How to Transfer Ownership of a Discord Server
One switch, two-factor required, and no route back unless the new owner hands it to you.
How to transfer ownership of a Discord server: open Server Settings, then Members, find the new owner, open the three-dot menu beside their name and choose Transfer Ownership. Tick the confirmation box and enter your two-factor code. The transfer is instant, the person must already be a member, and only they can give it back.
Discord requires two-factor authentication on your account to complete it, and the button stays inactive until the confirmation box is ticked.
The transfer is immediate and cannot be reversed from your side. The new owner can transfer it back, and that is the only route.
The recipient must already be a member of the server. You cannot transfer to somebody who has not joined.
What moves with the crown is everything the server has built, and the member count is the part a new owner inherits on day one. If the server is being handed over to grow rather than to wind down, Discord members add to that public count shown on the invite; they do not add anyone who talks in the channels.
The irreversibility is the part worth taking seriously, because it is absolute and Discord support will not undo it.
Server ownership is a single role held by one account. It outranks every permission, cannot be overridden by any role configuration, and includes the ability to delete the server entirely. Transferring it hands over all of that at once.
Once transferred, you become an ordinary member unless the new owner gives you a role. If they remove your roles, ban you, or simply stop responding, you have no recourse — Discord treats ownership as settled and does not arbitrate disputes about who should have it.
This matters because the most common reason for transferring is temporary: somebody is going away, somebody wants help running things, somebody is taking over for a season. In every one of those cases there is a better option.
An administrator role grants nearly everything ownership does, including managing roles, channels, members and settings. The two things it does not grant are deleting the server and transferring ownership — which are exactly the two things you would not want a temporary stand-in to have.
So the honest rule: transfer ownership when you are genuinely leaving for good and trust the person completely. For everything else, promote them to administrator and keep the owner role.
The sequence
Click the server name at the top of the channel list and choose Server Settings.
Open Members in the left menu. The list is searchable, which matters on a large server.
Find the person, click the three dots beside their name, and choose Transfer Ownership.
A dialog appears with a confirmation checkbox. Tick it, enter your two-factor code, and confirm. The change is instant.
Making sure it goes to the right account
The member list shows display names and server nicknames, and those are not unique. Two people in the same server can both appear as Alex, and an impersonator can copy a trusted member's nickname and avatar exactly.
What is unique is the username, the handle Discord moved everyone to when it retired the old number tags. Click the person in the member list and read the username on their profile card, then compare it with the one they give you in a direct message. If anything differs, stop.
On a server with history, it is also worth sending the request through a channel you already trust, such as a call or a long-running DM, rather than accepting a claim made in a public channel. Ownership requests are a known social-engineering target precisely because the transfer cannot be reversed.
Before you hand it over
A transfer moves the owner role and nothing else, so a few things are worth settling while you still hold it.
Talk through the roles. Decide with the new owner whether you keep an administrator role, and write it down somewhere both of you can see. After the transfer it is their decision, not yours.
Check the bots. A bot keeps running after the transfer, but its dashboard or premium plan is often tied to the account that set it up. If that account is yours, the new owner may not be able to change the bot's settings until it is re-linked to theirs.
And tell the moderators. A change at the top surprises a team more than it surprises members, and a short note in the staff channel avoids a week of people asking who to go to.
The two-factor requirement
Discord requires 2FA enabled on your own account before it will allow a transfer.
If you do not have it, the option appears and fails, which reads as a bug. Enable it first in User Settings under My Account.
This is a protection against a compromised account giving away a server, and it is not optional.
Servers with the 2FA requirement enabled for moderation actions impose it on administrators too, which is worth turning on regardless for any server of size.
Doing it on mobile
Tap the server name, then the settings gear, then Members.
Tap the person, and the ownership option is in the actions that appear.
The same two-factor requirement applies, and the same confirmation.
The mobile layout has changed more often than the desktop one, so if the option is missing, doing it from a computer is the reliable route.
Administrator, which is usually the right answer
In Server Settings under Roles, create or edit a role and enable Administrator.
That grants every permission in the server, bypasses channel overrides, and lets the person do essentially everything day to day.
What it does not grant: deleting the server, transferring ownership, and changing the server's two-factor requirement.
For a co-runner, a moderator team lead, or somebody covering while you are away, this is the proportionate tool and it is reversible in one click. What a Discord server is explains how roles and permissions stack, and unbanning someone on Discord covers the moderation tools an administrator inherits.
What happens to a server with no active owner
Nothing automatic. Discord does not reassign ownership when an owner goes inactive or deletes their account.
A server whose owner disappears keeps running, with administrators able to do most things and nobody able to delete it or transfer it. That state can persist indefinitely.
If the owner's account is deleted, the server remains and ownership stays with the deleted account. Discord support occasionally intervenes in clear cases, and it is not something to rely on.
Which is the practical argument for transferring deliberately while you can rather than letting an account lapse — a community left in that state cannot be fully administered by anybody ever again.
A server that is handed over cleanly keeps what it was worth: its members, its history and its public member count, the number a visitor reads before joining. Members for a Discord server can raise that number for a new owner starting a fresh push; the conversation still has to come from the people already there. Our Discord guides cover the rest of the server settings.
Questions people ask about Discord server ownership
Where is the transfer ownership option?
Server Settings, then Members, then the three-dot menu beside the person. It requires two-factor authentication on your account.
Can I undo a transfer?
Not from your side. Only the new owner can transfer it back, and Discord support does not reverse ownership transfers.
Why is the option greyed out?
Usually because you do not have two-factor authentication enabled. The recipient also has to already be a member of the server.
What do I keep after transferring?
Nothing automatically. You become an ordinary member unless the new owner assigns you a role.
Should I transfer or promote to administrator?
Promote, in almost every case. Administrator grants everything except deleting the server and transferring ownership, and it is reversible.
What if the owner's account is deleted?
The server continues with ownership attached to the deleted account. Nobody can delete or transfer it, and that state can last indefinitely.
Keep reading
- members for a Discord server — A server is worth transferring because of who is in it, and the hardest part of building one is that nobody joins an empty room — which is what members for a Discord server addresses.
- how roles and permissions work — The difference between owner and administrator is the whole decision here, and how roles and permissions work sets it out.
- the moderation tools that come with it — Whoever takes the server inherits the moderation queue, and the moderation tools that come with it covers the main ones.