Quick Answer
Discord does not show a server’s creation date anywhere in its normal settings, so you cannot just open Server Settings and read it. The reliable way to find it is: turn on Developer Mode in Discord, right-click (or long-press) the server icon and choose Copy Server ID, then paste that long number into a Discord ID creation-date checker such as discord.id or snowsta.mp. The tool decodes the ID and shows the exact date and time the server was created. You do not need to be the server owner or an admin — any member can copy a server’s ID this way.
Why Discord Hides the Creation Date
If you have ever poked around Server Settings looking for a “Created on” line, you already know the frustrating truth: there isn’t one. Discord shows member join dates in some places, channel topics, and server boosts, but it never displays the date the server itself was created to regular members — or even to the owner, in the settings panel.
That is not an oversight you can fix with a setting. Discord simply never built a “server birthday” field into the app interface. The creation date does exist, though — it is baked into the server’s ID itself. Every Discord server, user, channel, and message has a unique snowflake ID, and the first part of that number encodes the exact millisecond it was created. So instead of looking for a date field, you extract the ID and decode it. Once you know that trick, checking any server’s age takes less than a minute.
Method 1: Copy the Server ID With Developer Mode (Desktop and Mobile App)
This is the method every other guide skips over or explains badly, and it is the one you should learn first, because it works inside the official Discord app on both computer and phone — no browser URL tricks required.
Step 1: Turn on Developer Mode
Developer Mode adds a “Copy ID” option to right-click menus throughout Discord. Without it, you cannot copy a server ID at all.
On desktop (Windows, Mac, or Linux):
- Open Discord and click the gear icon next to your username at the bottom left to open User Settings.
- Go to Advanced in the left sidebar.
- Toggle on Developer Mode.
On mobile (iOS or Android):
- Tap your profile picture at the bottom right to open your profile.
- Tap the gear icon to open Settings.
- Scroll to App Settings and tap Advanced.
- Toggle on Developer Mode.
You only have to do this once. It stays on until you switch it off, and it does not change anything else about how Discord looks or works.
Step 2: Copy the server ID
On desktop, right-click the server’s icon in the left-hand server list and choose Copy Server ID. The ID — a long string of 17 to 19 digits — is now on your clipboard.
On mobile, long-press the server icon (or open the server, tap its name at the top, and look for the copy option in the server menu, depending on your app version) and choose Copy Server ID. If you only see “Copy ID” on a channel or a message instead, you have tapped the wrong item — back out and long-press the server icon itself.
Step 3: Paste the ID into a creation-date checker
Open a Discord ID creation-date tool in your browser — discord.id and snowsta.mp are the two best-known options — paste the server ID into the ID field, and submit it. The tool instantly returns the creation date and time, usually along with how long ago that was and the raw Unix timestamp.
That is the whole method. No login to the tool is needed, no bot has to be invited to the server, and the server’s owner is never notified. Copying a server ID is a normal, built-in Discord feature, not a hack.
Method 2: Get the Server ID From the Web Browser URL
If you use Discord in a web browser rather than the app, there is an even faster shortcut — but it only works on the web version, and it is the step where most people grab the wrong number.
- Open Discord in your browser and click into the server you want to check.
- Look at the address bar. The URL looks like discord.com/channels/111111111111111111/222222222222222222.
- The FIRST long number is the server ID. The second long number is the channel ID — do not use that one.
- Copy the first number and paste it into a creation-date checker, exactly as in Method 1.
The common mistake here is copying the second number and then wondering why the tool says the “server” was created on a completely different date — that date is actually when that channel was created. If your result looks wrong, check which number you copied first.
Method 3: Decode the Snowflake Yourself (No Third-Party Tool)
If you would rather not paste an ID into a website at all, you can decode it yourself, because Discord’s snowflake format is public. A Discord snowflake is a 64-bit number: the top bits store the number of milliseconds since Discord’s own epoch — 1 January 2015, 00:00:00 UTC — and the remaining bits store worker, process, and increment data.
In practice, that means: take the server ID, shift it right by 22 bits, add 1420070400000 (the Discord epoch in milliseconds), and convert the result to a date. You can do this in a few lines of code, in a spreadsheet, or with any online snowflake decoder. Most readers will find Method 1 faster, but knowing the maths explains why the checker tools work — and why they agree with each other. They are not guessing; they are all reading the same timestamp out of the same number.
What About Server Settings, Bots, and Listing Sites?
You will see several other suggestions floating around. Here is an honest assessment of each, so you do not waste time on them.
Server Settings: As explained above, there is no creation-date field in Server Settings, for owners or members. Anyone claiming otherwise is confusing the server’s creation date with a member’s join date or a channel’s creation date.
Asking the owner or an admin: This works if the owner remembers or kept records, but it is not a reliable method — most owners do not remember the exact day they clicked “Create Server,” and some servers have changed owners since. Use it as a cross-check, not your primary method.
Bots: Some bots can show server info, including the creation date, with a server-info command. This only works if the bot is already in the server and you have permission to use its commands, and inviting a new bot just to check a date is overkill when the ID method takes a minute.
Server listing websites: Sites that list public Discord servers sometimes show a creation or listing date, but that is usually when the server was listed, not when it was created. Treat listing dates as rough clues only.
Oldest messages and channels: Scrolling to the very first message in the oldest channel, or checking the earliest member’s join date, gives you an upper bound — the server cannot be younger than its first message — but channels can be deleted and recreated, so this only ever gives you an approximation.
| Method | Exact date? | Needs owner/admin? | Works for any server? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Developer Mode + ID checker | Yes | No | Yes |
| Browser URL + ID checker | Yes | No | Web version only |
| Snowflake decoding by hand | Yes | No | Yes |
| Server Settings | No — no such field | N/A | No |
| Asking the owner | Sometimes | Yes (access to owner) | Only if they remember |
| Bot server-info command | Yes | Bot must be present | Only servers with that bot |
| Listing sites / oldest messages | Approximate only | No | Rough clue only |
Server ID vs Channel ID vs User ID: Don’t Mix Them Up
This is the single biggest source of wrong answers, so it is worth a clear breakdown:
- Server ID: the first number in a web URL, or what you get from Copy Server ID on the server icon. This is the number you want.
- Channel ID: the second number in a web URL, or what you get from Copy Channel ID on a channel name. Decoding this tells you when that channel was created, not the server.
- User ID: what you get from Copy User ID on someone’s profile. Decoding this tells you when that account was created.
- Message ID: what you get from Copy Message Link or Copy ID on a message. Decoding this tells you when that message was sent.
All four are snowflakes, all four decode to real dates — and that is exactly why a wrong copy gives a plausible-looking but wrong answer. If a server’s “creation date” comes out later than messages you know were posted in it, you almost certainly decoded a channel ID by mistake. Copy the ID again from the server icon and retry.
Is It Safe to Paste a Server ID Into a Checker Tool?
Yes, with one clear boundary. A server ID is a public identifier — it is visible in URLs and copyable by any member by design. Pasting it into a reputable checker reveals nothing private about you or the server’s members.
What you must never paste into any third-party site is your Discord token, your password, a login QR code, or any authorization code. No legitimate creation-date checker asks for those. If a “checker” site asks you to log in with Discord or scan a QR code, close it immediately — that is a token-stealing scam, not a date tool. Stick to tools that take only the ID number and return only a date.
Troubleshooting: When the Date Won’t Come Out Right
“I don’t see Copy Server ID.” Developer Mode is off. Turn it on in User Settings, then Advanced (desktop), or Settings, then Advanced (mobile), and try again. Restarting the app after toggling it can help on older versions.
“The tool says the ID is invalid.” Check for extra spaces, a missing digit, or a pasted URL instead of just the number. The ID should be digits only, 17 to 19 characters long. If you copied from a message link, you probably grabbed a channel or message ID instead.
“The date is later than the server’s first messages.” You decoded a channel ID, not the server ID. Go back and copy from the server icon itself, not from inside a channel.
“The tool’s date differs by a few hours from another tool.” That is almost always a timezone display difference — the underlying timestamp is identical, but one tool shows it in UTC and the other in your local timezone. The calendar date can shift by one day near midnight for this reason; the timestamp itself is exact.
“Developer Mode is on but long-pressing on mobile does nothing.” On some mobile versions, the copy option lives in the server’s header menu rather than on the icon long-press. Open the server, tap its name at the top, and look for Copy ID there.
“Can I check a server I am not a member of?” Only if you can get its server ID somehow — for example, from a public invite URL’s underlying data or from someone who is a member. There is no public Discord directory that lets you look up arbitrary servers by name and read their creation dates.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you see when a Discord server was created without being the owner? Yes. Any member can copy the server ID with Developer Mode enabled and decode it with a creation-date checker. Ownership or admin rights are not required, and the owner is not notified.
Does Discord show the server creation date in Server Settings? No. Discord has never included a creation-date field in Server Settings. The reliable route is the server ID plus a snowflake decoder, as described above.
What is a Discord snowflake ID? A snowflake is Discord’s format for unique IDs. It packs a creation timestamp (milliseconds since 1 January 2015) into the first part of a long number, which is why any server, channel, user, or message ID can be decoded back into an exact creation date and time.
Why does the checker show a different date than the server’s oldest message? Because the server is older than its oldest surviving message. Channels get deleted, messages get purged, and early history is often lost. The snowflake date is the true creation date; the oldest visible message is only the oldest surviving one.
Can you find a Discord server’s age from its invite link? Not directly. An invite link does not contain the server’s creation date. However, if you join (or are already in) the server, you can copy its ID and check it in under a minute. Do not trust third-party sites that claim to reveal a server’s age from an invite code alone without showing you an ID.
Is checking a server’s creation date against Discord’s rules? No. Copying a server ID is a built-in Discord feature, and decoding a public identifier is not automation, scraping, or account abuse. Just do not paste tokens or credentials anywhere, and do not use self-bots or automated scripts to harvest IDs in bulk.
What if the server ID checker site is down? Use another one — discord.id, snowsta.mp, and similar tools all read the same snowflake timestamp, so any working decoder gives the same answer. Or decode the snowflake yourself using the Discord epoch (1 January 2015) as explained in Method 3.
Bottom Line
Discord will not hand you a server’s creation date, but it hides it in plain sight inside the server ID. Enable Developer Mode once, copy the server ID from the server icon, and decode it with any reputable creation-date checker — and you will have the exact date in under a minute, whether you own the server or just joined it yesterday. Remember the one trap to avoid: the server ID is the first number in the web URL and the one attached to the server icon, not the channel number that follows it. Get that right, and every date you look up will be the real one.
Disclaimer: Discord’s interface changes over time, so menu labels such as the exact location of Developer Mode may shift slightly between app versions. The snowflake ID method itself has not changed since Discord launched, because it is built into how Discord IDs work.
