How to accept M-Pesa for a paid Telegram group

In Kenya, M-Pesa is how most people pay for things on their phone. If your fans have to find a card or buy something inside an app before they can join, many of them will not bother.

Telegram's own way to charge for a channel is a monthly fee in Telegram Stars. Telegram launched Star subscriptions in August 2024, and you turn them on from an invite link in your channel settings. But Stars are bought through in-app purchases in the Telegram apps, and Telegram's terms for Stars say buying and using them may be restricted in some countries. For a fan who pays for everything with M-Pesa, that is an extra hurdle.

There is also a rule for bots. Telegram says bots must use Telegram Stars for digital goods and services sold inside its apps. That is why M-Pesa payments for a Telegram group usually happen outside Telegram: on the fan's phone, through a Till or a Paybill, or on a payment page in the browser.

For a side-by-side look at both ways of getting paid, read Telegram Stars vs mobile money.

Most Kenyan creators start with one of four setups. All of them take the money. None of them lets the fan into your group or removes them later.

Personal number

This is where almost everyone starts, because it costs nothing to set up. The downside is that every fan sees your full name when they pay, your personal and business money get mixed, and renewals end up as awkward messages from your own number.

Till or Paybill

A business Till or Paybill keeps your fan income apart from your personal money and looks more professional. A Paybill also lets the fan type an account number, so you can ask them to enter their Telegram username and match payments faster.

A payment link

Payment companies such as Paystack let Kenyan businesses take M-Pesa on a web page. On Paystack's Pay with M-PESA channel, the fan enters their M-Pesa number, gets a prompt on their phone and completes the payment with their PIN. That saves you checking statements, since the payment company confirms the money. Check the provider's rules on what you can sell before you sign up, and remember the link only takes payment: you still let fans in and out yourself.

Doing it by hand is fine for your first ten fans. By fifty, it costs you money every week. These are the problems Kenyan creators run into most.

• Fake M-Pesa messages. A fan can forward, edit or type out a message that looks just like an M-Pesa confirmation. If you let people in from a message they send you, some will never have paid.
• Missed expiries. You have to remember the date each fan paid and remove them when their time runs out. Most creators fall behind, and expired fans keep reading for free.
• Leaked links. An invite link you send to one fan can be forwarded to a whole WhatsApp group of friends, who join without paying.
• Matching payments to people. A payment from "JOHN K" does not tell you which Telegram account to let in. Each one becomes a conversation.
• Chasing renewals. You end up messaging fans from your own number to ask for money, which few creators enjoy and many skip.
• Being always on. Fans pay at midnight and expect to get in at midnight. If you are asleep, they wait, and some ask for a refund.

A card can be charged again every month. M-Pesa works differently. When a fan pays through a payment page, they get a prompt on their phone, often called an STK Push, and they approve it with their PIN. Nobody can approve it for them, so every payment needs the fan to act.

Paystack says so plainly on its help page: it is not possible to make recurring payments with Pay with M-PESA. When a fan pays your Till or Paybill from the M-Pesa menu, they start each payment themselves too. Each renewal is a new payment the fan chooses to make.

That changes how you run your group. Most fans who leave do not decide to leave. They simply forget their plan is ending. A reminder at the right time is often the difference between a fan who renews and one who drifts away.

• Remind fans a few days before their plan ends, so they can top up M-Pesa if they need to.
• Remind them again the day before, and on the day. Keep each message short, with the price and how to pay.
• Make renewing one step. A fan who has to ask you for the Till number again is a fan who may not renew.

Plan length matters too. Weekly plans suit fans who are paid weekly or are trying you out, but they mean four renewals a month to chase. For a Kenyan group, you might offer KSh 300 for 7 days, KSh 1,000 for 30 days and KSh 2,500 for 90 days, so loyal fans can pay once and stop thinking about it. For a full method, read how much to charge for a VIP group.

Whichever way fans pay, a few Telegram settings stop most leaks.

• Make your space private. Use a private channel or a supergroup with no public @username, so it can only be joined through an invite link.
• Require admin approval. Telegram invite links can be set to let people in only upon explicit approval of an admin. A forwarded link then only sends a join request, and you decide who gets in.
• Limit and expire links. Private invite links can have an expiration date and a usage limit. If you send each fan their own link with a limit of one, it stops working once they use it.
• Revoke old links. A revoked link can no longer be used to join, so clear out links you shared in the past.
• Keep a list. Write down each fan's Telegram name, the date they paid, the plan and the end date. Check it every day.

If you run a basic Telegram group, convert it to a supergroup before adding any bot. For the full setup, see how to set up a paid Telegram channel.

VIPpass does the parts that break when you grow. You share one VIPpass link. A fan opens it, confirms they are 18 or older, picks a plan and pays, with no account to create. It takes under two minutes.

VIPpass is built for fans who pay with mobile money, as well as card and USDT, depending on their country. Which networks and methods fans can use depends on the country and on which payment providers have approved VIPpass there, and the methods are listed for each country as it opens. See mobile money payments for how checkout works.

• No screenshots or forwarded messages. A fan only gets in once the payment provider confirms the money.
• The VIPpass Bot lets fans in. It is an admin of your channel or supergroup and approves the join request of each paying fan.
• Expired fans are removed within minutes. The VIPpass Bot also removes anyone who joins without paying, through an old link or by being added by hand.
• Reminders go out for you. Fans are reminded 3 days and 1 day before their plan ends, and on the day. They renew with /renew and check their date with /status, and mobile money is never charged automatically.
• You are paid in Kenyan shillings. Earnings go to one mobile money wallet or bank account in your own verified name, after a short holding period.

VIPpass is free to start and takes a service fee on each payment, which already includes payment provider costs. On a $10 plan with a 5% fee, you either add the fee so the fan pays $10.50, or take it from your earnings so you receive $9.50. See pricing for both plans.

There is no single right answer. It depends on how many fans you have and how much time you want to spend on payments.

If you are comparing tools, compare Telegram subscription bots by how fans can pay and how you get paid, and see Telegram payment methods in Africa for the wider picture.

VIPpass also works for your WhatsApp groups and Snapchat private stories, so all your paid spaces sit in one dashboard. Every creator is verified first, with a government ID, a live selfie and a short video reviewed by a person.