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Orpheus as a Hydra alternative

Removed every music feature in February 2023, and carries on as a bot without music. We last checked on 17 September 2026, and every part of what happened links to its source.

What happened to Hydra

31 January 2023Hydra’s team received a letter from YouTube’s legal team, which gave them seven days to comply.hydra.bot/articles/why-is-hydra-dropping-music-features
7 February 2023Hydra removed all of its music features. Its article says the three-person team didn’t have the means to fight it.hydra.bot/articles/why-is-hydra-dropping-music-features

Where Hydra is now

As we found it on 17 September 2026.

Hydra still runs as a Discord bot, with tools like reaction roles and a message builder, on free and premium plans. It doesn’t play music.hydra.bot

How Orpheus is different

Orpheus only does music, so you can keep Hydra for everything else and add Orpheus beside it.
Orpheus has no paid plan. 24/7, lyrics, filters, autoplay and 50 saved playlists each are free in every server.
Orpheus plays YouTube, SoundCloud and Bandcamp, and plays a Spotify link by finding a matching copy of the recording.

What Orpheus gives every server

Each line links to the docs page that describes it. For bots that still charge for some of these, see the full comparison.

Price: Free. There’s no paid plan
24/7 in voice: Free
Saved playlists: Free: 50 per person, 500 tracks each. One import brings in 200
Filters: Free: 7 presets
Queue length: No set limit. A playlist link adds up to 200 tracks at a time
Volume: Free: 0 to 200
Lyrics: Free
Autoplay: Free
Web dashboard: Free

Switching over

Orpheus asks for seven permissions when you add it, and Administrator isn’t one of them.

Step 1
Add Orpheus
You need Manage Server in the server you’re adding it to. Then join a voice channel and type /play with a song name or a link.
Add to Discord
How to add a music bot to Discord, step by step
Step 2
Bring your playlists
Hydra’s music features are gone, so there’s nothing to bring over from it. If your playlists live on Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud or Bandcamp, paste a public playlist link into /playlist import.
One import holds up to 200 tracks. If the link has more, Orpheus offers to split it into several playlists and reads up to 500 tracks from one link. Spotify only gives Orpheus the first 200 of a playlist. Private playlists come back empty. Importing and exporting playlists
Step 3
Play it anywhere
/playlist play adds a saved playlist to the queue. Playlists belong to your account and work in any server with Orpheus. You can keep 50, with up to 500 tracks in each. The dashboard’s Your playlists page can import and play them too.

If you get stuck, ask in the support channel.

Orpheus next to other bots

Add Orpheus to your server

It asks for seven permissions, and Administrator isn't one of them. You can remove it from your server at any time.

Add to Discord Read the docs