Telegram Premium is officially coming this month, won’t change existing features

Ben Schoon | Jun 10 2022 - 10:14 am PT

The messaging platform Telegram has always been free, but some recent revelations have made it clear that will be changing. Today, Telegram founder officially announced that “Telegram Premium” will be coming later this month, and cleared the air on what that will mean for the platform.

In a message on Telegram, the platform’s founder Pavel Durov confirmed that a subscription-based offering will be coming later this month. The new paid offer will go “above and beyond” what Telegram currently offers, he says.

Much of what spurred the decision to introduce Telegram Premium was the demands of the platform’s biggest fans. Durov explains:

After giving it some thought, we realized that the only way to let our most demanding fans get more while keeping our existing features free is to make those raised limits a paid option. That’s why this month we will introduce Telegram Premium, a subscription plan that allows anyone to acquire additional features, speed and resources. It will also allow users to support Telegram and join the club that receives new features first.

The good news here is that Telegram Premium won’t affect the experience for existing users of the platform. Telegram will remain free, and free users will even benefit from those paying for Premium. Files, media, and stickers sent by Premium users will show for free users, with extra-large file sizes being one perk of the offering. Premium reactions already in use on a message will also be made available to free users who want to use that same reaction.

Last month, a few stickers and reactions that will be part of Telegram Premium were spotted, but today’s post clears up how those will work for free users.

Telegram has yet to offer any insight into what this paid tier of service will cost, but it sounds like we’ll find out soon enough.