A fan who buys Stars has two published price lists. Inside the iOS and Android apps, Telegram's Star Pricing table gives $19.99 for 1,000 Stars, of which $6.00 goes to the Apple or Google 30% commission, $0.99 to what the table calls Telegram administrative costs, and $13.00 to the developer. The same table gives $0.99 for 50 Stars and $49.99 for 2,500, and states that the amounts are estimates billed in USD with no VAT.
On Fragment, paid in crypto, the package list read on 2026-09-17 prices 1,000 Stars at $15.00, 1,500 at $22.50 and 2,500 at $37.50.
The seller's side has one number. Clause 6.2.4 of the Bot Developer Terms states that developers can receive an equivalent of 0.013 USD worth of rewards for each Telegram Star, and that Telegram sets this value in its sole discretion, with no connection to the purchase cost in any region. Stars may take up to 21 days to become available. Telegram outsources the payment of rewards to Fragment.
| For 1,000 Stars | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Fan pays, in app | $19.99 | Star Pricing table |
| Fan pays, on Fragment | $15.00 | Fragment package list |
| Seller receives | $13.00 | Desk calculation, 1,000 times $0.013 |
Two things do not match. The client configuration publishes a default stars_usd_sell_rate_x1000 of 1410, that is $14.10 per 1,000 Stars, while Fragment's live page charges $15.00. And Telegram's pricing table is an image, not text, so the figures above were read from that image on the date stated.
Sources
- Telegram, Bot Payments API, Star Pricing table https://core.telegram.org/bots/payments-stars read 2026-09-17
- Fragment, Buy Telegram Stars, package list https://fragment.com/stars/buy read 2026-09-17
- Telegram, Bot Platform Developer Terms of Service, clause 6.2.4 https://telegram.org/tos/bot-developers read 2026-09-17
- Telegram, Client configuration, stars_usd_sell_rate_x1000 https://core.telegram.org/api/config read 2026-09-17
the desk · 17 September 2026 updated 2026-09-17 · checked 2026-09-17