Arcalotl vs Subscord
Subscord sells through a hosted store and charges a flat monthly fee. Arcalotl sells inside the server and charges 2% per payment.
Which one costs less depends on your revenue and subscriber count. Which one keeps more members depends on what happens after checkout.
What's different
Subscord is a Discord payment bot with a hosted store page, Stripe and on-chain crypto checkout, and a 0% platform fee. You pay for it through monthly tiers set by active subscribers: free up to 10, $39 for up to 50, $65 for up to 500, and $199 for unlimited. Card payments still carry Stripe's processing fee.
Arcalotl has no monthly fee and takes 2% of each successful payment. Members subscribe with a command inside Discord (or Fluxer), or from the community's public storefront, and pay on Arcalotl's checkout page. After the sale, Arcalotl recovers failed payments with member outreach, shows a save offer when someone cancels, and offers annual upgrades to engaged monthly members.
The honest cost comparison has a break-even line. Below it, 2% costs less than Subscord's tier. Above it, the flat fee wins, as long as you stay under the tier's subscriber cap. Both numbers are on this page.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Arcalotl | Subscord |
|---|---|---|
In-server checkout (slash command) Subscord links members out to its hosted store; Arcalotl starts checkout from a command or a checkout link | Yes | Partial |
Subscriptions and one-time products | Yes | Yes |
Role granted and removed automatically | Yes | Yes |
Payments settle in your own Stripe account | Yes | Yes |
Failed-payment recovery with member outreach Subscord sends renewal reminders; Arcalotl runs a dunning sequence with a card-update link and a grace period | Yes | Partial |
Cancellation save offers Offer matched to the cancel reason and tenure | Yes | No |
Annual upgrade offers | Yes | No |
Discount codes and trials | Yes | Yes |
No monthly fee at any size Subscord is free only up to 10 active subscribers | Yes | No |
Hosted public store page Arcalotl storefronts on every community; custom store link on Subscord's paid tiers | Yes | Yes |
Crypto payments Subscord accepts 100+ cryptocurrencies at 0.5% plus network fees | No | Yes |
Public API and webhooks Subscord's seller API is on its $65 tier and above | Yes | Partial |
Second platform (Fluxer) | Yes | No |
Member checkout and bot in the member's language Community default, follows each member's Discord or browser | Yes | No |
Why the member's language matters
Three in four online buyers prefer to buy in their own language, and four in ten will not buy from a page in another language at all (CSA Research, 2020). Most checkouts ignore this: Stripe found 74% of European checkouts untranslated in 2022. Arcalotl sets a default language per community and then follows each member. The bot answers in the language their Discord client is set to, the checkout and the receipt use the language their browser is set to, and a Swedish member sees Swish and Klarna where a Dutch member sees iDEAL.
Subscord runs its checkout in English only.
Pricing comparison
- Arcalotl
$0/mo. 2% of each successful payment. Standard Stripe processing (2.9% + $0.30) applies on top.
- Subscord
0% platform fee. $0/mo up to 10 active subscribers, $39/mo up to 50, $65/mo up to 500, $199/mo unlimited. Yearly plans give two months free. Crypto payments cost 0.5% plus network fees; card payments carry Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30. (Verified on subscord.com, September 2026.)
Where Arcalotl goes further
Cheaper until $1,950 a month
Subscord's $39 tier equals 2% of $1,950 in monthly revenue; the $65 tier equals 2% of $3,250; the $199 tier equals 2% of $9,950. Below those lines Arcalotl costs less. Above them Subscord costs less, provided your active subscriber count fits the tier. A community with 60 paying members at $10 each ($600 a month) pays Arcalotl $12 and would need Subscord's $65 tier.
Recovery, not just reminders
When a card fails, Subscord notifies the member and removes access when the grace period ends. Arcalotl messages the member with a secure link to fix the card, keeps the role during a grace period you set, retries, and records the outcome. Stripe Billing puts average dunning recovery near 55% of failed payments.
A save offer before the cancel goes through
Subscord has no cancellation flow beyond cancelling. Arcalotl asks the reason and shows one offer (discount, pause, or downgrade) before processing the cancellation. Members who decline still cancel cleanly.
Checkout starts where members already are
Subscord routes members to a store page on subscord.com. Arcalotl starts from a slash command in your server and opens its own checkout page directly, with no third-party account to create. For cold traffic, both have a public store page: Arcalotl's storefront is free on every community, Subscord's custom store link comes with its paid tiers.
Frequently asked questions
If your revenue is under about $2,000 a month, or you lose members to failed cards, Arcalotl costs less and keeps more.
Zero monthly fees. Revenue recovery from day one.
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