TL;DR
- Telegram Stars are Telegram's in-app virtual currency, launched in June 2024. Users spend them on digital goods in bots and Mini Apps, paid posts, channel subscriptions, gifts and reactions.
- One Star costs roughly $0.014–$0.02 to buy, depending on where you buy it. A creator or developer who earns a Star receives a fixed $0.013 for it.
- Earned Stars are withdrawn through Fragment as Toncoin (renamed Gram in June 2026) once the balance reaches 1,000 Stars and the 21-day hold has passed.
- Stars bought for a personal balance cannot be cashed out. Only Stars earned by a channel, bot or Mini App convert to money.
- Stars come only from users who pay, so Mini Apps and bots usually combine them with ads, which earn from the rest of the audience.
Telegram Stars are now the standard way to pay for anything digital inside Telegram, from a game booster to a locked channel post. The numbers are less obvious: a Star has one price when a user buys it, another when a creator withdraws it, and a third when it is spent on ads.
This guide explains what Stars are, what one Star is worth in USD and TON, how channels, bots and Mini Apps earn them, and how withdrawal through Fragment works. Pricing strategy is left to our overview of revenue models for Telegram Mini Apps; the last section here compares Stars with ad revenue.
What Are Telegram Stars?
Telegram Stars are virtual items that users buy with real money and spend on digital goods and services inside Telegram. Telegram launched them on June 6, 2024 so that bots and Mini Apps could sell digital products in line with Apple's and Google's in-app purchase rules. A Telegram Mini App (TMA) is a web app that opens inside Telegram without a separate install.
What Telegram Stars are used for:
- digital goods, features and subscriptions in bots and Mini Apps;
- paid photo and video posts in channels;
- Star reactions under channel posts;
- paid subscriptions to private channels;
- gifts for other users and gifted Telegram Premium;
- paid messages to users who charge for incoming messages.
Stars are not a cryptocurrency. They are not a token and have no market rate. Under the Terms of Service for Telegram Stars, Stars in a personal balance cannot be sold, withdrawn or transferred, and all purchases are final.
There are two kinds of balance. A personal balance holds Stars for spending. A channel, bot or Mini App has a separate balance for the Stars it earned — and only that balance can be turned into money or ad credit.
Telegram Stars Price in USD and TON
One Star costs about $0.014–$0.02 to buy and is worth $0.013 to the creator who earns it. There is no single exchange rate, because Telegram applies different values depending on what happens to the Star:
- Buying in the iOS or Android app: about $0.02 per Star (around $1.99 for 100). This price includes the app store's commission and varies by region and local taxes.
- Buying outside the app stores: Telegram's base rate in its client configuration is $14.10 per 1,000 Stars, or $0.0141 per Star. Expect roughly this rate on Fragment, where Stars are paid for in TON.
- Withdrawing as a creator or developer: Telegram's developer terms set the reward at $0.013 per Star.
- Spending on Telegram Ads: each earned Star counts as $0.02 of ad credit.
Stars | Buy in the app (approx.) | Buy on Fragment (base rate) | Creator receives, USD | Creator receives, TON* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ~$0.02 | $0.0141 | $0.013 | 0.0091 |
100 | ~$1.99 | $1.41 | $1.30 | 0.91 |
500 | ~$9.99 | $7.05 | $6.50 | 4.55 |
1,000 | ~$19.99 | $14.10 | $13.00 | 9.09 |
10,000 | ~$200 | $141.00 | $130.00 | 90.91 |
*At $1.43 per coin, the CoinGecko price on October 7, 2026. In-app prices are approximate and differ by country.
How the Telegram Stars to TON conversion rate works. Stars have no fixed rate in TON. Telegram values a withdrawal in dollars and pays the equivalent in Toncoin at the current market price:
TON amount = Stars × 0.013 ÷ current TON price in USD
If the coin rises, 1,000 Stars convert into fewer coins; if it falls, into more. The dollar value at the moment of withdrawal stays $13.
A naming note: on June 1, 2026, Pavel Durov announced that Toncoin is being renamed Gram, while TON remains the name of the blockchain. Price trackers now list the coin as GRAM, so "Stars to TON" and "Stars to Gram" are the same conversion.
Telegram does not expect to change these values often, but reserves the right to change both the purchase price and the reward rate.
How to Earn Telegram Stars
Stars are earned by receiving them from users — for content in a channel, for digital goods in a bot or Mini App, or for referrals. Every earned Star is worth the same $0.013.
Channels and creators
- Star reactions. Subscribers send Stars under a post. Telegram states that channel owners receive 100% of them. The option is turned on in Channel Settings > Reactions > Enable Paid Reactions.
- Paid posts. A photo or video stays hidden until the reader pays the price you set in Stars.
- Star subscriptions. An invite link with a monthly fee in Stars gives access to a private channel.
- Paid messages. Users pay a fee in Stars to message you; the recipient keeps 85% of it.
Bots and Mini Apps
- Digital goods and services. In-game items, extra features, AI requests, content. The bot sends an invoice in the currency
XTR, and the Stars go to the bot's balance. - Subscriptions to the bot's or app's paid functions.
Here Stars are a requirement, not an option. According to Telegram's guide to payments for digital goods, a bot or Mini App that sells digital products for other currencies or through outside payment providers may be hidden from mobile users.
Any user
- Affiliate programs. Mini App developers can share a percentage of their Star revenue with referrers. You pick a program in your Star balance, share the link, and earn Stars from the purchases of users you bring.
- Gifts and giveaways. A gift you receive can be converted into Stars, and channels can run Star giveaways.
These are also the only ways to get Stars for free. Bots and sites that promise free Stars in exchange for a login or a payment are scams.
For the strategy behind each method, see our guides on how to earn on a Telegram channel and on proven ways to monetize a Telegram bot.
How to Withdraw Telegram Stars via Fragment
Earned Stars are withdrawn as Toncoin through Fragment once the balance holds at least 1,000 Stars that have passed the 21-day hold. Fragment is the platform Telegram uses to process rewards for creators and developers.
Withdrawal conditions
- Minimum: 1,000 Stars, which equals $13.
- Hold: Stars may stay unavailable for up to 21 days after you receive them.
- Who can withdraw: only the owner of the channel or bot, with the Two-Step Verification password.
- Rate and currency: $0.013 per Star, paid in Toncoin (Gram) to a TON wallet.
- Expiry: earned Stars are valid for 3 years, after which they are forfeited.
- Availability: Fragment may not issue rewards in some countries. It introduced identity verification for purchases in late 2024, so be ready for an ID check.
How to withdraw Telegram Stars step by step
- Enable Two-Step Verification in your Telegram account if it is not on yet.
- Open the balance of your channel or bot and switch to Stars.
- Check how many Stars are available: those received in the last 21 days may still be on hold.
- Tap the withdrawal button and confirm with your password. Telegram opens Fragment.
- Connect a TON wallet, such as Tonkeeper or MyTonWallet, and confirm the amount.
- Receive the coins in your wallet. To convert Telegram Stars to money, swap them for USDT or sell them on an exchange.
Check the wallet address before confirming: Telegram's creator terms state that withdrawals cannot be reversed or refunded.
What it costs. Telegram publishes no separate withdrawal fee and says it takes practically no commission on Stars. The real cost is the spread: a user pays $0.014–$0.02 for a Star, and you receive $0.013. After that come network and exchange fees when you move and sell the coins, plus the price risk while you hold them.
The alternative to cashing out. The same 1,000 Stars are worth $13 as a withdrawal or $20 as Telegram Ads credit — about 54% more. The credit can only promote the channel or bot that earned the Stars.
Telegram Stars or Ads: What Earns More
Stars and ads do not compete: Stars are paid by the users who buy something, and ads are paid by advertisers for every user who sees them. For a Mini App or bot with a mostly free audience, ads usually form the base revenue and Stars add income from the paying minority.
The arithmetic shows why:
- Stars revenue = paying users × Stars per buyer × $0.013
- Ad revenue = ad impressions ÷ 1,000 × CPM
An illustrative example, not a benchmark: a Mini App has 10,000 monthly users and 2% of them buy a 100-Star item. That is 200 × 100 × $0.013 = $260. The other 9,800 users bring nothing unless they see ads.
Telegram Stars | Ads through AdsGram | |
|---|---|---|
Who pays | Users buying digital goods | Advertisers |
Which users bring revenue | Only buyers | Every user who sees an ad |
What you earn | $0.013 per Star | CPM rate that depends on the user's country |
Payout asset | Toncoin (Gram), price floats | USDT on the TON network |
Minimum payout | 1,000 Stars ($13) | From 100 USDT on any day; 10–99.99 USDT once a month, on the 1st–5th |
Waiting time | Up to 21 days on hold | Request processed within 24 hours on weekdays, up to 48 hours on weekends |
Verification | Fragment account and TON wallet; ID check possible | No KYC |
In practice the two work together:
- In a Mini App, the same booster can be sold for Stars and offered for watching a rewarded video. AdsGram supports three formats for apps: Reward, Interstitial and Task.
- In a bot, paid features run on Stars, while native ad messages in the chat monetize free users.
Industry data points the same way. In AppsFlyer's 2024 State of App Monetization report, Android mid-core games that combined in-app purchases with ads reached 146% return on ad spend by day 90, against 93% for purchases only and 58% for ads only.
The practical order for a new TMA or bot: connect ads first, because they earn from every active user, then add Star purchases where users are ready to pay for speed or exclusivity. Formats and connection steps are on the AdsGram page about Telegram Mini Apps monetization.
Telegram Stars FAQ
- How much is 100 Stars on Telegram?
100 Telegram Stars cost about $1.99 in the iOS or Android app and about $1.41 at Telegram's base rate outside the app stores, for example on Fragment. For a creator or developer who earned them, 100 Stars are worth $1.30 at the fixed reward rate of $0.013 per Star. Prices vary slightly by country because of local taxes and payment fees. - How much is 1,000 Telegram Stars in USD?
1,000 Telegram Stars are worth $13 when a channel or bot owner withdraws them, because Telegram pays $0.013 per Star. Buying 1,000 Stars costs from about $14.10 on Fragment to about $19.99 in the mobile app. Spent on Telegram Ads, the same 1,000 earned Stars give $20 of ad credit. 1,000 Stars is also the minimum withdrawal amount. - Can Telegram Stars be converted to money?
Telegram Stars can be converted to money only if they were earned by a channel, bot or Mini App. The owner withdraws them through Fragment as Toncoin at $0.013 per Star and then sells the coins for USDT or fiat on an exchange. Stars bought for a personal balance cannot be sold, withdrawn or transferred — they can only be spent inside Telegram. - What is the Telegram Stars to TON conversion rate?
Telegram Stars have no fixed rate in TON. Each Star is valued at $0.013, and the payout is calculated at the coin's market price at the moment of withdrawal: Stars × 0.013 ÷ price in USD. At $1.43 per coin on October 7, 2026, 1,000 Stars equal about 9.09 coins. Toncoin was renamed Gram in June 2026, so wallets and trackers may show GRAM. - How to get Telegram Stars for free?
You can get Telegram Stars for free through Star giveaways in channels, by converting gifts you received into Stars, and through affiliate programs that pay a share of purchases made by users you referred. Channel and bot owners also earn Stars from reactions, paid posts and sales. Services that promise free Stars in exchange for your login details or a payment are scams. - How to send Stars on Telegram?
To send Stars on Telegram, tap the Star reaction under a channel post and choose how many to send, or open a user's profile and send a gift paid with Stars. You can also buy Stars as a present for a contact in the Stars section of Settings. Stars already on your personal balance cannot be transferred to another user directly.
