winners.

Should I use a bot or a platform? A bot for rewarding people already in the server. A platform to bring new people in.

Sources

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