Discord Nitro Basic is a cheaper subscription for custom emotes and bigger uploads

Discord will roll out a new Nitro Basic subscription starting on October 20, dropping the entry price of the boosted service to $2.99 a month.

Discord Nitro Basic is exactly what it sounds like: a heavily trimmed-down version of the platform's premium subscription. The standard version of Discord Nitro remains $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year, so Nitro Basic represents a significant discount, but as Discord explained in a blog post, it has shed several features to achieve that reduced price. 

The main benefit of Discord Nitro Basic is arguably the larger limit on file uploads – up to 50MB, though that's half the size of standard Nitro's 100MB. Nitro Basic also lets you use custom (including animated) emojis and stickers – another big sell for many users, especially folks who are active in multiple servers – including over 300 Nitro-exclusive stickers. Plus you'll get a little Nitro badge on your Discord profile and access to custom video backgrounds.

Compared to standard Nitro, the biggest missing feature is probably HD streaming, with 4K 60 FPS support staying exclusive to the standard sub. Nitro Basic subs also won't get the boosted 200 server limit, Discord Activity access, longer messages (up to 4,000 characters), custom server profiles, or additional cosmetics like animated avatars and profile banners. This does fit Discord's pitch for Basic – "some of Nitro’s most-loved features, at a fraction of the cost" – with some putting in some real work there. 

Discord Nitro Basic will see a staggered global rollout. Pricing is set at $2.99 a month for the US, and Discord advises non-US users to check the Nitro tab under user settings for an exact breakdown once Basic comes to their region. 

Earlier this year, Discord voice chat was finally added to the Xbox version of the app, a few months after PlayStation began its own Discord partnership.