Telegram Limits 2026: Every Limit in One List
Short answer: a Telegram group holds up to 200,000 members, a channel has no subscriber limit, files can be up to 2 GB (4 GB with Premium), a message can be 4,096 characters (8,192 with Premium), and you can join 500 channels and groups (1,000 with Premium). Below is the full, regularly updated list.
Telegram sets these limits to keep the service fast and spam-free. Where ⭐ Telegram Premium raises a limit, the table shows both values; “Same” means Premium does not change it.
The Telegram Limits People Ask About Most
Max members in a group
200,000 (unlimited as a broadcast group)
Channel subscribers
Unlimited
File size per upload
2 GB · ⭐ 4 GB
Message length
4,096 characters · ⭐ 8,192
Channels & groups you can join
500 · ⭐ 1,000
Admins / bots per group
50 admins · 20 bots
Accounts per official app
3 · ⭐ 4–6
People you can invite to a channel
200 by hand
Jump to a category
👤 Accounts · 💬 Groups & Chats · 🧵 Forum Topics · 📢 Channels · ✉️ Messages & Files · 📊 Polls & Checklists · 🗂️ Chat Folders · 📸 Stories · 🔎 Search & Discovery · 🤖 Bots · 🎙️ Voice & Video Chats · 🎨 Stickers & Emoji · ⭐ Gifts, Stars & TON · 🚀 Boosts & Channel Levels · 🧰 Media, Articles & Other
👤
Telegram Accounts Limits
Profile fields, membership caps and account-level rules.
| Limit | Free | ⭐ Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Username length | 5–32 characters (collectible usernames from 4) | Same |
| Bio | Up to 70 characters | Up to 140 characters |
| First name | 1–64 characters | Same |
| Last name | 0–64 characters | Same |
| Self-destruct if inactive | 1, 3, 6, 12, 18 or 24 months (18 by default) | Same |
| Spam restriction length | From 1 day to permanent | Same |
| Channels + supergroups joined (combined, incl. owned) | Up to 500 | Up to 1,000 |
| Saved GIFs | Up to 200 | Up to 400 |
| Video profile photo | 1–10 seconds | Same |
| New groups and channels | Up to 50 per day | Same |
| Accounts in one official app | Up to 3 | Up to 4–6 (depends on the app) |
| Visible message history (private chats, bots, basic groups) | Unlimited | Same |
| Sticker packs per account | Up to 200 | Same |
| Emoji packs per account | Up to 200 | Same |
| Username ownership before it can be auctioned | At least 14 days | Same |
| Private note on a contact | Up to 128 characters | Same |
| Passkeys linked to the account | Up to 5 | Same |
| Auto-logout for inactive sessions | 1 week, 1, 3, 6 or 12 months | Same |
| Custom notification sound | 1–5 seconds | Same |
| Saved ringtones | Up to 100 | Same |
| Birthday changes | 3 per week | Same |
| Business welcome card title | Not available | Up to 32 characters |
| Business welcome card text | Not available | Up to 70 characters |
| Business chat links with preset text | Not available | Up to 100 |
💬
Telegram Groups & Chats Limits
Member counts, admin rules and moderation features.
| Limit | Free | ⭐ Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Members in a group | Up to 200,000 (unlimited after converting to a broadcast group) | Same |
| Convert supergroup to broadcast group | Available from 199,000 members | Same |
| Admins | Up to 50 | Same |
| Bots | Up to 20 | Same |
| Pinned chats in the main list | 5 chats/channels + 5 secret chats | 10 chats/channels |
| Group name and description | Up to 255 characters | Same |
| Editing a sent message | Within 48 hours (no limit in Saved Messages or for admins who can pin) | Same |
| Self-destructing photo/video | 1–60 seconds | Same |
| Recent actions log | Last 48 hours | Same |
| Mentions in one message | Up to 50 (only the first 5 get notified) | Same |
| Visible messages in a group | Last 1,000,000 | Same |
| Pinned messages | Unlimited | Same |
| Statistics available from | 500 members | Same |
| Old username held for the previous owner | About 15–30 minutes | Same |
| Group sticker set | Groups with 100+ members | Same |
| Admin / member tag | Up to 16 characters | Same |
| Read receipts | Kept 7 days; only in chats with up to 100 members | Same |
| Member list visible in big groups | Up to 10,000 members | Same |
| Hide member list | Groups with 100+ members | Same |
| Hand-picked reactions (“Some reactions”) | Up to 100 | Same |
| Aggressive anti-spam | Groups with 200+ members | Same |
| Welcome messages | Up to 3 | Same |
🧵
Telegram Forum Topics Limits
Groups with topics turned on.
| Topics per group | Up to 1,000,000 |
| Topic title | Up to 128 characters |
| Pinned topics | Up to 5 |
📢
Telegram Channels Limits
Broadcast channels, admins, invites and discovery.
| Limit | Free | ⭐ Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Subscribers | Unlimited | Same |
| Public usernames per account (channels + groups) | Up to 10 | Up to 20 |
| Channel @username | 5–32 characters | Same |
| Channel name and description | Up to 255 characters | Same |
| Admins (bots count as admins) | Up to 50 | Same |
| Editing posts | Any time (posts older than 2 weeks stop syncing to a linked discussion group) | Same |
| Subscriber list an admin can see | 200 people | Same |
| Manual invites | Up to 200 people | Same |
| Statistics available from | 50 subscribers | Same |
| Story statistics available from | 1 subscriber | Same |
| Preview a private channel without joining (200+ subscribers) | Up to 5 minutes, once a day | Same |
| Deleting a channel with 1,000+ subscribers | Needs a session that is a few days old and a cloud password set for a few days | Same |
| Shown in “Similar channels” | From 300 subscribers (content dependent) | Same |
| Eligible for public search | From 100 subscribers | Same |
| Recent actions log | Last 48 hours | Same |
| Welcome messages | Up to 3 | Same |
✉️
Telegram Messages & Files Limits
Text length, uploads, albums and scheduling.
| Limit | Free | ⭐ Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Message length | Up to 4,096 characters | Up to 8,192 characters |
| Media caption | Up to 1,024 characters | Up to 4,096 characters |
| File size | Up to 2 GB | Up to 4 GB |
| File name | Up to 60 characters (longer names are cut) | Same |
| Video message (round video) | Up to 1 minute, 12 MB, 384 px | Same |
| Photos/videos in one album | Up to 10 | Same |
| Scheduled messages per chat | Up to 100 | Same |
| Schedule ahead | Up to 365 days | Same |
| Custom emoji per message | Saved Messages only | Up to 100 (extra ones show as normal emoji) |
| Links per message | Up to 100 | Same |
| Different reactions on one message | Up to 11 | Same |
| Voice-to-text transcriptions | 2 per week, up to 5 minutes each | Unlimited, no length cap |
| Quote length | Up to 1,024 characters | Same |
| Quick-reply templates | Not available | Up to 100 (10 messages each) |
| Formatting entities per message (bots) | Up to 100 | Same |
📊
Telegram Polls & Checklists Limits
Polls in chats and channels, plus to-do checklists.
| Poll question | 1–255 characters |
| Poll options | 1–12 |
| Option text | 1–100 characters |
| Poll description | Up to 4,096 characters |
| Poll duration | Up to 30 days |
| Country-limited channel polls | Up to 12 countries |
| Checklist items | 1–30 |
| Checklist title | 1–255 characters |
| Checklist item text | 1–100 characters |
🗂️
Telegram Chat Folders Limits
Personal folders and shareable folder links.
| Limit | Free | ⭐ Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Folder name | Up to 12 characters | Same |
| Folders | Up to 10 | Up to 30 |
| Chats per folder | Up to 100 | Up to 200 |
| Pinned chats per folder | Up to 100 | Up to 200 |
| Shareable (public) folders | Up to 2 | Up to 20 |
| Chats in a shareable folder | Up to 100 | Up to 200 |
| Invite links per shareable folder | Up to 3 | Up to 10 |
📸
Telegram Stories Limits
Posting quotas, lifetime and viewer privacy.
| Limit | Free | ⭐ Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Stories without Premium | Being rolled out free worldwide; some accounts have a small lifetime quota | Same |
| Stories per day | 1 | Up to 100 |
| Stories per week | Up to 3 | Up to 700 |
| Stories per month | Up to 10 | Up to 3,000 |
| Story lifetime | 24 hours | 6, 12, 24 or 48 hours |
| Story length | Up to 60 seconds | Same |
| Who-viewed list | 24 hours | Permanent |
| Story caption | Up to 200 characters | Up to 2,048 characters |
| Stealth mode (hide your views) | Not available | Once every 3 hours, 30 minutes per use |
| Clickable links in a story | Not available | Up to 3 |
| Reaction stickers | 1 | Up to 5 |
| Pinned stories | 3 | Same |
| Story albums | Up to 100, with up to 100 stories each | Same |
| Quota reset | 24 hours after your first story | Same |
🔎
Telegram Search & Discovery Limits
How Telegram search and recommendations behave.
| Limit | Free | ⭐ Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Global search minimum query | 4 characters | Same |
| Username lookups | Up to 200 per day | Same |
| Hashtag search | About the last 5,000 messages | Same |
| Channel visible in search | From 100 subscribers | Same |
| Recommended channels shown | Up to 10 | Up to 100 |
🤖
Telegram Bots Limits
Limits for bot developers and Bot API users.
| Limit | Free | ⭐ Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Bots per account (@BotFather) | Up to 20 | Up to 40 |
| Bot username | 5–32 characters | Same |
| “About” text | Up to 120 characters | Same |
| Description | Up to 512 characters | Same |
| Upload via cloud Bot API | Up to 50 MB | Same |
| Download via cloud Bot API | Up to 20 MB | Same |
| Upload / download via local Bot API server | Up to 2,000 MB | Same |
| Keyboard buttons | Up to 100 | Same |
| Inline button data per message | Up to 10 KB | Same |
| Sending speed in one chat | About 1 message per second (short bursts allowed) | Same |
| Sending speed in a group | Up to 20 messages per minute | Same |
| Broadcast speed across chats | About 30 messages per second | Same |
| API requests | About 30 per second | Same |
| Commands | Up to 100 (1–32 characters each, description up to 256) | Same |
| /start deep-link payload | Up to 64 bytes | Same |
| Alert pop-up text | Up to 200 characters | Same |
| Inline results | Up to 50 per page | Same |
| Inline query read by the bot | Up to 256 characters | Same |
| Bot ownership transfers | Up to 5 per day | Same |
| Custom verification text | 1–70 characters | Same |
🎙️
Telegram Voice & Video Chats Limits
Live streams, group calls and paid comments.
| Audio listeners | Unlimited |
| People sharing video at once | Up to 1,000 |
| Video stream viewers | Unlimited on paper; unstable above ~2,000 live viewers |
| Voice chat title | Up to 40 characters |
| Schedule a voice chat | Up to 7 days ahead |
| Chat comment | Up to 128 characters, visible ~10 seconds unless pinned |
| End-to-end encrypted group call via link | Up to 200 participants |
| Paid stream comment price | Up to 10,000 Stars |
| Paid comment pin time | From 1 minute (10 Stars) to 1 hour (10,000 Stars) |
🎨
Telegram Stickers & Emoji Limits
Creating and saving sticker packs.
| Limit | Free | ⭐ Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Installed packs | Up to 200 | Same |
| Favorite stickers | Up to 5 | Up to 10 |
| Stickers per pack | 120 static or 50 animated | Same |
| Sticker size | 512 px on one side (animated: exactly 512×512) | Same |
| Animation length | Up to 3 seconds at 30 or 60 FPS | Same |
| Sticker file size | 512 KB static, 64 KB animated | Same |
| Pack name / link | Up to 64 / 62 characters | Same |
| Emoji per pack | Up to 200 | Same |
⭐
Telegram Gifts, Stars & TON Limits
Gifts, paid content and withdrawals.
| Convert a received gift to Stars | Within 7 days |
| Gift conversion from a new session | After 7 days |
| Transfer a gift bought with card-purchased Stars | After 21 days |
| Note attached to a gift | Up to 128 characters |
| Pinned gifts on profile | Up to 6 |
| Gift collections | Up to 10, with up to 500 gifts each |
| Collectible gift resale price | 125–100,000 Stars or 7–100,000 TON |
| Gift upgrade price | At least 20% of the gift price |
| Paid reaction | 1–10,000 Stars |
| Paid media in a post | 1–25,000 Stars |
| Paid private message | 1–35,000 Stars |
| Suggested post for a channel | Free or 2–35,000 Stars |
| Star withdrawal | From 1,000 Stars (chats/channels up to 25,000,000) |
| Affiliate revenue share | 0.1%–80% per referred user |
| Paid post price in TON | 0.01–10,000 TON |
| Paid post minimum duration | 24 hours |
| Paid post scheduling | 5 minutes to 31 days ahead |
| TON withdrawal | From 10 TON; 2-day cooldown via Fragment |
🚀
Telegram Boosts & Channel Levels Limits
What boosts unlock for channels and groups.
| Limit | Free | ⭐ Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Boosts from your own Premium | Not available | 4 |
| Boosts from a gifted Premium | Not available | 1 |
| Boosts from a giveaway Premium | Not available | 0 |
| Extra boosts for gifting Premium | +3 per gift | Same |
| Move a boost to another channel | Not available | Every 24 hours (boosts can't be withdrawn) |
| Channels / countries per giveaway | Up to 10 / up to 10 | Same |
| Giveaway duration | Up to 31 days | Same |
| Channel levels | 1 to 100 | Same |
| Auto-translation for everyone | Channel level 3 | Same |
| Message accent color & emoji | Channel level 4 (group-promoted emoji: level 4) | Same |
| Channel name color | Level 5 | Same |
| Free voice-to-text for members | Level 6 | Same |
| Profile background (channel / group) | Channel level 7 · group level 5 | Same |
| Emoji status | Level 8 | Same |
| Preset chat theme | Level 9 | Same |
| Custom wallpaper | Level 10 | Same |
| Turn off sponsored messages | Channel level 50 | Same |
🧰
Telegram Media, Articles & Other Limits
Image quality, downloads and long-form articles.
| Video profile photo | 800×800 px, up to 2 MB |
| Compressed photo (SD / HD) | Longest side 1,280 px / 2,560 px |
| Parallel downloads | About 5 small files or 2 large files (20 MB+) |
| Article length | Up to 32,768 characters, 500 blocks, 50 media, 20 table columns |
| Telegraph articles | Up to 64 KiB, 5 accounts per @telegraph, external media only |
| AI Editor styles | Up to 20 (titles up to 12 characters) |
Telegram Limits FAQ
What is the maximum number of members in a Telegram group?
A Telegram group holds up to 200,000 members. Once it passes 199,000 you can convert it into a broadcast group, which has no member limit but only lets admins post.
Is there a limit on Telegram channel subscribers?
No. Channels can have an unlimited number of subscribers. The practical limits are elsewhere: you can only add 200 people by hand, and only see 200 of your subscribers in the list.
How big a file can I send on Telegram?
Up to 2 GB per file for free accounts and up to 4 GB with Telegram Premium. Bots using the cloud Bot API are limited to 50 MB uploads and 20 MB downloads.
How many Telegram channels and groups can I join?
Up to 500 channels and supergroups combined (including the ones you own), or 1,000 with Telegram Premium.
Why did Telegram stop me from adding people or messaging strangers?
That is a spam restriction. It can last from a day to permanently. Check your status with @SpamBot and read our account safety guide to avoid it.
How long until an inactive Telegram account is deleted?
You choose: 1, 3, 6, 12, 18 or 24 months without logging in. The default is 18 months.
Related guides
Growing past the limits?
Channels have no subscriber cap, but you can only invite 200 people by hand. FixedMember grows channels and groups safely within Telegram’s rules.
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