What Are Telegram Stars? A Look at Their Price, Gifts, and In-App Uses
Telegram Stars are the app's paid gift currency. Here is what they cost, what they can buy, and what a panel is actually selling when it lists a Stars row.
To understand what are Telegram Stars, think of them as a virtual currency for buying digital goods and services inside the Telegram app. Prices start at approximately $1.09 for 40 Stars. Users purchase Stars with real money and spend them on items like exclusive content or in-app features. For creators, Stars offer a new way to earn from their channels, as they can be received and converted into cryptocurrency.
Telegram introduced Stars in mid-2024 to its massive user base. The platform surpassed 1 billion monthly active users in August 2024, making it one of the world's most popular messaging apps. This system allows users to support creators directly and gives channel owners a way to generate revenue from their content. Importantly, Stars are a payment method, not a rating system.
Telegram Stars: An in-app virtual currency purchased with real money through app stores or Telegram's @PremiumBot. Users spend Stars to buy digital items, access paid content, or use services within Telegram's Mini Apps and bots. Stars create a direct way for content creators and app developers to earn money on the platform. They can receive Stars from their audience and convert them into the Toncoin (TON) cryptocurrency, linking in-app activity to real-world value.
How Much Do Telegram Stars Cost?
Telegram sells Stars in fixed packs through the Apple and Google app stores or its own @PremiumBot. The price per Star decreases with larger packs. While exact prices vary by country and platform, a starting pack of 40 Stars costs approximately $1.09 in the United States. Telegram always displays the final price on the purchase screen before you confirm.
However, two things stay constant:
- A Star has no fixed exchange rate to a real-world currency like the US dollar. Instead, Telegram sets the pack prices.
- Channel owners who receive Stars can withdraw them. To do this, Telegram allows creators to convert their earned Stars into the Toncoin (TON) cryptocurrency.
What Can You Buy with Telegram Stars?
Users can spend Stars in several ways. For example:
- Gifts. Users can send a variety of animated gifts to another user or a channel to show support.
- Paid content. A channel can lock a post, photo, or video behind a Stars price, requiring users to pay to view it.
- Mini App purchases. Games and services built on Telegram's Mini App platform can use Stars as their internal currency for selling items or buying features.
- Subscriptions. Channels can offer monthly access to exclusive content, priced in Stars.
How Creators Earn and Withdraw Stars
Creators earn Stars when users purchase their digital goods, view their paid posts, or send them gifts. Creators can see these accumulated Stars in their channel's statistics section.
Stars give creators a way to earn from their content while keeping a majority of the revenue.
Furthermore, Telegram allows channel owners to withdraw their earned Stars by converting them into Toncoin (TON) through the Fragment platform. To do this, creators need a compatible TON wallet, such as Tonkeeper. Telegram has promoted a 0% commission for this conversion process for a limited time. This means creators can transfer their full Star balance to TON and then to their personal wallet, creating a direct link between in-app earnings and real-world value.
The ability to convert earned Stars into cryptocurrency creates a full-circle economy within the Telegram platform.
What does a Stars row on an SMM panel mean?
An SMM panel is a store that sells social media engagement metrics. For Stars, the unit is usually one Star. The service promises to gift that many Stars to the target username or channel you provide.
The live catalog's Telegram Stars table held 661 rows across indexed panels at the last sync. The cheapest public rate was printed at $0.0324 per 1,000 units. Read that carefully: the cheapest row on any table is often a test service with a low maximum order size. For this reason, you should always sort the table and check the minimum and maximum order sizes before assuming a row can take your order.
A legitimate service only needs a public username or a public post link to send Stars. A panel does not need your bot token, your wallet, or your password. Any form that asks for this information is not a legitimate Stars service. The free explainer on Telegram Stars covers the correct link format.
How Are Stars Different From Premium and Boosts?
Telegram Stars, Premium, and boosts are often confused because all three are official paid products from Telegram. However, each serves a different purpose.
| Product | What it is | What it changes | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stars | Gift currency | Sends value to a user or channel | Earning from your content or supporting creators |
| Premium | Monthly subscription for one account | Adds features on that account (e.g., larger uploads) | Enhancing your personal user experience |
| Boosts | Premium users assign a boost to a channel | Raises the channel's level, adding stories and custom colors | Increasing a channel's visibility and features |
A Stars row does not raise your member count. A boost row does not raise it either. If the metric you want is members, the subscribers table is the page to compare. That is a different product with a different retention question.
How Do You Buy Telegram Stars?
For your own account, the most direct way is through the app itself or Telegram's official web store. For gifting at scale, some sellers of Telegram accounts and Premium also sell Stars; our sibling site tgfather.com is one of them. smmdir does not sell Stars, does not take the order, and lists panel prices only so you can compare before you go to the panel.
Three questions to ask before ordering a Stars row
- Is the target public? A private channel cannot receive catalog gifts.
- Does the row say the gift type? Some rows send the cheapest gift, some send a specific one. The description should say.
- What is the start time? Stars rows are usually fast, but a "0 to 1 hour" start with a 24-hour completion is common.
The catalog refreshes every hour. Prices in this article were checked on the sync stamped at the bottom of the page and will drift.
Frequently asked questions
What is the price of one Telegram Star?
There is no fixed price for a single Star. Telegram sells them in packs, and the price per Star is lower in larger packs. For example, a starting pack of 40 Stars costs around $1.09 in the U.S. Prices vary based on your country and the platform (iOS, Android, or desktop) you use for the purchase.
Are Telegram Stars a cryptocurrency?
No, Stars are a centralized, in-app virtual currency controlled by Telegram. They cannot be traded on crypto exchanges. However, creators who earn Stars can withdraw them by converting them into Toncoin (TON), which is a separate, decentralized cryptocurrency. This provides a bridge from the in-app economy to the broader crypto market.
Can I get a refund for Telegram Stars?
Once you buy a pack of Stars, the transaction cannot be reversed. This policy is similar to many other in-app currency systems. You should be certain about your purchase before completing the payment through the App Store or Google Play.
How do creators receive money from Stars?
Creators accumulate Stars from user purchases and gifts in their channel's balance. They can then withdraw these earnings. Telegram converts the Stars to the Toncoin (TON) cryptocurrency and sends it to the creator's connected crypto wallet.
What to do this week
If you are a Telegram channel owner, check your eligibility to earn from your channel in your channel's settings under "Statistics." Calculate how many Stars you would need to run a test ad campaign using the €2 minimum CPM as a baseline to promote your channel.