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Step-by-step guides for running a paid Telegram channel or group on MemberBot — create your own membership bot, connect payments (Stripe, PayPal, crypto, M-Pesa & Telegram Stars), build subscription plans, and manage members automatically.

New here? Setting up a Telegram membership bot takes three steps: 1. create your bot with Telegram's BotFather, 2. connect a payment method and create your plans, 3. add the bot to your channel or group — it handles invites, renewals, and removals automatically. Start free and follow the guides below.

Plans & access

Recurring vs one-time plans (and how renewals stack)

Two kinds of plans

Every plan has a duration in days (30 days, 365 days, or blank for lifetime). Whether that plan renews on its own depends entirely on how the subscriber pays.

Card rails — Stripe, Paystack, Flutterwave, Razorpay, PayPal and Mercado Pago — auto-renew. The plan's duration becomes the billing interval: a 30-day plan bills monthly, a 365-day plan bills yearly, forever until the subscriber cancels. Telegram Stars monthly plans are native auto-renewing Star subscriptions.

M-Pesa and crypto are one-time. There's no card on file to charge again, so access simply runs out when the duration ends. The subscriber just buys again to continue.

TypeRenews?Rails
RecurringYes — autoCards, Stars monthly
One-timeNo — expiresM-Pesa, crypto

Buying again stacks time

If a subscriber buys the same plan again before it expires, the new duration is added on top of the remaining time — no days are ever lost. Renew a monthly plan with 5 days left and they now have 35.

⏰ Your membership expires in 2 days. Tap to renew.
🔄 Renew

Renewal reminders go to one-time members only. The bot DMs a reminder ~3 days before expiry (configurable in Settings) to members who must renew manually — one-time rails (M-Pesa, crypto) and anyone who cancelled an auto-renewing sub. Members on an active card/PayPal/Stars subscription aren't nudged, because they renew automatically (a failed auto-charge is handled by Payment Recovery instead).

Tip: Offer at least one card-rail option if you want hands-off recurring revenue — one-time rails need the subscriber to come back and pay each cycle.