Cortex vs Arcane
Arcane is a leveling-first bot: message and reaction XP are free, but voice XP, custom XP rates and rank card backgrounds sit behind a paid tier, and free servers are capped at 15 role rewards. Cortex ships leveling, moderation, music, economy, tickets and AI chat together with no such caps.
Where Arcane fits
Arcane centres on leveling and community polish — message, reaction and voice XP, leaderboards, role rewards, counters, logging and welcomer. Its paid tier is $7/month or $75/year per server and removes limits rather than unlocking core commands: role rewards go from 15 to unlimited, log retention from 1 hour to 12, and custom commands from 5 to 100.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Cortex | Arcane |
|---|---|---|
| Moderation (ban, mute, warn, purge, slowmode) | Yes | Yes |
| 24/7 persistent music | Yes | No |
| Economy / virtual currency | Yes | No |
| Leveling with rank cards and role rewards | Yes | Yes |
| Voice-channel XPArcane's voice leveling is premium-only. | Yes | Partial |
| Ticketing with transcripts | Yes | No |
| Giveaways | Yes | No |
| AI chat in your channels | Yes | No |
| Web dashboard for configuration | Yes | Yes |
| Reaction roles and auto rolesArcane caps free servers at 10 reaction roles and 1 auto role. | Yes | Partial |
| Channel counters and stat channels | Yes | Yes |
| Core features at no costVoice XP, custom XP rates and unlimited role rewards require Arcane Premium. | Yes | Partial |
✓ available · ◐ partial or add-on · ✕ not offered. Competitor features change — check their own documentation for current details.
Choose Cortex if…
- ✓You want voice XP without paying for it.
- ✓You need tickets, giveaways and AI chat, which Arcane does not provide.
- ✓You want music and economy in the same bot as your moderation.
- ✓You need more than 15 role rewards on a free server.
Choose Arcane if…
- →You only want leveling and are happy with Arcane's free tier limits.
- →You want a lightweight bot whose whole job is XP and leaderboards.
- →You already run a separate bot for music, tickets and moderation.
We list these because they are real. A comparison that only ever wins is not a comparison.
Questions
Is Arcane's leveling free?
Message and reaction XP are free. Voice XP, custom XP values, rank card backgrounds and unlimited role rewards are premium-only, and free servers are limited to 15 role rewards at one per level.
How much does Arcane cost?
Arcane Premium is $7/month or $75/year, billed per server and transferable once between servers. The free tier keeps the bot usable, but the caps above are what push larger servers to pay.
Should I switch from Arcane?
If counters and basic message XP are all you use, there is no reason to. Switch if you want free voice XP, uncapped role rewards, or music, economy and ticketing alongside your leveling.
Try Cortex on your server
Free to add. Configure everything from the dashboard.