The Zenedu platform is perfect for projects where the main source of income is paid access to a community or Telegram channel. In this section, we’ll explain how to step-by-step create a community and set up payment processing.
Step 1: Create and add a bot to the platform
If you don’t have a bot yet:
Open @BotFather in Telegram and click /newbot.
Set a name and username (must end in “bot”), for example: zenedu_bot.
Copy the token from the last message from BotFather and paste it into the “Bots” section on Zenеdu.
If the bot is already created:
Open @BotFather in Telegram, click /token, and select your bot.
Copy the token from the last message and paste it into the “Bots” section on Zenеdu.
If you encounter difficulties, refer to the detailed guide How to create and add a bot to Zenedu.
Step 2: Add a group or channel
Depending on the format of your community or channel, add it to the platform.
Important: To allow the bot to work with channels and groups, you must add it to the community and assign it as an admin.
Go to the “Channels and Groups” section on the platform.
Click “Add channel or group.”
Select the appropriate community type and create a pricing plan through which members will gain access. Choose the “Subscription” type. You will be able to edit it later and connect payment methods.
Add the bot to the selected group/channel:
4. Click the bot’s name → “Add to group or channel” → select the desired community → confirm.
Make the bot an administrator:
In the group/channel settings, open “Manage” → “Administrators” → “Add administrator.”
Find the bot, grant all permissions, and click “Save.”
Your community or Telegram channel will now be visible on the Zenedu platform.
Step 3: Enable monetization
Most communities use recurring payments (subscriptions). We’ll show you how to set up a subscription for your community and manage it.
Go to the Offers section and find the pricing plan you previously created for your group or channel.
Specify:
the subscription price;
the payment currency;
the subscription period (e.g., 1 month).
If needed, activate a paid trial — this allows new users to assess the value of your community before subscribing fully.
You set the following yourself:
the trial duration;
the trial payment amount.
4. Connect payment methods. Important! Subscription payments only work with automatic payment methods: WayForPay, Fondy, Stripe, Monobank. Your merchant account must have token-based payment functionality enabled to support recurring payments.
You need to contact WayForPay support at [email protected] and send the following message:
"Hello! Please enable token support for the merchant [merchant name] in order to use recurring payments on the zenedu.io platform."
You need to contact Monobank support from the financial phone number associated with your merchant account and request tokenization (recurring payments) to be enabled. The service will be activated within 48 hours after the request.
To connect, contact Fondy support and request to enable token functionality for accepting recurring payments.
At any time, you can change the price or conditions of the subscription in the same section.
If you want to give access to your Telegram channel via a one-time payment, then choose the “One-time payment” format. In this case, you can connect more payment methods.
After activating the plan, the bot menu will show a command: /subscriptions
When the user clicks on it, they will see:
The name of the product they have access to,
The current price and subscription period,
The date of the next payment,
A button to cancel the subscription if they no longer wish to continue it.
Step 4: Activate and share access to the community or Telegram channel
Go to the group or channel. Click the “Activate” button in the upper right corner.
Then click the “Get link” button. Copy the bot or landing page link and send it to potential clients — they will be able to use it to pay for the offer.
Community Management Tips
How to change the date of the next payment:
Go to the “Payments” > “Subscriptions” section, find the relevant subscription, and click the ⋮ icon on the right.
From the dropdown, select “Change next payment date,” specify the new date, and save the changes.
How to change the subscription price:
To update the amount, go to the same “Payments” > “Subscriptions” section, click the ⋮ icon next to the desired subscription, and select “Change subscription price.”
Enter the new amount and click “Save.”
