Carl-bot Review 2025 — Commands, Reaction Roles, Automod & Setup

Carl-bot (also written as Carlbot) is a highly customizable Discord bot best known for its best-in-class reaction roles, powerful automod, comprehensive logging, and a flexible tag (custom command) system. Used by millions of Discord servers, Carl-bot consistently ranks as one of the most capable free Discord bots available. This Carl-bot review covers all major features, commands, and setup tips for 2025.

What is Carl-bot?

Carl-bot is a multipurpose Discord bot developed by Botlabs. It is free to use with no paywalled core features. Its strengths include an advanced reaction role builder, fine-grained automoderation, a detailed logging system, starboard, welcome messages, and a scripting-capable tag system for custom commands.

Carl-bot Features

Reaction Roles — The most powerful free reaction role system on Discord. Supports exclusive roles, required roles, role limits, button roles, dropdown roles, and more.
Automod — Filter invites, links, bad words, caps, emojis, spoilers, and spam with configurable actions.
Logging — Log message edits and deletes, member joins and leaves, bans, role changes, and channel changes to dedicated log channels.
Tags / Custom Commands — Create scripted commands with conditionals, variables, random picks, and user lookups. Far more powerful than basic custom commands in MEE6 or Dyno.
Starboard — Pin popular messages to a dedicated starboard channel based on reaction count.
Welcome & Farewell Messages — Send custom messages with rich embeds when members join or leave.
Slowmode — Automatically apply or remove channel slowmode based on message volume.
Reminders & Giveaways — Set personal reminders or run server giveaways.

Carl-bot Commands List

Carl-bot uses slash commands and a configurable prefix (default: !). Here are the key Carl-bot commands:

Moderation Commands

!ban @user [days] [reason] — Ban a member, optionally deleting message history
!unban @user — Unban a member
!kick @user [reason] — Kick a member
!mute @user [duration] [reason] — Temporarily mute a member
!unmute @user — Remove a mute
!warn @user [reason] — Warn a member and create a log entry
!warns @user — View a member's warning history
!purge [number] — Bulk delete messages
!purge user @user [number] — Delete messages from a specific user

Reaction Role Commands

!rr make — Launch the reaction role setup wizard
!rr add [message ID] [emoji] [@role] — Add a reaction role to a message
!rr remove [message ID] [emoji] — Remove a reaction role
!rr list — List all reaction role setups in the server
!rr exclusive [group] — Make roles in a group mutually exclusive

Utility Commands

!whois @user — Detailed user info including account age and roles
!serverinfo — Server statistics including member count and boosts
!roleinfo @role — Information about a specific role
!tag [name] — Trigger a saved custom tag/command
!remind [time] [message] — Set a personal reminder
!giveaway start [time] [prize] — Start a timed giveaway

How to Set Up Carl-bot Reaction Roles

Carl-bot's reaction roles are the most flexible free option on Discord. Here's how to set them up:

Invite Carl-bot from carl.gg and go to the web dashboard
Navigate to Reaction Roles
Click Create new message
Choose a channel and write your message or pick an existing message
Add emoji–role pairs
Choose a mode: Normal, Unique (one at a time), Reversed, or Verify
Click Save and the bot will post (or edit) the reaction role message

Carl-bot also supports button roles and dropdown (select menu) roles — making it the most modern reaction role system among free Discord bots.

Carl-bot Automod Setup

Carl-bot's automod is configured from the web dashboard at carl.gg. You can set up:

Word and phrase filters with wildcard support
Invite link blocking with a whitelist for approved servers
Link/URL blocking
Caps lock filter (configurable percentage threshold)
Emoji spam filter
Mass mention filter
Duplicate message filter (anti-spam)
Automated escalation: warn → mute → kick → ban based on infraction count

Carl-bot vs MEE6 vs Dyno

Reaction Roles: Carl-bot wins — the most powerful free reaction role system
Leveling: MEE6 wins — Carl-bot has basic leveling, MEE6 is more polished
Automod: Carl-bot wins — most granular configuration of the three
Logging: Carl-bot wins — most detailed logging options
Custom Commands: Carl-bot wins — tag scripting engine is far more capable
Price: Carl-bot wins — almost fully free
Ease of Use: Dyno wins — slightly simpler dashboard for beginners

How to Add Carl-bot to Your Discord Server

Go to carl.gg
Click "Invite Carl-bot"
Select your server and grant the required permissions
Configure Carl-bot via the web dashboard at carl.gg

Conclusion

Carl-bot is the best free Discord bot for server owners who need powerful reaction roles, detailed logging, and flexible automod without paying a cent. If you manage a large or complex Discord server, Carl-bot is arguably the most capable free management bot available in 2025.

Discover more top Discord bots at dlist.space.