Best Discord Bots List

The invite link encodes the permissions being requested as a bitfield in the `permissions` parameter, and the consent screen shows them. Administrator on that list is worth stopping for: it bypasses every other permission and every channel overwrite, and almost no bot genuinely needs it.

A bot asking for Administrator when its stated purpose is posting welcome messages is either lazily configured or worth avoiding. The permissions can be trimmed on the consent screen before authorising, and again in server settings afterwards.

Verification matters at scale. Bots in more than 100 servers must be verified by Discord and approved for any privileged intents they use, which is a meaningful signal that someone has reviewed what the bot does.

A bot's permissions can be changed after the fact by anyone with Manage Roles, and a bot whose role sits high in the hierarchy can affect roles below it. Reviewing bot role positions is as important as reviewing the permissions themselves.

Abandoned bots are the quieter risk. A bot whose developer has stopped maintaining it still holds its permissions indefinitely, and a compromised bot account is a compromised member with whatever access you granted. Removing bots you no longer use costs nothing.

Many servers run a moderation bot plus a fun bot. Keep permissions tight and give each the fewest privileges it needs.