# What Vetox's moderation features actually do

> Seven systems most bots sell separately or not at all — Auto-Mod, Anti-Raid, Logging, Dashboard Watcher and more — and how they fit together.

- Canonical: https://discordbots.blog/blog/vetox-moderation-stack
- Published: 2026-08-30
- Author: The Field Guide desk
- Competitor facts checked: 2026-08-30
- Sources:
  - docs.vetox.io — moderation overview (https://docs.vetox.io/en/moderation/overview) — checked 2026-08-30
  - docs.vetox.io — feature limits by tier (https://docs.vetox.io/en/premium/feature-limits) — checked 2026-08-30
  - dyno.gg premium page (https://dyno.gg/premium) — checked 2026-08-30
  - Zeppelin documentation — hosted access is granted case by case (https://zeppelin.gg/docs/introduction) — checked 2026-08-30
  - wickbot.com — protection features (https://wickbot.com) — checked 2026-08-30
  - sapph.xyz — moderation and logging (https://sapph.xyz) — checked 2026-08-30
  - probot.io (https://probot.io/en/) — checked 2026-08-30
  - docs.captcha.bot (https://docs.captcha.bot/) — checked 2026-08-30
  - docs.gaiusbot.me (https://docs.gaiusbot.me/) — checked 2026-08-30
  - docs.securitybot.gg (https://docs.securitybot.gg/) — checked 2026-08-30
- Publication: The Field Guide, an independent site not affiliated with Discord Inc.

---
Most bots treat moderation as one feature. Vetox splits it into seven systems, and the split is not
marketing — each solves a problem the others structurally cannot.

Understanding the separation is what makes the stack configurable rather than a single on switch.

## The seven layers

### 1. Auto-Moderation — the rule layer

Keyword and pattern filtering with configurable actions per rule: mute, kick, ban, delete. Rules
evaluate as messages arrive.

This is the deterministic layer. It is fast, free, auditable, and every case it resolves is one
nothing else has to consider. **Free on the Starter tier.**

### 2. Protection — the behavioural layer

Where Auto-Mod matches content, Protection matches _behaviour_: spam bursts, mass mentions, invite
posting, link flooding. A single message may be innocuous while ten of them in four seconds are not.

**Free on Starter.**

### 3. Anti-Raid — the join layer

Watches join rate rather than messages. A raid is a pattern of arrivals, and no message filter sees
it until the damage is underway.

**Unlocks at Basic, $4.99/month.** Worth comparing: [ProBot](https://probot.io/en/) includes protection from $40/year, and
[Dyno](https://dyno.gg/premium)'s advanced moderation sits inside $49.99/year.

### 4. AI Auto-Mod — the intent layer

Contextual analysis: tone, meaning, user trust scoring from real-time chat dynamics, and visual
scanning for scam imagery. Catches hostility with no filtered word in it, and scams that arrive as
pictures.

**Tier 3 (Black), with 25 custom AI rules.** The AI gate is single — it covers AI Auto-Mod, AI
Server Control and the token allowance together.

### 5. Moderation Tools — the human layer

Where staff act: warnings, timeouts, kicks, bans, case review, and per-member history. Automation
handles the mechanical; this is where the contested cases are resolved.

The capability that matters here is **queryable per-member history**. A third warning is only
meaningful if someone can see the first two, and a moderation system whose history lives in
moderators' memories is not a moderation system. **Free on Starter.**

### 6. Logging — the record layer

Server events routed to channels you choose, across **148 distinct event types** — the largest
count of the products we checked, ahead of Sapphire's 80+, Zeppelin's 66, and roughly six times
Carl-bot's or ProBot's ~24. Critically, **AI and automated actions land in the same log as human
ones**, so a member's timeline is one sequence rather than two systems that do not know about each
other.

**Free on Starter.** Log executor details, webhook delivery and log management unlock at Basic.

### 7. Dashboard Watcher — the meta layer

Records changes to _configuration_, not to members. Who altered an automod rule, who changed a
permission, who adjusted a limit.

This is among the rarest capabilities in the category. We checked sixteen moderation and security
bots against their own documentation: **two record who changed their own settings.**

**[Zeppelin](https://zeppelin.gg/docs/introduction)** keeps config revisions carrying an editing user and a timestamp, visible in its source.
**[Captcha.bot](https://docs.captcha.bot/)** publishes an audit log that shows the value before each change, cannot be switched
off, and is free — its export is the paid half. [Gaius](https://docs.gaiusbot.me/) lists a "Settings" log type among its module
actions, which may be the same idea, though its documentation describes itself as several years out
of date.

What separates them is scope and retention rather than existence. Captcha.bot audits **one
verification bot's settings for 14 days**, and has nothing else to audit. Dashboard Watcher spans
**every system for 90 days**, free — which is the difference between knowing who changed the captcha
and knowing who changed the automod rule, the permission model and the ticket configuration.

And Zeppelin is one most servers cannot actually use. Its documentation states that access to the
hosted bot is "granted on a case by case basis", the restriction is enforced in its own source, and
there is no invite link. Self-hosting means running Docker on Linux.

For the rest, the answer is simply not published — and that is itself the finding.
Several of the best-known security bots, [Wick](https://wickbot.com) among them, **publish no list of what they log at
all**, so a buyer has no way to know whether their configuration changes are recorded before
committing to the product. [Security Bot](https://docs.securitybot.gg/), which does publish its log types, has nothing of the kind.

Which is worth pausing on, because this is the layer that matters most precisely where these
products are sold. A bot whose entire pitch is protection against a rogue administrator, that does
not tell you whether it records that administrator editing its own protection settings, is asking
for a kind of trust it has not evidenced.

It becomes essential the moment more than two people can change things. "Why is this rule different
from last week" has no answer without it.

## Access Control sits across all seven

At **Max ($7.99/month)**, Access Control gates which staff can configure which sections. A moderator
can be given the moderation surface without the ability to change billing, AI rules or ticket
configuration.

That is the difference between a team of three and a team of twelve. Below it, dashboard access is
effectively all-or-nothing, which is why it is the feature that defines the Max tier alongside
unlimited limits.

## How the layers chain

```
Discord AutoMod       platform, before delivery — free, configure this first
  ↓
Auto-Moderation       keywords, patterns, per-rule actions
  ↓
Protection            spam, mentions, invites, link floods
  ↓
Anti-Raid             join-rate detection and lockdown
  ↓
AI Auto-Mod           intent, tone, trust score, visual scam analysis
  ↓
Moderation Tools      human review, cases, per-member history
  ↓
Logging               one timeline for automated and human actions
  ↓
Dashboard Watcher     who changed the configuration
  ↑
Access Control        who is allowed to change it at all
```

Each layer catches what the one above cannot express. Configure upward from the free layers.

## What this costs against the alternatives

The comparison that matters is not feature-by-feature but **what you get before paying**.

|                            | Vetox free | Dyno free | Sapphire    |
| -------------------------- | ---------- | --------- | ----------- |
| Rule-based automod         | Yes        | Basic     | Yes         |
| Behavioural protection     | Yes        | Partial   | Yes         |
| Moderation tools + history | Yes        | Yes       | Yes         |
| Logging (event types)      | **148**    | Yes       | 80+         |
| Anti-raid                  | $4.99/mo   | Paid tier | No          |
| Configuration audit        | Yes        | No        | No          |
| Leveling alongside         | Yes        | $49.99/yr | Not offered |
| Tickets alongside          | Yes        | $49.99/yr | Not offered |

[Sapphire](https://sapph.xyz) matches on the filtering half and even beats Vetox on one specific point — keeping every one
of its 80+ log types free with no executor gate at all — but it has nothing beyond filtering and
logging. [Dyno](/blog/vetox-vs-dyno) matches on moderation and charges $49.99/year for the levelling and tickets that sit
next to it here for nothing.

The stack's real argument is the last two rows: moderation on its own is a solved problem at every
price point. Moderation that shares a permission model, a log routing configuration and a member
history with thirty-four other systems is not.

## Practical configurations

**Small server, no budget.** Discord AutoMod plus Vetox Auto-Mod, Protection, Moderation Tools and
Logging. Free, and it covers the ordinary cases completely.

**Growing server, occasional raids.** Add Basic for Anti-Raid at $4.99/month.

**Multi-language community.** Black for AI Auto-Mod — a wordlist is per-language and detection that
works across all 21 supported languages is the only maintainable answer.

**Team larger than three.** Max for Access Control, so staff hold the surface they need and not the
rest.

## Related systems

`Auto-Mod → AI Auto-Mod → Protection → Anti-Raid → Logging → Dashboard Watcher → Access Control`

Adjacent: Applications for vetting members before they gain access, [Tickets](/blog/best-discord-ticket-bots) for handling reports and
appeals, and Server Insights for spotting the activity change that precedes a moderation problem.