About Topbot.gg
A directory for Discord bots where every listing is reviewed by hand.
Why this exists
On the large directories, position decides everything, and position is decided by votes, which mostly go to whoever is already at the top. A solid bot in six thousand servers sits past page ten there and never gets found. On top of that, votes increasingly cost something: time, attention, or money. The one lever a small developer has is being turned into a product. Topbot.gg is an attempt to build the same thing without those two properties: a list where a new entry is visible, and a vote that costs twelve hours of patience and nothing else.
How the review works
Every bot is invited to a server and tried out before it goes public. Automated checks run first: the invite is taken apart and the requested permissions shown in plain language, links are checked, duplicates searched for, the text read against our rules. Then a person works through a checklist: does the bot come online, do the advertised features work, are the permissions proportionate, does the description match reality. Anything that fails comes back with the specific points, and you can fix them. The commitment is 72 hours. How long it actually takes, and how many submissions are waiting, is shown in your dashboard.
What we do not do
We do not sell positions in the normal ranking. Featured placements will exist; they are time-limited, always labelled “Sponsored”, at most two per view, and never first in search results. We do not count bought votes. Anyone working around the cooldown with second accounts still sees the visible counter move, but those votes do not feed the ranking, and they are not told. And we do not machine-translate user content. A bilingual listing means two versions written by the developer; if one is missing we show the other with a note.
How it is funded
Right now, it is not. No ads, no subscription, no paid placement; the running costs are low enough for one person to carry. Featured placements are planned, labelled and time-limited. If that ever changes, it will be written here before anyone notices it elsewhere.
Who is behind it
One person in Germany who builds Discord bots themselves. Name, address and contact details are in the imprint, as German law requires. That also means there is no team answering around the clock. What there is instead: someone who made the decisions and can explain them.