Subscriby vs SimpleSub
A free, basic Telegram bot vs. a full subscription platform for communities wherever they live
Prices checked on 28 September 2026
SimpleSub is positioned as the only free Telegram subscription bot. It uses Telegram's internal payment system, automates removal on expiry, and offers basic stats and customizable bot messages. That's the entire feature set. Subscriby is a full subscription platform: 11 payment gateways, multi-tier plans, access codes, public REST API, 191 webhook events, Zapier and n8n integrations, MCP server, team RBAC, and a web dashboard. If your needs are minimal and Telegram-internal payments work in your country, SimpleSub costs nothing. If you need anything beyond that, or a community that may outgrow one platform, Subscriby is the deeper option: it is built on connectors, so the same plans reach new platforms as they ship.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Subscriby | SimpleSub |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Focus | Paid communities on Telegram and Discord, more connectors coming | Free Telegram subscription bot |
| Platforms | Telegram and Discord today, Slack, WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams and more on the roadmap | Telegram only |
| Pricing Model | $0 Free + 10%, $39 Starter + 3%, $89 Growth + 1% | 100% free — no platform fee, no transaction fee |
| Admin Interface | Full web dashboard: projects, subscribers, plans, payments, codes, coupons, inbox, teams | Bot-only — runs entirely inside Telegram |
| Telegram Stars | Native support | Telegram's internal payment system — provider availability depends on country |
| Payment Gateways | 11 gateways (Stripe, PayPal, Polar, Mollie, Kelviq, Razorpay, Paystack, Skrill, CoinPayments, CeyPay, Telegram Stars) | Only Telegram's internal payment system |
| Regional Gateways | Razorpay, Paystack, Mollie, CeyPay | Not available |
| Crypto Support | BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC via CoinPayments + CeyPay | Not available |
| Multi-Tier Plans | Multiple plans per project, multi-resource access | Time-limited subscriptions only — no tiers, trials, or discounts listed |
| Access Codes | Single-use, batch, gift codes | Not available |
| Time-Limited Passes | Scheduled access windows: bought on Wednesday, admitted Sunday, removed that night | Not available |
| Disaster Recovery Program | Lost bot, channel or account detected in seconds; members re-admitted to a new one automatically | Not available |
| Coupon Codes | Percentage or fixed, capped in total and per subscriber, plan-restricted, scheduled; first payment only | Not available — subscriptions run on Telegram's internal payments with no discount codes |
| Referral Program | Members earn free days or cash for friends who pay; on Growth or as an addon | Not documented |
| Smart Links and Embeds | Tracked links per channel with clicks, checkouts, paid members and revenue; embeds for your site | Not documented |
| Portal Designer | Presets, colours, fonts, layout, blocks, your words and a stylesheet for the portal page, on every plan | Bot-only; no page of its own to design |
| AI Operator | Subscriby Copilot: answers from your data and does the routine work with your permissions | Not available |
| Failed-Payment Recovery | A grace window you set, four notices, a cancellation screen with one offer, win-back sequences | Nothing beyond Telegram's own payment handling is documented |
| Checkout and Lead Follow-up | Sequences in your words for leads, stalled checkouts and ending trials; every checkout ledgered | Not documented |
| Fee Transparency | A Transaction Fees ledger: every fee tied to its payment, rate and invoice, exportable as CSV | No platform fee at all, so there is nothing to ledger |
| Partner Program | 5% to 30% of every invoice a referred creator pays, for 12 months | Not documented |
| Subscriber Outreach | Broadcast messaging to subscribers built-in | Listed as "coming soon" on the marketing site |
| REST API / Webhooks | 40 resources, 191 events — fully public | Not available |
| Zapier / n8n / MCP | Zapier integration, n8n node, 240-tool MCP server | Not available |
| Team RBAC | 81 fine-grained permissions on Growth | Not available |
What SimpleSub Does Well
- 100% free with no platform fee or transaction fee — at low revenue, that's hard to beat.
- SimpleSub sets up entirely inside Telegram, with no external dashboard or signup flow.
- A minimalist feature set means less to learn for creators who only need basic time-limited access control.
- If your country is well-served by Telegram's internal payment provider, the integration is one less moving part to manage.
- Project pause/stop with one click — useful for short-run campaigns or seasonal access.
We believe in honest comparisons. If SimpleSub is right for you, we'll say so.
Pricing
- Free$0/mo10% per transaction— 3 projects, no revenue cap
- Starter$39/mo3% per transaction— 10 projects, 12 billed annually, white-labelled bots and portal, no revenue cap
- Growth$89/mo1% per transaction— 20 projects, 25 billed annually, white-labelled bots and portal, Teams, no revenue cap
- FreeFreeNo platform fee, no transaction fee— Telegram payment provider may charge separately by country
Put your own numbers in: the fee calculator ranks SimpleSub, Subscriby and 11 more tools for your month.
Open the fee calculatorWhere Subscriby Wins
Disaster Recovery Program — peace of mind when access is lost overnight
A lost channel, bot or account is detected in seconds, you are alerted, and every paying member is re-admitted to a new one automatically, with standby bots and failover on Growth. Fair use: for creators who lost access through no fault of their own; self-service once per 90 days, then our support team reviews the account, and a confirmed violation of the platform's or Subscriby's terms closes it.
Subscriby Copilot — an AI operator that does the routine work
Ask about your members and money: the Copilot answers from your own data, does the routine work with your permissions, asks before anything it cannot undo, answers members from what you taught it and writes you every Monday. Free turns on every plan. SimpleSub has no AI operator.
Portal Designer — a member page in your brand, on every plan
The portal page members buy and sign in on takes your design: presets with light and dark palettes, self-hosted fonts, the layout and the plan cards, content blocks, your own wording in every language, your pixels and a stylesheet, previewed live and published when you say, on every plan, with a demo to try first. SimpleSub runs inside the chat and has no page to design.
Revenue Recovery — a grace window, one offer, win-back sequences
A failed renewal keeps the member's access for a grace window you set, with notices carrying the way to pay again; a member who cancels is asked why and made one offer; one who left hears from you on the days you chose. SimpleSub documents none of the three.
Lead nurture and checkout recovery
A lead who never bought, a stalled checkout and a trial about to end each enter a sequence in your words, with the way to the plan and a coupon on every step and a Stop for the member; the ones that come back are counted. SimpleSub documents no follow-ups of this kind.
Smart Links that say which channel pays
A tracked address per channel with clicks, leads, checkouts, paid members and lifetime revenue, a bot link and a QR code per link, campaign tags kept, and a button or your plan cards to embed on your own site, on every plan. SimpleSub documents no tracked links or embed.
Referral Program — members bring members
Every member gets a code and a link; a friend who pays earns them free membership days or a cash commission you set, held behind your refund window, with approvals, payouts per currency and a reward for the friend as well. On Growth or as an addon. SimpleSub has no member referral program.
Partner Program — creators bring creators
Bring other creators to Subscriby and earn from 5% up to 30% of every invoice they pay for twelve months, the rate climbing with your promotion work, settled as Subscriby Credit on your own invoices or paid in cash once a month. SimpleSub documents no partner program.
Time-limited passes — scheduled access windows
Sell access to a window you schedule rather than an open-ended membership: a customer buys the Sunday pass on Wednesday, is admitted on Sunday morning and removed that night with no manual invites, however many people bought, and a pass series sells a whole season as one purchase. SimpleSub has nothing comparable.
Coupon codes at all
SimpleSub runs subscriptions on Telegram's internal payments and has no discount codes, so a sale means editing your price. Subscriby issues codes you set as a percentage or a fixed amount, cap in total and per person, restrict to plans and schedule, redeemed in the portal or the bot with the discounted total shown first.
Professional web dashboard
Subscriby ships a full web dashboard for projects, subscribers, plans, payments, access codes, coupons, the support inbox and team members, with per-project analytics and an activity log behind it. SimpleSub runs entirely inside Telegram with no admin interface at all, which is fine for a tiny operation and limiting the moment it grows.
11 payment gateways vs Telegram-internal only
Subscriby supports Stripe, PayPal, Polar, Mollie, Kelviq, Razorpay, Paystack, Skrill, CoinPayments, CeyPay and Telegram Stars, each connected in your own account and paying you directly. SimpleSub uses only Telegram's internal payment system, which depends entirely on which providers Telegram has enabled in your country and in each member's.
Regional gateways and crypto for global audiences
Razorpay for India, Paystack for Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Kenya, Mollie for Europe, CeyPay for Sri Lanka, and Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT and USDC through CoinPayments, each paying your own account. SimpleSub supports none of these, so your audience is locked to whatever providers Telegram has enabled where they live.
Multi-tier plans and multi-resource access
Build silver, gold and founder tiers, each granting access to a different set of Telegram channels and groups, with trials, passes and coupons on top, and change the slate without touching a member. SimpleSub supports time-limited subscriptions only, with no tier, no trial and no multi-resource concept.
Access codes for offline and gift subscriptions
Generate single-use or batch codes that subscribers redeem without a card, for gifting, in-person sales, sponsors and markets where cards are uncommon; each code is tied to a plan, expires when you say, and reaches you as a CSV or as one message per code. SimpleSub does not have this.
Public REST API, 191 webhook events, Zapier, n8n, MCP
Subscriby has a documented public REST API across 40 resource families, 191 webhook events, a Zapier integration, an n8n community node and an MCP server with 240 tools, so a system, a workflow or an agent of your own runs the account with you. SimpleSub has no API, webhooks or integrations.
Team RBAC with 81 fine-grained permissions
On the Growth Plan you invite community managers, billing admins and support staff with their own logins and exactly the permissions their role needs, chosen from 81, and every action they take lands in the activity log with its actor. SimpleSub has no concept of team access or roles at all.
Two-way member support inside the bot
A member who messages your bot reaches you instead of an error: the thread lands in a shared inbox with their plan, join date and payment history, with assignment, notes and saved replies, and your answer arrives in Telegram under your own name, so they know a person read it.
Choose Subscriby if you…
- Creators who need any payment method beyond Telegram's internal payment provider
- Communities outside countries where Telegram's internal payment system works well
- Anyone needing multi-tier plans, access codes, or trial periods
- Builders requiring REST API, webhooks, Zapier, n8n, or MCP
- Teams needing role-based access control and a proper web dashboard
- Anyone whose audience pays in crypto
Stick with SimpleSub if you…
- Solo creators with minimal needs whose audience is in a country well-served by Telegram's internal payment providers.
- Communities at very low revenue where any platform fee or feature depth is less important than zero cost.
Common Questions
- Is SimpleSub really completely free?
- SimpleSub itself charges no platform fee or transaction fee. However, the underlying Telegram payment provider in your country may have its own fees outside SimpleSub's control.
- Can my audience pay with cards or PayPal through SimpleSub?
- SimpleSub uses only Telegram's internal payment system. Whether cards or PayPal are available depends on which payment providers Telegram has enabled in your audience's country. Subscriby adds Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay, Paystack, Skrill, CoinPayments, CeyPay, and Telegram Stars on top.
- Does SimpleSub support tiered memberships or access codes?
- No. SimpleSub supports time-limited subscriptions only. Subscriby supports multi-tier plans with multi-resource access and access codes for gifting, batch promos, and offline sales.
- Can I manage SimpleSub from a web dashboard?
- No. SimpleSub runs entirely inside Telegram — there's no external admin UI. Subscriby has a full web dashboard for projects, subscribers, plans, payments, access codes, and teams.
- Does SimpleSub have an API or integrations?
- No. SimpleSub has no public API, no webhooks, and no listed integrations with Zapier, n8n, or any other tool. Subscriby has all of those plus an MCP server for AI-agent workflows.
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