Telegram Paywall Fees Compared (2026): What a Creator Keeps at $500, $2,000 and $10,000 a Month

Every Telegram paywall tool advertises a price, but the price is stated in different units: a flat monthly fee, a percentage of revenue, a mix of both, or a platform tax hidden inside an in-app purchase. Comparing them by headline alone is misleading. The only fair comparison is to hold your revenue constant and see what is left.

This post does that for three revenue levels: $500, $2,000 and $10,000 a month in gross subscriber payments. All figures come from the fee models listed on our comparison pages, and we state every assumption so you can redo the math with your own numbers.

The fee models in one paragraph each

Member Paywall charges a flat 3% of each successful payment, with no monthly fee. We make this tool, so read our numbers with that in mind and check them against your own situation.
MyMembers charges 5% of each transaction with no monthly fee.
Tribute charges 10% of each transaction with no monthly fee.
LaunchPass charges $29 a month plus 3.5% of each transaction.
InviteMember charges a flat monthly fee ($2.99 Starter, $29.99 Professional, $59.99 Business, $199 Enterprise) and 0% commission.
Telegram Stars has no platform invoice at all. Instead, subscribers buy Stars through Apple or Google in-app purchases, and roughly 30% goes to the app stores before you see it.

Assumptions

Read these before the table, because they decide what the numbers mean.

Gross revenue means what your subscribers pay in total in a month. We ignore refunds, disputes and currency conversion.
Platform fees only. The table shows what each tool takes. It does not include payment processor fees, which are charged separately.
InviteMember is shown on the $29.99 Professional plan at all three levels. We have not verified each plan's member limits or feature set, so a larger creator may need a more expensive plan. We note the difference below.
Telegram Stars uses the approximate 30% app store cut. The real figure varies, and a TON conversion step may add further cost.
Fee schedules change. Confirm current pricing on each vendor's own page before you decide.

What you keep: platform fees only

|------|-----------|-------------|----------------|-----------------|

| Member Paywall | 3% | $485.00 | $1,940.00 | $9,700.00 |

| MyMembers | 5% | $475.00 | $1,900.00 | $9,500.00 |

| Tribute | 10% | $450.00 | $1,800.00 | $9,000.00 |

| LaunchPass | $29/mo + 3.5% | $453.50 | $1,901.00 | $9,621.00 |

| InviteMember ($29.99 plan) | $29.99/mo, 0% | $470.01 | $1,970.01 | $9,970.01 |

| Telegram Stars | ~30% | $350.00 | $1,400.00 | $7,000.00 |

Here is how each cell is calculated. For Member Paywall at $2,000, the fee is 3% x $2,000 = $60, leaving $1,940. For LaunchPass at $2,000, the fee is $29 + (3.5% x $2,000 = $70) = $99, leaving $1,901. For InviteMember, the fee is simply $29.99 whatever the revenue, so $2,000 - $29.99 = $1,970.01.

What the table says

At $500 a month, percentage models win

At this level a flat $29.99 is about 6% of revenue, which is more than Member Paywall's 3% and slightly more than MyMembers' 5%. The $2.99 Starter plan on InviteMember would cost far less, but we have not verified what it includes, so treat that as a question to ask rather than a promise. The practical point is that a percentage fee costs nothing in a month with no sales, which suits a channel that is still finding its audience.

At $2,000 a month, flat fees start to pull ahead

The $29.99 plan costs 1.5% of revenue here. The gap between InviteMember's flat fee and a 3% commission is $30.01 a month. The gap between 3% and 5% is $40 a month, or $480 a year. Tribute's 10% costs $140 more per month than Member Paywall's 3%, which is $1,680 a year.

At $10,000 a month, the percentage compounds

A flat fee is a rounding error, while the difference between a 3% and a 10% commission is $700 every month, or $8,400 a year. Even 5% costs $200 a month more than 3%. This is where a larger creator should look at the flat-fee tools seriously. On InviteMember's $199 Enterprise plan the same $10,000 would leave $9,801, which is still $101 more than 3% would. The honest conclusion: above a certain volume, a flat fee beats any commission model, including ours.

Telegram Stars is a different category

Stars is the most expensive option in every column, and it is not close: $135 less than Member Paywall at $500 and $2,700 less at $10,000. It also lacks subscription management features such as renewals and trials. Stars can still make sense for tips and one-off purchases, and many creators use it alongside a subscription bot rather than instead of one.

Break-even points against a flat fee

If you are weighing a commission against InviteMember, the break-even is the monthly fee divided by the commission rate. Against a 3% commission:

| InviteMember plan | Monthly fee | Revenue where the flat fee becomes cheaper than 3% |

|-------------------|------------|-----------------------------------------------------|

| Starter | $2.99 | about $100 |

| Professional | $29.99 | about $1,000 |

| Business | $59.99 | about $2,000 |

| Enterprise | $199 | about $6,600 |

Below the break-even, the percentage model costs less. Above it, the flat fee does. Which plan you actually need depends on limits we have not independently verified, so check the plan details before assuming the cheapest one fits.

Do not forget processor fees

Platform fees are only part of the picture. Card payments carry processing fees on top, and those are charged by the processor, not by us. Stripe's standard rate for domestic US cards is about 2.9% plus $0.30 per successful charge, though your rate depends on country, card type and agreement.

To see the scale, assume an average subscription of $25 a month, so $500 is 20 payments, $2,000 is 80 and $10,000 is 400. Processing would then be roughly:

| Gross revenue | Payments at $25 | Approx. Stripe fees (2.9% + $0.30) |

|---------------|-----------------|------------------------------------|

| $500 | 20 | $20.50 |

| $2,000 | 80 | $82.00 |

| $10,000 | 400 | $410.00 |

This cost applies to any tool that routes card payments through Stripe, which is why we exclude it from the main table: it does not change the ranking among those tools. It does matter to your real take-home, and it is a reason to favour fewer, larger payments where your audience accepts them, such as quarterly or yearly plans. Crypto payments carry their own network and processor costs as well.

Beyond the fee: what else to weigh

A lower fee is not automatically the better choice. Consider:

Payment methods. InviteMember supports a wider list of traditional processors, including PayPal and regional ones. Member Paywall supports cards through Stripe in 34 countries and 300+ cryptocurrencies through NOWPayments.
Team features. Member Paywall supports up to 25 managers per project who can handle access and support without seeing payment settings.
Languages. The Member Paywall bot supports 24 languages.
Maturity. Older tools have longer track records, and newer ones may move faster. Weigh both.
Switching cost. Moving later is possible, and we cover it step by step in moving your paid Telegram community from another paywall.

How to run your own numbers

Take last month's gross payments, apply each tool's percentage and flat fee, add processor fees at your real rate, and repeat at the revenue you expect in a year. The best tool at $500 is often not the best at $10,000, so use features as tie-breakers only when the fee gap is small.

Summary

At $500 a month, commission-only tools keep the most for you, and 3% beats 5% and 10% by $10 to $35. At $2,000 the ranking is unchanged apart from the flat-fee tools catching up. At $10,000 a flat monthly fee is the cheapest option on paper, and the difference between 3% and 10% is $8,400 a year. Stars sits far behind at every level. Whatever you choose, remember that processor fees are separate and that every figure here is a snapshot of published fee models, not a guarantee.

If a percentage model fits your stage, you can start with Member Paywall for free and pay 3% only when you earn. See the full comparison for features side by side.