Telegram founder Pavel Durov recently took to the platform to discuss the future of Telegram and the launch of Telegram Premium, a paid subscription service. According to Durov, the premium version of the popular messaging service will launch later this month, allowing Telegram to be funded “primarily by its users, not advertisers.”

The platform will also allow users to make voice and video calls and sends large files, and will remain free for most users, according to Durov, who added that only power users who require more features and higher capacity will have to pay for Telegram Premium.

Not to worry though: all existing features remain free, and there are plenty of new free features coming. Moreover, even users who don’t subscribe to Telegram Premium will be able to enjoy some of its benefits: for example, they will be able to view extra-large documents, media and stickers sent by Premium users, or tap to add Premium reactions already pinned to a message to react in the same way.

Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram stated in his Telegram channel

Telegram was founded in 2013 and has been free to all users for the past nine years, but according to Durov, adding new features and capabilities to Telegram for all users will make the platform’s server and traffic costs “unmanageable.”

While we don’t yet know what advantages Telegram Premium will have over the standard service, Durov does say that the subscription plan “allows anyone to acquire additional features, speed, and resources.”

According to previous reports, the membership would come with exclusive animated stickers, emojis, and a larger file-sharing limit. Telegram Premium users will also be among the first to receive new features as they become available.

Paid members will have access to premium features such as sending extra-large documents, media, and stickers, but non-Premium users will be able to access these documents, media, and stickers if they are submitted by a Premium user.

Telegram Premium will cost $4.99 or $5 per month, according to TechCrunch and the price will be varied by region and will include the following features (via Telegram Info):

The paid subscription will expand some limits of the application of the limit — as a rule, the allowed limits will double:

• Number of chats in a folder (100 → 200)
• The limit of channels and supergroups in subscriptions (500 → 1000)
• Number of folders (10 → 20)
• Number of pinned dialogs in the main tab (5 → 10) and within a folder (100 → 200)
• Number of public links for your channels and supergroups (10 → 20)
• Number of favorite stickers (5 → 10)
• Number of saved GIFs (200 → 400)
• Number of accounts associated with the application with unique numbers (3 → 4)
• Downloads up to 4GB
• Telegram Premium users will be able to upload large files up to 4GB to the messenger’s cloud.

Users who will not purchase a subscription will still be able to send media up to 2GB. The app’s storage is still limitless for anyone using Telegram.

• Faster download speed — No more limits on download speed for media and documents! Paying subscribers will be able to download the necessary files to the application cache many times faster than before — due to a higher priority for such downloads.
• Convert voice messages into text — Now you don’t have to listen to voice messages: decrypt the content of an incoming audio message with just one click and convert your interlocutor’s voice to a convenient text format.
• There are currently no known limits to the length of recognizable messages.
• No advertising — Sponsored posts, which are natively displayed at the end of the feed after you’ve read all the posts, will no longer appear in large open channels.
• This benefit applies only to Premium subscribers. Paid tools to disable ads for the entire audience are not yet available to channel administrators.
• Unique reactions — Users who have subscribed can react with additional animated reactions under messages that are not included in the default set (it now includes 16 emojis).
• Premium stickers — The Sticker Store is updated monthly with sets that include exclusive stickers with full-screen effects. Only Telegram Premium subscribers can send these stickers to the chatroom.
• Advanced dialog management — Subscribers will be able to set any tab as a default folder (currently this is «All chats»).
• There will also be a setting to hide incoming dialogs in the form of automatic archiving — this tool was previously not available to all users, but only to those whose accounts met certain criteria.
• Profile badge — A distinctive star badge placed next to a subscriber’s name will make you stand out from other users.
• Animated avatars — Video avatars will be animated not only when the user’s profile is expanded, but also in the chat list and the dialogs themselves.
• For users without Telegram Premium, video avatars will remain static on a pre-selected frame in the aforementioned cases.
• Additional app icons — Unlock a wider selection of unusual icons for Telegram by subscribing to Telegram Premium.