Donate

@donate is Telegram's built-in tool for letting channel authors accept real-money donations from their audience without building a payment page themselves. You add the bot as an administrator of your channel, complete an identity check (handled through a third-party verification provider that asks for a photo and an ID document), and connect a payout method — a bank card or account. After that, posts can carry a donation button that readers pay through with their own card, with the money eventually settled to you.

It carries Telegram's official verification badge, and the underlying payment processing is run by a licensed payment partner rather than an anonymous developer, which matters a lot for a bot that moves real money. That said, it is not free: public reporting puts the platform's own cut at around 5% of each donation, on top of a separate payout fee when you cash out to a card or bank account. It is also not a crypto or TON tool — donations are card payments, not Stars or on-chain transfers, and creators need to complete identity verification before they can receive a single ruble or dollar.

For a channel owner who wants a legitimate, Telegram-native way to accept support from readers, and is comfortable verifying their identity to do it, @donate is the safest option here specifically because it is official and regulated, not because it is the cheapest.