Live in ten minutes
Everything from first login to your first sale — and what your customers experience on the other side of the door.
For you, the creator
Log in with Telegram
Go to app.paidjoin.com and log in with your Telegram account. No passwords, no signup forms — Telegram confirms it's you. This is the same account you use to manage your channel, which matters in step 3.
Create your project
A project is the home for one community: your channel, your plans, your subscribers. Click Create Project in the dashboard and give it a name. You can run as many projects as you like — there's no limit on communities or members.
Add @PaidJoinBot as admin and verify
In your private Telegram channel or group, add @PaidJoinBot as an administrator with exactly two rights: "Invite users via link" and "Ban members". That's all it needs — invite links to let paying members in, ban rights to remove members whose access expires. Then hit Verify in the dashboard: we check that the bot is admin and that you personally own or admin the channel, so nobody can monetize a channel that isn't theirs.
Connect your Stripe account
Paste a restricted Stripe API key into the dashboard — it shows you exactly where in Stripe to create one and which minimal permissions to give it. Payments go directly to your own Stripe account; PaidJoin never holds your money and takes 0% of your sales. Your key is stored encrypted (AES-256-GCM), and we never see card numbers — Stripe handles all checkout.
Create your plans
Set up what you want to sell: fixed access periods from 1 to 365 days, monthly or yearly subscriptions, or lifetime access. Mix and match — for example a 7-day trial pass next to a monthly subscription. You can adjust plans later.
Go live and share one link
Flip your project live and you get a single link: t.me/PaidJoinBot?start=p_<your-slug>. Put it in your bio, pinned posts, anywhere your audience is. From here everything is automatic — checkout, invites, renewal reminders, and removals when memberships expire (after a 24-hour grace period).
What your customers experience
Tap your link and pick a plan
Your customer taps your link, the bot shows your plans, and they choose one. No account creation, no app to install — they're already in Telegram.
Pay with their card
They pay through Stripe Checkout — the same secure payment page used by millions of businesses. The money lands directly in your Stripe account. (Cards only for now; PayPal, crypto, and Telegram Stars are planned but not available yet.)
Get in — in under 2 minutes
The bot instantly sends a personal, single-use invite link, and they're inside your channel in under two minutes. If they ever lose an unused link or want to check their membership, the /status command in the bot shows everything and re-issues the link.
Already have a full channel? The migration playbook
Announce the change
Post in your channel that membership is going paid, and share your PaidJoin link. Your existing members are completely safe: the bot never touches anyone except people whose PaidJoin membership has expired. Nobody gets kicked by surprise.
Set a clear deadline
Give your members a fair window to subscribe — a week or two works well. Pin the announcement and remind people once or twice before the date. A clear deadline converts better than an open-ended ask.
Do one manual cleanup
When the deadline passes, manually remove the members who didn't subscribe. This is a one-time job — the only manual step in the whole migration. Everyone who paid is already tracked by PaidJoin.
Automatic from here on
That's the last time you manage access by hand. From now on PaidJoin sends renewal reminders 72 and 24 hours before expiry, follows up on failed payments, removes expired members after a 24-hour grace period, and lets renewed members back in instantly. Every action is audit-logged, and anything that needs your attention shows up as a dashboard alert.
Stuck on a step? Message @PaidJoinBot — or check the FAQ.