Create a Paid Group
Set up a paid Telegram group with automated access: a private supergroup, your own bot with two admin rights, single-use invite links, plans, trials and the mistakes that leak access.
A paid group differs from a paid channel in one way that changes everything: members can talk to each other. A channel is a broadcast; a group is a room. By the end of this page, your room admits paying members with a personal invite link each, removes them when they stop paying and never leaks a link a non-payer can use.
What you need
- A Telegram account that administers the group, or is about to create it.
- A Subscriby project on Free, Starter or Growth (activate a plan, then create a project).
- One way to get paid (choosing a provider), or Telegram Stars to start with nothing.
Create the group as a supergroup
Create a private group
Create a new group in Telegram and keep it private, which is the default. Name it the way your brand reads: that name is what members see when the bot lets them in.
Make it a supergroup on day one
A basic group stops at 200 members; a supergroup holds far more and brings the admin tools you will want, such as slow mode, per-member restrictions and pinned messages that stay pinned. Telegram converts a group to a supergroup when you switch on certain settings and there is no way back, so do it now rather than at member 199. Subscriby links both kinds, as Group or Supergroup resources (the resource kinds).
Create your own bot
Open @BotFather and send /newbot
Open a chat with @BotFather and send /newbot.
Name it and copy the token
Answer the two prompts, a display name such as "Premium Desk Bot" and a username ending in bot such as @premiumdesk_bot, and copy the HTTP API token BotFather hands back. Treat it like a password; the full walkthrough is Connect Your Telegram Bot.
Make the bot an administrator of the group
Add the bot to the group, open the group's administrators and promote it with at least Invite Users via Link and Ban Users. The first lets it generate a fresh single-use invite link for each paying member; the second lets it remove members whose subscription ends. Without both, the automation has nothing to work with (why the rights matter).
Connect the bot and link the group
Connect the bot
On All Projects, open the project's Actions menu, choose Connect Telegram, paste the token and click Connect.
Link the group as a resource
Open Project Resources, click Create New Resource, pick Group or Supergroup and click Send Request; the bot sends you a button that opens Telegram's picker, and you pick the group. If you promoted the bot yourself first, it registers the group on its own and messages you. Refresh the page and switch the resource Active (linking a place).
Connect a payment method
Under Payment Methods, connect at least one gateway: Stripe for cards through its own onboarding, PayPal, Razorpay, Paystack, Skrill, CeyPay, CoinPayments for crypto, or Telegram Stars for in-app payments (payment methods). Start a card gateway in Test mode and switch it to Live after the test purchase below.
Create the plan
Under Subscription Plans, create the first plan: price, billing cycle (days, weeks, months, years or lifetime) and the group it unlocks (subscription plans).
Offer a trial
A trial of a few days lowers the barrier for someone who is curious but not convinced. Set Trial days on the plan, with or without a card up front: a card-up-front trial converts at a higher rate, a cardless trial brings in more people and converts fewer of them, and access stops when a cardless trial ends unless they convert (trial period).
Never share a static invite link
A group's permanent invite link can be forwarded to anyone, and you cannot revoke it for one person without breaking it for everyone. Keep it to yourself.
The bot generates a single-use link per member, tied to their account. They join once, the link is spent, and when their subscription ends the bot removes them; someone else who tries a member's link is removed immediately (adding and removing members). There is no link left over that would let a non-payer back in.
Test the whole flow
Subscribe to your own group with the gateway in Test mode (Stripe's test card is 4242 4242 4242 4242 with any future expiry and any CVC). Check that the bot sends an invite link right after payment, that the link adds you to the group, and that you appear under Members with the right plan and renewal date. Then switch the gateway to Live and run the go-live checklist.
Price the room
Groups command higher prices than channels because members pay for access to each other as well as to you. An annual plan at a discount to twelve monthly payments gives members a reason to commit and gives you a year of predictable cash flow. If the group meets on a schedule, a weekly call or a monthly review, a time-limited pass sells access to that window alone.
Mistakes to avoid
- Mixing free and paid members in one group. Paying members resent non-payers with the same access, and access control becomes impossible to reason about. Keep a free channel as the funnel and the paid group as the product.
- Removing expired members by hand. It eats hours at scale and you will miss people. The bot does it the moment a subscription ends.
- One shared invite link. When it leaks, every non-payer who has it is in until you reset it, and resetting breaks it for legitimate members too.
- No free channel to funnel from. Most paid-group members come from a free channel where they first saw your work. Run both.
Frequently asked
Related
- Create a paid channel — the same setup for a broadcast channel.
- Telegram integration — how the bot admits, removes and bans members.
- Admin commands — checking and banning a member from the chat with your bot.
- Go-live checklist — what to check before you announce.
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Create a Paid Channel
Turn a private Telegram channel into a subscription: your own bot from @BotFather, two admin rights, a connected project, payment methods, a plan and a test purchase.
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