HoneyGate
Carl-bot Alternative

Everything Carl-bot does.
Plus leveling. One bot.

Carl-bot does moderation and reaction roles well. It never had a leveling system. HoneyGate adds XP, role rewards, and community games to everything Carl-bot does — free tier, 3-minute setup.

See the comparison

Why servers switch

Three things that come up most often when server owners look for a Carl-bot alternative.

📊

No native leveling system

Carl-bot handles moderation and roles, but XP and levels are not part of it. Most servers end up adding MEE6 or Arcane alongside Carl-bot just to get leveling.

✓ HoneyGate includes leveling free. One bot does both.
⏱

Setup takes 1-2 hours

Carl-bot reaction roles require exact message IDs and emoji codes entered via slash commands. One typo means starting over. No visual builder, no guided wizard.

✓ HoneyGate's setup wizard takes under 3 minutes. No commands to memorize.
🔒

Ownership concerns

Carl-bot was acquired by Botlabs, which is owned by Bluestacks (known for the Android emulator and data-collection business model). This is still cited regularly in server-admin communities.

✓ HoneyGate is indie. No parent company. No data business.

Carl-bot vs HoneyGate

Feature-for-feature. HoneyGate's free tier covers everything Carl-bot's free tier does, and adds the leveling layer Carl-bot never had.

Feature HoneyGate Free Carl-bot Free Carl-bot Premium
XP leveling & leaderboard ✓Free Not available Not available
Role rewards (auto on level-up) ✓Free Not available Not available
Reaction / button roles ✓Free, visual builder ✓ (slash commands) ✓
Welcome messages ✓Free ✓ ✓
Moderation & automod ✓Free ✓ ✓ + advanced
Custom commands / tags Planned ✓ ✓ + advanced
Giveaways ✓Free ✓ ✓
Starboard ✓Free + /starboard top Basic ✓
Logging (message edits, joins, etc.) ✓Free ✓ ✓ + more events
Token / NFT gating (Solana) ✓Free · 2 gates Not available Not available
Permission health check on install ✓Free Not available Not available
Web admin dashboard ✓Free ✓ ✓
First-time setup time ~3 minutes (guided wizard) 1-2 hours (slash commands, no wizard)
Ownership Indie — Apex Studio Botlabs / Bluestacks
Pro price $9.99/mo Free only ~$5/mo

What about Carl-bot Premium? Carl-bot does offer a paid tier with some extra automod and embed features. It does not add leveling, XP, or role rewards on any tier — that is simply not part of the product. Servers wanting XP typically run Carl-bot + Arcane (or MEE6) side-by-side. HoneyGate replaces all of them.

How to migrate

Carl-bot stores reaction-role configs in its dashboard. There is no bulk-export, but reproducing your setup in HoneyGate takes one screen — not dozens of slash commands.

Carl-bot → HoneyGate 5 steps

Estimated time: 10-15 minutes. Members keep all existing roles — HoneyGate only manages roles you configure it to manage.

  1. Add HoneyGate and run the permission check Click “Add to Discord” on this page. After connecting your server, HoneyGate's first-run dashboard runs a permission health check automatically. The most common issue is role hierarchy — the fix is to drag HoneyGate's role above the roles it needs to assign.
  2. Recreate your reaction / button roles In the HoneyGate admin panel, go to Modules → Self-Assign Roles. Build your panels visually: add buttons or dropdowns, pick the emoji and label for each option, set the role it assigns. No message IDs, no slash commands, no memorization. The panel creates a post in the channel you choose. If you have Carl-bot's panel already posted, delete it after HoneyGate's version is live.
  3. Set up leveling (new — Carl-bot doesn’t have this) Go to Points & XP → Settings. Choose your XP rate (messages per point), cooldown window, and announcement channel. If you want role rewards, go to Points & XP → Role Rewards and map levels to the roles you want to grant. Members start at 0 XP — announce it as a fresh start or a competition reset. The leaderboard is live immediately.
  4. Check logging and automod overlap If Carl-bot is handling moderation or logging for you, review the relevant HoneyGate modules: Modules → Moderation and Modules → Logging. Enable what you need and point them at the right channels.
  5. Remove Carl-bot Once you have verified a level-up fires correctly (use Points & XP → “Send a test level-up”) and your role panels are working, kick Carl-bot from your server. Done.
Leveling docs

Reaction-role checklist

Carl-bot's reaction roles need to be manually rebuilt in HoneyGate. This checklist covers the common setup types.

About the Bluestacks question

Factual summary of what happened, without the FUD.

What happened with Carl-bot and Bluestacks? Carl-bot was developed by a solo dev (Carl) and later acquired by Botlabs. Botlabs is owned by Bluestacks, a company best known for the Bluestacks Android emulator, which runs ads and has historically collected usage analytics. The original Carl-bot creator stepped away post-acquisition. The concern in server-admin communities is not that Carl-bot "got hacked" — it's that the ownership model changed to one with different commercial incentives. That concern has been on Reddit and Discord circles since ~2022 and is still cited in 2026.

Is Carl-bot still safe to use? There's no known data incident. The concern is structural (ownership model), not a confirmed breach. Whether it matters to you depends on how sensitive your server's data is. This page is not telling you Carl-bot is dangerous. It's noting why some admins prefer to switch.

What's HoneyGate's ownership situation? HoneyGate is built and run by Apex Studio — a solo founder. No VC, no parent company, no ad business. The business model is a simple monthly subscription (free + Pro at $9.99/mo). That's it.

Ready to switch?

HoneyGate is in early access. Join the waitlist and you’ll be among the first servers invited. Setup takes under 3 minutes.

See all migrations