Telegram Stars: What They Are, How to Buy, Earn and Withdraw

Telegram Stars are Telegram's in-app currency. You use them to pay for digital goods in bots and mini apps, paid posts, channel subscriptions and gifts. You can buy Stars in the Telegram app, through @PremiumBot or on Fragment, and channel owners and bot developers can withdraw the Stars they earn via Fragment as Gram cryptocurrency. Below are all the options, the numbers from Telegram's official terms, and the catches that trip people up.

What are Telegram Stars?

Stars are virtual items kept in a personal balance on your Telegram account. Telegram launched them in June 2024 so bots and mini apps could sell digital goods and services without breaking Apple's and Google's rules, which require digital purchases inside apps to go through their own payment systems. As a result, any bot selling something digital inside Telegram (an ebook, a course, AI generations, a game item, access to a service) has to accept payment in Stars only.

For buyers, Stars mean paying in a couple of taps without typing card details into every bot. For creators and developers, Stars are income. You can withdraw them via Fragment, spend them on Telegram Ads, or use them for gifts.

Three ways to buy Stars

Telegram offers three official options. Which one works for you depends on your country, your device and how you pay.

1. In the app (App Store or Google Play)

1. Open Settings and tap My Stars.
2. Tap Buy Stars and choose a package.
3. Confirm the payment with Apple or Google, the same as any other in-app purchase.

You can also top up at checkout. If your balance is too low when you're paying in a bot or channel, Telegram offers a package that covers the price. Since the payment runs through the app store, local taxes may be added, and any billing problems go to Apple or Google.

2. Via @PremiumBot

Telegram's official @PremiumBot sells Stars in Telegram Desktop, Telegram Web and the direct-download Android version (the one from telegram.org, not Google Play). Open the bot, choose to buy Stars, pick a package and pay with one of the methods it offers.

3. On Fragment

fragment.com is the official marketplace of the Telegram ecosystem. In its Stars section, you can top up your own balance or someone else's. You pay from a connected wallet in Gram, the cryptocurrency formerly known as Toncoin (TON). It got its new name in June 2026. Telegram itself recommends Fragment for bulk purchases and for people who can't pay through Apple or Google.

We'd stay away from unofficial "cheap Stars" resellers. Telegram doesn't control third-party sellers, so if one of them doesn't deliver, nobody is going to refund you.

How much is a Telegram Star worth?

There's no single price. It depends on how you pay, where you live and local taxes. Here are the reference points at the time of writing:

Most of the gap between what a Star costs and what it pays out goes to app store fees and taxes. So if you're a creator, spending earned Stars on ads for your own channel usually gets you more (a Star is worth more there), and withdrawing makes sense when you actually need the cash. Telegram says both the purchase price and the payout value can change.

What you can spend them on

The most common use is digital goods in bots and mini apps: ebooks, courses, AI generations, in-game items, access to services. The bot sends an invoice with a Pay button, and the Stars are charged instantly.

Channels give you a few more options. A paid post shows up as a blurred photo or video with a price on it. Once you pay, it opens up and stays available to you even if the creator deletes the post or the whole channel. Channel subscriptions work through a paid invite link: you pay Stars every month for access to a private channel, the subscription renews automatically, and you can cancel it from your Stars page.

The rest fits in a table.

Some services outside Telegram take Stars through their bots too. That's how we set up payments for SocProfile Pro, our ad-free link-in-bio page with view and click analytics: you can pay for it with Telegram Stars.

If a bot took your Stars and didn't deliver, send it the /paysupport command. Developers can refund Stars with no penalty. If they refuse, copy the transaction ID from your Stars page in Settings and report it to Telegram.

Who can earn Stars

Channel owners, group owners, bot developers and regular users can all receive Stars, just in different ways.

Channel owners

• Paid posts. Attach a photo or video, make it paid and set a price in Stars.
• Paid subscriptions. In Invite Links, create a link with a monthly Star fee. This fits a private channel with exclusive content.
• Star reactions. Turn on paid reactions in your channel's reaction settings so readers can tip right under your posts.
• Suggested posts. Enable Direct Messages for your channel, and advertisers can send you paid post offers.
• Gifts. Anything gifted to your channel can be converted into Stars.

Bot and mini app developers

Your bot sends an invoice in the XTR currency (the Bot API code for Stars), the user pays, and the Stars land in the bot's balance. Telegram's "Bot Payments API for Digital Goods and Services" guide covers the implementation. Mini apps can also run affiliate programs that pay a commission in Stars to people who bring in buyers.

Regular users and groups

You can charge Stars for messages from strangers, or for messages in a group you own. In private chats this requires Telegram Premium, and the setting lives under Settings → Privacy and Security → Messages. You keep 85% of the Stars.

If your channel is brand new, build the audience first. Paid posts and subscriptions only work when there's someone around to buy them. Our guide to using your Instagram link in bio shows one easy way to send followers to your channel.

Withdrawing Stars through Fragment

Earned Stars are withdrawn through Fragment and arrive in your crypto wallet as Gram. Before you start, check four rules from Telegram's official terms and documentation.

First, there's a 21-day holding period. Stars become available for withdrawal or ads 21 days after you receive them, counted separately for each incoming payment, because a buyer can still ask Apple or Google for a refund during that window. Second, you need at least 1,000 Stars of available balance to start a withdrawal (per Telegram's API documentation).

Third, only the owner of the channel or bot can withdraw, and you'll need your two-step verification password. And finally, earned Stars don't last forever. If you don't withdraw or use them within three years, they're forfeited.

Step by step

1. Turn on Two-Step Verification in Settings → Privacy and Security if you haven't already.
2. Open your channel → Edit (or Manage Channel) → Statistics → Monetization. For a bot, the owner can find the Star balance in the bot's settings.
3. Tap the option to withdraw Stars, choose the amount and enter your two-step verification password.
4. A Fragment page opens. Connect your wallet (Tonkeeper, for example) and confirm.
5. The Gram arrives in your wallet. You can hold it, exchange it on a crypto exchange, or spend it on ads and Fragment services.

You don't have to withdraw at all. Stars can pay for Telegram Ads for your own channel or bot, and the buy-ads option is in the same Monetization section. Each Star gets you $0.02 of ad credit, which is more than it's worth as a withdrawal.

Stars are also a separate thing from official ad revenue. Owners of public channels with at least 1,000 subscribers receive 50% of the revenue from Telegram Ads shown in their channel, but that money is paid in Gram, not Stars, and can be withdrawn after 2 days.

Taxes and scams

Telegram doesn't calculate or withhold taxes on withdrawals. Reporting that income under your local laws is on you.

Staying safe mostly comes down to a few habits:

• use only the official Telegram apps and the official fragment.com site;
• never share your two-step verification password or the recovery phrase for your wallet;
• don't pay for fake purchases or reactions, since Telegram can deduct Stars tied to invalid activity even after you've withdrawn;
• ignore bots that promise to "double" your Stars or sell them at a steep discount.

If you sell paid content, put every entry point on one page: your channel, the paid subscription link, your bot and your other socials. With SocProfile you can build that page for free and use it as the single link in your Instagram or TikTok bio.

If we were in your shoes, we'd buy Stars only through official channels and put earned Stars toward ads for our own channel first, since a Star is worth noticeably less as a withdrawal. Cash out when you need the money, and don't let a balance sit for three years.

Frequently asked questions