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Telegram Stars are the in-app currency of the messenger, used to pay for gifts, paid content and services without leaving the app. One Star costs between $0.0150 and $0.0246, and the price depends on whether you pay by credit card or in Gram, the native token of the TON network.
Key Takeaways
- Paying in coin costs less: 500 Telegram Stars cost $11.99 by credit card and $7.50 when you pay in Gram.
- A bigger package brings no discount: one Telegram Star in a 35,000 package costs more than in a 5,000 package.
- Stars never turn back into money: purchased Telegram Stars can only be spent inside the messenger.
What Are Telegram Stars
Telegram Stars are a virtual currency of the messenger that users spend on digital goods, content and features inside the app. Telegram was launched by Pavel Durov in 2013, and in 2025 the messenger passed one billion monthly active users - Stars became the payment unit for that entire audience.
A Star in Telegram is not a cryptocurrency. It has no address, no network and no blockchain: you cannot send it to a wallet or look it up in a block explorer, because a Star lives only inside the messenger. The Telegram ecosystem does have its own cryptocurrency - the TON blockchain, The Open Network, and its native token Gram, known as Toncoin until June 2026. You can buy Telegram Stars with Gram, but that does not turn a Star into a coin.
What Are Telegram Stars Used For
Telegram Stars are used to pay inside the messenger: for an item in a game, for a locked post, for a channel subscription, for a gift to a friend and for advertising.
- Bots and Mini Apps: Telegram bots and mini apps sell in-game items, access to paid features, subscriptions and online tools for Stars, and the developer sets the price.
- Paid Content in Channels: A channel owner locks a photo or a video behind a payment in Stars and sets the amount, and the reader pays for access to that specific post.
- Paid Channel Subscription: An invite link with a monthly charge in Stars opens access to private communities, early access and VIP channels.
- Star Reactions: A paid reaction under a post starts at one Star, and any reader of the channel can send it.
- Telegram Gifts: A regular Telegram gift costs from 15 to 100 Stars, and an upgrade to a collectible one starts at 25 Stars.
- Paid Messages: A Telegram Premium subscriber sets a price on incoming messages and picks the amount - writing to Pavel Durov’s admins, for example, costs 5,000 Stars.
- Telegram Premium as a Gift: A Premium subscription for another user is paid for with a Star balance, but you cannot switch on Premium for your own account this way.
- Suggested Posts and Ads: Stars are attached to a post offered to a channel and pay for advertising on the Telegram Ad Platform.
- Mini App Affiliate Programs: A mini app pays in Stars for referred users, and it sets both the commission and how long it is paid.
The recipient sets the price of an incoming message, and Stars can be bought for a friend right away. Source: Telegram
How Much Do Telegram Stars Cost in 2026
Telegram Stars cost between $0.0150 and $0.0246 each, and the difference comes entirely from the payment method: a credit card in the app is the most expensive, Gram in the Telegram wallet is cheaper, and Gram on Fragment is cheaper still. Here is a price comparison table for Telegram Stars across the three payment methods: packages from 100 to 25,000 Stars, in dollars, September 2026.
| Stars | Credit card | Telegram wallet, in Gram | Fragment, in Gram |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | $2.39 | $1.53 | $1.50 |
| 250 | $6.09 | $3.82 | $3.75 |
| 500 | $11.99 | $7.64 | $7.50 |
| 1,000 | $23.99 | $15.27 | $15.00 |
| 10,000 | $239.00 | $152.71 | $150.00 |
| 25,000 | $609.00 | $381.75 | $375.00 |
Paying in Gram is the cheaper route by a wide margin, and most Telegram users have no idea the option is there: inside the same app the identical package costs about 36% less than by credit card, which on 25,000 Stars means $227 kept in your pocket on a single purchase. A card payment travels through a third-party provider that adds its own commission and its own conversion rate, while Gram goes straight from your Gram Wallet into the purchase with no markup in between. Fragment shaves off another 2% on top, and prices in Gram follow the rate of the coin, so the exact amount due changes from day to day.
Beyond price, the ways to pay for Telegram Stars differ in their minimum, their ceiling and the currencies they take:
- Minimum Telegram Star Purchase: 50 Stars on Fragment, 100 Stars by credit card and 100 Stars in the Telegram wallet.
- Ceiling of a Single Purchase: 35,000 Stars by credit card, 150,000 Stars in the Telegram wallet and 10,000,000 Stars on Fragment.
- What You Pay With: A credit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay in the app; Gram in the Telegram wallet; Gram, USDT and USDC across several networks on Fragment.
A single purchase tops out at 35,000 Stars by card, 150,000 in the wallet and 10,000,000 on Fragment. Source: Telegram, fragment.com
How Much Does 1 Telegram Star Cost
1 Telegram Star costs $0.0150 in Gram on Fragment, $0.0153 in Gram in the Telegram wallet and $0.0238-0.0246 when you pay by credit card inside the app. On a large package that gap turns into real money: 35,000 Stars cost $849 by card and $525 on Fragment, which is $324 less.
How Much Do 500 Telegram Stars Cost
500 Telegram Stars cost $11.99 when you pay by credit card inside the app. The same package in Gram costs $7.64 in the Telegram wallet and $7.50 on Fragment - $4.49 less.
How Much Do 1000 Telegram Stars Cost
1,000 Telegram Stars cost $23.99 by credit card, $15.27 in Gram in the Telegram wallet and $15 in Gram on Fragment. The bigger the package, the wider the gap: on 10,000 Stars it reaches $89.
Are Bigger Telegram Star Packages Cheaper
No, Telegram gives no volume discount in any of the three methods. By credit card, 5,000 Stars work out at $0.0238 each and 35,000 Stars at $0.0243, so the large package is more expensive per Star than the mid-size one. On Fragment a Star costs exactly $0.015 in a package of 50 and in a package of ten million alike, while the amount of Gram due is recalculated at the current rate of the coin.
What You Cannot Do With Telegram Stars
Purchased Telegram Stars cannot be sold, withdrawn or passed to another person - the Telegram terms for Stars say so in plain words: “you may not sell, withdraw, transfer or use Stars in your personal balance for any other purpose than those explicitly outlined in these Terms”.
Can I Withdraw Telegram Stars for Money
Yes, you can withdraw Telegram Stars for money, but only if you earned them: a channel owner, a bot developer or a mini app developer cashes out the balance users paid them. Regular users who buy Stars to spend on gifts and services cannot cash them out. Stars can be earned without a channel of your own too, through mini app affiliate programs. Services outside the app that offer to cash out a personal Star balance do exist, but Telegram neither supports nor guarantees them, so the responsibility for such a deal is entirely yours.
Can I Get a Refund for Telegram Stars
No, Telegram does not refund Stars: the terms call all Star sales final, even when the purchase was accidental.
Can I Transfer Telegram Stars to Another Person
No, you cannot transfer Telegram Stars from your balance to another person, but you can buy Stars in their name by choosing the recipient at checkout.
How to Buy Telegram Stars
You can buy Telegram Stars in three ways: by credit card inside the app, in Gram in the Telegram wallet, or in Gram, USDT and USDC on Fragment. Paying with coin from your own wallet is the cheapest of them, and the whole route takes a couple of minutes - see our guide How to Buy Telegram Stars With Gram in 2026 →
