A Free Arcane Alternative for Discord Leveling

Leveling is one of the simplest ways to reward the people who make a server feel alive. Arcane is a well-known leveling bot and plenty of communities use it happily. If you would prefer levels inside the same bot that runs your moderation, welcome messages and role panels, MagnificBot's Levels module is free. As always, check Arcane's own website for its current features and plans; this article covers how leveling works in MagnificBot and how to tune it.

How members earn XP

There are two sources of XP, and you control both from the dashboard.

Source	How it works	Default	Range
Text	Random XP per message, between a minimum and a maximum	15–25 XP	0–200
Cooldown	Seconds before a member's next message can earn XP again	60 s	0–600 s
Voice	XP for every full minute spent in a voice channel	5 XP/min	0–100

The random range keeps the leaderboard from feeling mechanical, and the cooldown is the main defence against spam: ten messages in ten seconds earn XP once, not ten times. Voice XP is credited when a member leaves the channel, and sessions shorter than a minute do not count.

Setting voice XP to 0 turns it off; setting text XP to 0 makes a voice-only system, which suits podcast or gaming servers where most of the activity happens in calls.

Keeping XP fair

A leveling system is only motivating if people believe it is fair. Three settings do most of the work:

• Excluded channels. Remove XP from #bot-commands, #counting or a memes channel where people post for the sake of it. Up to 100 channels.
• Excluded roles. Members with these roles earn no XP from text or voice. Useful for alt accounts, muted members or a "No XP" punishment role. Up to 50 roles.
• A sensible cooldown. Lowering it below 30 seconds tends to reward chatty spam over real conversation.

A practical tip: if you enable voice XP, keep it modest compared with text. An hour in voice at the default rate gives 300 XP, about the same as fifteen XP-earning messages at the default text rate. Adjust until both feel balanced on your server.

Role rewards: stack or replace

Role rewards give a role automatically when someone reaches a level. You choose how they behave:

• Stack (default): members keep every reward they have earned. At level 20 they hold the level 5, 10 and 20 roles. Good when each role unlocks something, such as image permissions or a channel.
• Replace: members keep only their highest reward. Good for cosmetic ranks like Bronze, Silver and Gold, where showing three badges at once looks messy.

Rewards are applied automatically on level-up, and also when staff set a level manually. Remember that the bot can only give roles placed below its own role in the server's role list.

The free plan has a starter limit on level rewards, which works well for a few key milestones (for example "Regular" at level 10). Premium raises that limit, like the others; see pricing.

Level-up announcements

When someone levels up, MagnificBot can announce it in the same channel where they earned it, in a dedicated channel such as #level-ups, or not at all. The message is yours to write, with three variables:

• {mention} pings the member,
• {username} shows their name without a ping,
• {level} shows the new level.

For example: GG {mention}, you just reached level {level}! If you leave the default, it is translated automatically into your server's language.

Commands for members and staff

• /rank shows a member's level, position on the server, a progress bar to the next level, total XP, message count and minutes in voice. Use it on yourself or on someone else.
• /leaderboard lists the top 10 members of the server.
• /xp give, /xp remove and /xp setlevel let staff with the Manage Server permission correct mistakes, reward event winners or restore levels.

Going further with automations

The Levels module also fires a level-up trigger in MagnificBot's no-code automations. That lets you, for instance, send a DM with server perks when someone reaches level 15, or post a message in a staff channel when a member hits a milestone. The free plan includes automations, within its starter limits.

Switching from another leveling bot

XP from another bot cannot be imported automatically. Most servers either start a fresh season, which often boosts activity, or use /xp setlevel to restore the levels of their most active members. Before switching, turn off level-up messages in the old bot so nobody gets two announcements.

Add MagnificBot from magnificbot.com and enable Levels in the dashboard. If you are coming from MEE6, see our best free MEE6 alternative guide too.

FAQ

Do members earn XP for voice chat?

Yes, for every full minute in a voice channel, at a rate you choose. You can also turn voice XP off.

Can I stop XP in certain channels?

Yes. Add them to the excluded channels list and messages there earn nothing.

Can members lose a reward role?

In "replace" mode, lower rewards are removed when a higher one is earned. In "stack" mode, members keep them all.

Who can use /xp?

Only members with the Manage Server permission.