How to make money on Telegram
In our October 2026 snapshot of 86,682 active public Telegram channels, 55.8% showed at least one way of making money in their description or last 100 posts. The most common was Star reactions from readers (28.2%), followed by an advertising contact in the description (26.5%).
How to make money on Telegram: the ways channels actually use
We counted what 86,682 active channels with at least 1,000 subscribers did in their last 100 posts and descriptions. A channel can appear in several rows. The table includes every income signal we measure, including those we only report as a share, such as betting links.
| Way to make money | All channels | 100K+ subscribers | What we counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advertising contact in the description | 26.5% | 35.3% | An “ads” or “cooperation” contact in the channel description: the owner sells posts directly |
| Ad-marked posts | 7.2% | 8.3% | Posts labelled as advertising (erid, #ad, #реклама and similar) |
| Star reactions received | 28.2% | 38.8% | Readers sent Star reactions; Telegram credits the Stars to the channel |
| Paid subscription or VIP links | 4.4% | 6% | Links to subscription bots such as Tribute, or private links sold as VIP access |
| Marketplace links | 7.3% | 6.8% | Links to marketplaces such as Amazon, AliExpress, Ozon or Wildberries |
| Bot and mini app referral links | 10.1% | 14.6% | Referral links to bots and mini apps, outside giveaway, wallet and gift services |
| Crypto exchange links | 2.4% | 4% | Links to crypto exchanges, usually with a referral code |
| Donation links | 2.3% | 1.7% | Donation pages such as Boosty, Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee or Ko-fi |
| Course and checkout links | 0.8% | 0.4% | Checkout pages for courses and digital products |
| Telegram affiliate program links | 0.5% | 0.8% | Telegram affiliate program links that pay commission in Stars |
| Collectible gift links | 0.7% | 1.6% | Links to collectible gifts |
| Gift marketplace links | 0.7% | 1.9% | Links to gift marketplaces |
| Giveaways | 17.3% | 21.6% | Giveaways run with bots or announced in posts |
| Boost requests | 3.1% | 3.2% | Requests for Premium users to boost the channel |
| Betting links | 2.6% | 4.9% | Links to bookmakers and casinos |
Two signals lead and are close: Star reactions reached 28.2% of channels and 26.5% publish a contact for advertisers. Only 7.2% labelled at least one recent post as an ad; labels are mandatory in Russia and rare elsewhere, so that number undercounts ads outside Russian-language channels. Referral links to bots and mini apps follow at 10.1%; no other link-based method reaches more than 7.3% of channels.
44.1% of channels showed none of these signals. That does not prove they earn nothing: deals agreed in private messages, unlabelled ads and Telegram’s own ad revenue are invisible in public posts. It does show that most visible money on Telegram comes from readers and advertisers: Star reactions, the largest stream Telegram itself pays out, reach 28.2% of channels, while Telegram’s own ad revenue share cannot be seen from outside.
Telegram monetization: who pays the channel
Three groups pay Telegram channels. Telegram pays out Stars sent by readers and 50% of the revenue from its own ads in eligible channels. Advertisers pay owners directly for posts. Readers and partners pay through subscriptions, donations and referral commissions. On the share of channels using them, readers’ Stars (28.2%) and advertiser deals (26.5% with an ad contact) are about level; everything else is a niche.
Payout rules in October 2026: one Star pays out $0.013, withdrawals start at 1,000 Stars, Stars become available up to 21 days after they arrive, and payouts go through Fragment in Gram, the coin formerly called Toncoin. See how to withdraw Telegram Stars.
Ways to make money on Telegram by language
Language changes the mix more than any other variable we measured. The table lists every language with at least 347 active channels in the snapshot.
| Language | Channels | Any income signal | Ad contact | Star reactions | Marketplace links | Bot and mini app referrals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russian | 33,351 | 77% | 45.3% | 42.7% | 13.6% | 11.5% |
| English | 9,522 | 48.9% | 16.7% | 20.7% | 4.4% | 12.4% |
| Persian | 9,486 | 50.7% | 30.7% | 17.2% | 0.3% | 11.7% |
| Arabic | 7,482 | 29.5% | 3.8% | 20.6% | 0.7% | 5.1% |
| Chinese | 3,444 | 33.8% | 0.5% | 5.1% | 0.6% | 21.3% |
| Uzbek | 2,894 | 49.4% | 19.1% | 30.2% | 2% | 4.6% |
| Ukrainian | 2,076 | 55.7% | 27.5% | 34.9% | 1.1% | 6.1% |
| Spanish | 1,471 | 34.4% | 4.1% | 14.1% | 8.3% | 4.4% |
| Burmese | 1,106 | 24.8% | 3.2% | 8% | 0.1% | 1.5% |
| French | 682 | 37.1% | 7.8% | 12.2% | 0.7% | 4.4% |
Russian-language channels are the largest group (33,351) and 77% of them show an income signal. Star reactions are most common in Russian channels (42.7%) and least common in Chinese channels (5.1%), which also reflects where readers can buy Stars.
Can you make money on Telegram with a small channel?
| Subscribers | Channels | Any income signal | Star reactions | Median Stars per month | Median ≈ USD per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10K | 3,305 | 45.2% | 19% | 2 | $0.03 |
| 10K–50K | 64,856 | 54.1% | 26.8% | 5 | $0.06 |
| 50K–100K | 10,296 | 61.6% | 31.7% | 12 | $0.16 |
| 100K–500K | 7,340 | 66% | 37.6% | 27 | $0.35 |
| 500K–1M | 513 | 78.6% | 48.9% | 61 | $0.79 |
| 1M+ | 372 | 84.4% | 49.2% | 95 | $1.23 |
Star medians are among channels that received at least one Star. Monthly values use each channel’s own posting pace over its last 100 posts.
Among 64,856 channels with 10,000–50,000 subscribers, 54.1% show an income signal and 26.8% received Stars. In channels above 100,000 subscribers the share receiving Stars is 37.6% at 100K–500K, 48.9% at 500K–1M, 49.2% at 1M+. Size helps, but the bigger jump is in what a channel is about: see which topics earn the most Stars.
How to make money on Telegram app without a channel
Users without an audience have fewer options. 0.5% of channels posted Telegram affiliate links, which pay the referrer a commission in Stars when referred users pay inside a mini app. 0.7% linked collectible gifts, which can be bought and resold on Telegram’s marketplace for a fee. Bot referrals (10.1% of channels) point to games, VPN and AI bots, trading bots and “earning” mini apps; read what Telegram earning bots promise before spending time on them, and see how task scams recruit on Telegram.
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
Can you really make money on Telegram?
Yes, but most of the money goes to a few channels. Telegram passes Stars from reactions to channel owners and shares 50% of its ad revenue with eligible public channels, while owners also sell ads directly. In our snapshot the median channel that received Stars earned about $0.08 a month from them at its posting pace.
What is the easiest way to make money on Telegram?
For a channel with an audience: switching on Star reactions, which needs no deals (28.2% of active channels receive Stars), and selling advertising (26.5% list an ad contact). Stars are small for most channels; ads usually bring more but need buyers.
How do I make money on Telegram without a channel?
Common routes are Telegram’s affiliate program for mini apps, which pays commission in Stars, and buying and reselling collectible gifts. Treat “earn by tapping” bots and paid tasks with caution: they promise rewards that may never be paid.
Does Telegram pay in real money?
Telegram credits Stars and ad revenue that channel owners can withdraw through Fragment. Stars pay out at $0.013 each, from a minimum of 1,000 Stars; payouts are made in Gram, the coin formerly called Toncoin.
Find channels to compare
The tables above are a fixed snapshot. To look at live channels, continue in semantic channel search: try how to make money on telegram, telegram channel monetization or earn money telegram channel. Before paying for a placement, check a channel’s real audience with the channel audit and its sellers with the network checker.
Sources and method
We read the last 100 public posts of 107,721 Telegram channels with at least 1,000 subscribers, collected from the web version of each channel between October 26, 2026 and October 28, 2026. 86,682 of them posted within 30 days of collection and form the base of every share on this page. The window covers 9,008,552 posts; for the median channel it spans 54 days. Channels with fewer than 20 posts are left out.
Star reactions are the paid reactions shown under each post: the counter is the number of Stars readers sent, and Telegram credits those Stars to the channel. Dollar values use the creator payout rate of $0.013 per Star; they are estimates of the Stars’ payout value, not of anyone’s bank balance. Links are classified by domain and by Telegram link type (bots, mini apps, invite links, gift and boost links). Ad markers are text labels such as erid, #ad or #реклама; unlabelled ads are not counted. Topic and language are neural-network labels from our channel index; channel creation periods come from the numeric channel ID and are intervals, not dates.
Telegram rules and prices were checked on October 28, 2026: Telegram client configuration reference (core.telegram.org/api/config): stars_usd_withdraw_rate_x1000 = 1300, stars_usd_sell_rate_x1000 = 1410 and the Star limits; Telegram Content Creator Rewards terms (telegram.org/tos/content-creator-rewards); Telegram Terms of Service for Bot Developers (telegram.org/tos/bot-developers), section 6.2. We measure what public posts show. Private channels, deleted posts, Telegram’s own ad revenue, paid media inside unopened posts and private deals are not visible to us. All numbers are baked into this page from one snapshot; nothing is fetched when you open it.