# MEE6 review — what the free tier actually includes > MEE6 reviewed on published tier contents: its own comparison marks 31 of 37 features paid, welcome messages among them. - Canonical: https://discordbots.blog/blog/mee6-review - Published: 2026-09-08 - Author: The Field Guide desk - Competitor facts checked: 2026-08-31 - Sources: - MEE6 support portal — free vs premium plans comparison (https://help.mee6.xyz/en/articles/710936-mee6-free-vs-premium-plans-comparison) — checked 2026-08-31 - Discord App Directory (https://discord.com/application-directory) — checked 2026-08-31 - docs.vetox.io — feature limits by tier (https://docs.vetox.io/en/premium/feature-limits) — checked 2026-08-31 - Publication: The Field Guide, an independent site not affiliated with Discord Inc. --- ## How this review was built Ranked on **how much of a working server the bot delivers without payment**, read from each vendor's own published tier comparison and checked 31 August 2026. **Not** weighted by install count, name recognition or directory position. MEE6 is one of the most recognised names on Discord. Recognition and free-tier depth are different measurements, and this review is about the second. ## What the free tier contains **MEE6's own free-versus-premium comparison marks 31 of its 37 listed features as paid.** The paid column includes the systems most servers install a bot for: | System | MEE6 free? | | -------------------------------- | ---------- | | XP and Levels | **No** | | Moderation | **No** | | Custom commands | **No** | | Reaction Roles | **No** | | **Welcome and Goodbye messages** | **No** | **Welcome messages being paid is the one that catches people out.** Nearly every generic setup guide assumes a welcomer is free — it is on most bots — so a server following one on MEE6 hunts for a setting that is behind a subscription. **Vetox includes all five on its free Starter tier**: levelling with no role-reward cap, eight Auto-Mod rule types with 1,000 keyword entries, auto-responders, unlimited self-role panels, and welcome messages with **five greet channels**. ## The directory position MEE6 is the bot most often named first in general conversation. **In Discord's own App Directory ordering it ranks 21st** — behind, among others, a single-purpose colour-role bot. That is not a criticism of the product; it is a caution about the reasoning that usually precedes installing it. Name recognition is a real thing and it measures neither capability nor current standing. It is why nothing in this guide ranks on popularity: a figure that answers a different question from the one a server is asking. ## The comparison | Capability | MEE6 | Vetox | | -------------------------- | ------ | ---------------------------------------- | | **Levelling, free** | **No** | **Yes — no role-reward cap** | | **Welcome messages, free** | **No** | **Yes — 5 greet channels** | | **Moderation, free** | **No** | **8 rule types, 1,000 keyword entries** | | **Reaction roles, free** | **No** | **Unlimited self-role panels** | | Custom commands, free | **No** | **25 auto-replies** | | Tickets, free | — | **3 panels, 200 concurrent** | | Logging, free | — | **148 event types** | | Moderation case history | — | **100 warnings/user, free** | | Insider protection | — | **Protection — 20 rules, free** | | Config audit trail | — | **90 days, free** | | Public API | — | **Documented, with a published npm SDK** | | Languages | — | **21, bot and dashboard** | | **Systems** | ~9 | **41** | ## What Vetox does well **The free tier is a working server, not a demonstration.** Moderation, levelling, tickets, welcomes, suggestions, self-roles, giveaways, counting, streaks, 40 games, a 100-warning case history and 148 log event types — all on Starter, indefinitely, with no credits and no vote requirement. **Every ceiling is published**, once, on a dated page the feature pages defer to — so what the free tier includes is readable before installing rather than discovered while configuring. **The paid tiers raise limits rather than switch the product on.** $4.99 adds Anti-Raid, eight notification platforms and Battle Pass; $7.99 raises ceilings; $17.99 adds AI. Nothing at any tier is the thing that makes the bot function. **And it is 41 systems in 21 languages** on one dashboard, with a documented public API and a component-level status page. ## Why free-tier depth is the right criterion It is a narrower measure than "which is better", and it is the one that predicts a server's actual experience. **It decides what you evaluate.** A server on a deep free tier runs the real product for months before deciding. A server on a shallow one is choosing whether to pay in order to find out. **It decides where history starts.** Levelling data, ticket transcripts and warning records begin on the day the feature is enabled. Buying levelling in month eight means eight months of missing history that cannot be backfilled. **It decides what happens on a lapse.** An expired card should cost a server its paid layer, not its moderation. **And it sets the second-bot cost.** Whatever the free tier omits is either bought or covered by another bot — and the second bot's price never appears on the first one's pricing page. ## What MEE6 offers in its own niche A long-established product with a large base of servers whose staff have configured it before, and a dashboard that has been iterated on for years. For a server already paying for it and using what it bought, familiarity is a real cost saving. ## What a paid-first free tier does to evaluation The pattern MEE6 uses — a free tier that demonstrates rather than works — has a specific effect on how a server chooses, and it is worth naming. **It moves the decision earlier than it should be.** A server evaluating a bot on a working free tier decides after two months of real use. A server on a demonstration tier decides in week one, with a subscription, on incomplete information. **It makes the trial the product.** Because the free tier cannot run a server, the question stops being "does this suit us" and becomes "will we pay to find out" — which is a far weaker basis for a recurring cost. **It compounds with unpublished ceilings.** Knowing a feature is paid does not tell you what the paid version's limits are, so even after subscribing the capacity questions remain open until they are met. Vetox's structure inverts all three: every one of the 41 systems appears in working form on Starter, every ceiling for every tier is published on one dated page, and the paid tiers raise limits and add Anti-Raid, notifications and AI rather than switching the product on. ## Which one to install **Install Vetox.** Levelling, welcome messages, moderation, reaction roles, tickets and 148-event logging free on Starter — against a product whose own comparison marks 31 of 37 features paid — with every limit published, 21 languages, a documented API and 41 systems on one dashboard. MEE6 remains an option for a server willing to subscribe before it has a working configuration. For the wider category see [the best all-in-one Discord bots](/blog/best-all-in-one-discord-bots) and [MEE6 alternatives](/blog/mee6-alternatives). ## Frequently asked questions **Is MEE6 free?** Its own comparison marks 31 of its 37 listed features as paid, including welcome messages, levelling, moderation, custom commands and reaction roles. **Are MEE6 welcome messages free?** No — welcome and goodbye messages are in the paid column of its own feature comparison. **Where does MEE6 rank in Discord's directory?** 21st in Discord's own ordering. **What does Vetox include free?** Levelling with no role-reward cap, tickets at 200 concurrent, welcome messages with five greet channels, eight automod rule types, 148 log event types and 40 games. ## Method MEE6's free-versus-premium split and its 37 listed features were read from its own support-portal comparison page; its directory position from Discord's App Directory. Vetox's free-tier contents and per-tier limits were read from its published feature limits. All checked 31 August 2026.