The best Telegram subscription bots, compared

Most comparisons of Telegram subscription bots list features: coupons, analytics, branded pages. Those matter later. The first questions are about money, because a bot that your fans cannot pay through earns you nothing, however many features it has.

Judge every option on six things:

• How fans can pay. Card, PayPal, crypto, Telegram Stars or mobile money. If most of your fans pay with mobile money and never use a card online, a card-only checkout loses you most of them before they start.
• How you are paid out, and in what currency. To a bank, a card, a crypto wallet or a mobile money wallet, and whether you receive your own currency or have to convert from dollars or euros.
• Fees. A percentage of each payment, a flat monthly price, or both. Add the payment provider's own costs if the tool does not include them.
• Plan lengths. Monthly only, or weekly, 90-day and lifetime plans too. Short plans help new fans say yes; long plans mean fewer renewals to chase.
• WhatsApp and Snapchat. If you also run a paid WhatsApp group or Snapchat private story, one dashboard for all of them saves you work.
• Fit for your country. Whether the tool can take payments from your fans and pay you where you live.

Here is how the four options compare on those six points. Competitor fees change often, so the figures below are as published on each company's own pages at the time of writing. Follow the links for the current numbers.

Since August 2024, a Telegram channel owner can create an invite link that charges a monthly fee in Telegram Stars. Open your channel settings, go to Channel Type, then Manage Invite Links, create a link and turn on Require Monthly Fee. Telegram announced it here. There is no bot to add and nothing to install.

How fans pay. Fans pay with Stars, which they buy through in-app purchases in the Telegram apps or through @PremiumBot. A fan who already buys apps with a card or an app store balance will find this easy. A fan who only pays with mobile money may not be able to buy Stars at all.

How you are paid. You collect Stars, and turning them into money happens through Telegram's own process, on Telegram's terms. Telegram's terms for Stars also say buying and using Stars may be subject to additional restrictions in certain jurisdictions. Read them before you build your income on Stars.

Plans. Billing is monthly. There are no weekly passes, 90-day plans or lifetime access. Star subscriptions were announced for channels.

One more rule worth knowing. Telegram requires bots to use Telegram Stars for digital goods and services sold inside its apps. Check each tool's own explanation of how its payments work.

For a closer look at what reaches your pocket from Stars versus mobile money, read Telegram Stars vs mobile money.

InviteMember is a membership platform with a deep feature set. Its homepage says it can sell access to Telegram channels and groups and to Discord roles from the same membership platform.

How fans pay. You connect payment gateways, and fans pay through them. InviteMember's homepage shows Stripe, PayPal, Skrill, CoinPayments, Paystack and Razorpay, and says you can accept cards, crypto and manual payments through access codes. Mobile money is not something it describes; it depends on what your chosen gateway offers. If you use a gateway such as Paystack, check the provider's rules on what you can sell.

How you are paid. The money runs through the gateways you connect, so where it lands, in what currency and how fast depends on the gateway, not on InviteMember.

Fees. At the time of writing, InviteMember's pricing page lists subscription plans priced by how much you sell each month. The same page's FAQ describes transaction fees that are withheld through Stripe or collected monthly for other gateways, and none for access codes. Your gateway's own fees come on top. See their pricing page for the current amounts.

Plans. This is where InviteMember is strongest. Its homepage says plans can run from 1 day to an entire lifetime, and you can create as many as you want. The pricing page also lists coupons, free trials and a membership page.

WhatsApp and Snapchat. Not covered. It is built for Telegram and Discord.

The trade off. A flat monthly price is good value once you sell a lot, and expensive while you are small. You also have to open and run your own gateway accounts, which can be hard in countries those gateways do not serve.

Tribute is a Telegram-native bot that works inside chats and channels, so fans subscribe without leaving Telegram.

How fans pay. According to Tribute's own guide to Telegram payment methods, fans can pay by card from any country, or with crypto in the chat.

How you are paid. The same guide says payouts go to a card in euros or to a USDT wallet, twice a month. If you live somewhere euros are easy to spend, or you already hold USDT, that works well. If you need your own currency in a mobile money wallet, you have a conversion step on every payout.

Fees. At the time of writing, Tribute describes its fee as a 10% commission on completed transactions, with payment processing fees included and no monthly or subscription fee. You pay nothing until a fan pays you.

Plans. The guide mentions automatic renewal, payment retries, trial periods, discounts and gift subscriptions. It does not list exact plan lengths, so see their site for what is available.

WhatsApp and Snapchat. Not covered. Tribute is built for Telegram.

The trade off. One simple percentage with no monthly bill is easy to plan around while you are small. As you grow, a 10% cut is a bigger share than a flat fee or a smaller percentage would be.

VIPpass is for verified 18+ creators who run private Telegram channels and supergroups, WhatsApp groups or Snapchat private stories. It never hosts your content; your content stays on your own account.

How fans pay. Fans pay through your VIPpass link with mobile money, card or USDT, depending on their country. They do not create an account: they confirm they are 18 or older, pick a plan and pay, usually in under two minutes. Nobody gets in until the payment provider confirms the money, so screenshot receipts stop working. The methods available in each country are listed as it opens. More on payments.

How you are paid. To one mobile money wallet or bank account in your own verified name, after a short holding period. Creators in Nigeria, Cameroon, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa are paid in their own currency; everyone else in US dollars. You do not open a gateway account yourself.

Fees. Free to start, with 2 live spaces and unlimited fans, and a 5% service fee on each payment that already includes payment provider costs. Pro is $18.99 a month for unlimited spaces and a 4% fee. No setup fees. You choose whether the fee is added to the fan's price or taken from your earnings: on a $10 plan on Free, the fan pays $10.50 or you receive $9.50. See pricing.

Plans. 7, 30 or 90 days, or lifetime, priced in your currency.

On Telegram. The VIPpass Bot, an admin of your channel or supergroup, approves the join request of each paying fan, removes expired members within minutes and removes anyone who gets in without paying, such as through an old link. It alerts you if it loses its admin rights. Fans get renewal reminders 3 days and 1 day before their plan ends and on the day, and can renew with /renew. Basic groups must be converted to supergroups first.

WhatsApp and Snapchat. Covered, with an honest limit. These platforms have no official tools for managing private groups, and VIPpass never uses unofficial bots, so you get a task list of who to add within 24 hours and who to remove, plus a daily digest. Read more on paid WhatsApp groups and Snapchat private stories.

The trade off. Mobile money is never charged automatically, so fans renew from a reminder link rather than being billed on a saved card. VIPpass is also onboarding creators from a waitlist, so you cannot start today the way you can with the others.

None of these is the best for everyone. Here is where each one is the better fit.

Choose Telegram Stars if

• Your fans already buy Stars or pay through an app store.
• You run a channel and a single monthly price suits you.
• You want to start today with nothing to set up, and you are comfortable with Telegram's process for cashing out.

Choose InviteMember if

• Your fans pay by card or PayPal, and you can open a gateway account such as Stripe where you live.
• You want many plan lengths, trials and coupons, or you also sell Discord roles.
• You sell enough each month that a flat subscription costs less than a percentage would.

Choose Tribute if

• Your fans pay by card or crypto, from many countries.
• You are happy to be paid in euros to a card or in USDT.
• You want no monthly bill and one simple percentage while you grow.

Choose VIPpass if

• Most of your fans pay with mobile money, not cards.
• You want to be paid in your own currency, to a mobile money wallet or bank account in your name.
• You also run a paid WhatsApp group or Snapchat private story and want them in one dashboard.
• You want 7-day and 90-day plans as well as monthly ones.

If you are still setting up your space, start with how to set up a paid Telegram channel, then read Telegram payment methods in Africa for a wider look at how fans can pay.