Telegram founder confirms paid features are coming soon

Those unlockable Telegram features that showed up with the app’s beta version in May will soon be available for paying users. Telegram founder Pavel Durov has confirmed that the app is launching a subscription plan called Telegram Premium sometime this month. While Durov didn’t discuss the specific benefits that come with the plan, he said it will give paying users extra features, speed and resources, as well as first access to the app’s latest offerings. 

Durov explained that a lot of people have been asking the service to raise the limits on its chats, media and file uploads. However, doing so for everyone would lead to massive traffic and server costs beyond what it could afford. Telegram apparently came to the conclusion that the only way it could give its “most demanding fans” more while keeping its existing features free is to offer those raised limits as a paid option. 

The service’s founder has also assured users in his announcement that Telegram will still be releasing new free features despite having a paid tier. Further, even free users will be able to enjoy some of the Premium option’s new futures, including being able to view larger-than-usual documents, media and stickers sent by paying members. A previous report by tech publication Beebom says Premium subscribers will have the capability to upload files up to 4GB in size and will enjoy up to twice a non-paying users’ limits when it comes to the number of channels they can join, among other things. Beebom also says a Premium subscription will cost $5 a month, though we won’t know for sure until the option launches.

Durov ended his announcement with:

“While our experiments with privacy-focused ads in public one-to-many channels have been more successful than we expected, I believe that Telegram should be funded primarily by its users, not advertisers. This way our users will always remain our main priority.”