If you are creating a course, mentorship, a club with lessons, or any structured learning — choose a Mini App. This is our main format for educational products, and it’s the one we prioritize developing.
Below are the details to help you make an informed decision.
When to choose a Mini App
A Mini App fits most educational scenarios. Here’s what it gives you compared to a bot:
Branding. Logo, name, brand color — the product looks like a standalone school, not a chat. The course feels more premium, which increases users’ willingness to pay.
Convenient navigation. Modules, lessons, course structure — it’s easier for users to navigate, and nothing gets lost in chat messages.
Learning in Telegram and on the web. Users can learn wherever it’s convenient. In the web version, there are no distracting notifications — full focus on learning.
Everything in one place. Users see their progress, additional materials are inside lessons, and there is a “Saved” section. Easy to return and continue from where they left off.
Completion rate analytics. You can see which lessons are completed and where users drop off — making it clear what to improve to increase completion rates.
Lesson-based automations. Upsell after a key lesson, reminders for users who haven’t opened a lesson, progress-based bonuses — helps bring users back and improve completion rates.
When to choose a bot
A bot remains a good solution for several scenarios:
Content is interactive, not lesson-based. If your product relies on voice tasks, dialogues, or message chains with answer validation — a bot works better. The “message-by-message” format fits this type of content naturally.
Audience prefers chat format. Some audiences don’t like switching to a Mini App and prefer receiving content directly in chat. If you know this is your case — a bot may perform better.
Mobile screenshot protection is critical. On mobile devices, Telegram restricts screenshots and screen recording inside bots. This protection is not available in Mini Apps — it’s a Telegram client limitation, not a platform one. Other protection features work equally in both formats.
It’s important to understand that 100% content protection does not exist: even in a bot, users can open lessons on desktop and record the screen with third-party software. So choosing a bot solely for this protection only makes sense if your audience primarily learns on mobile.
If you’re unsure
Start with a Mini App. It’s the main format for educational products, and new platform features are released there first. If later you realize your use case fits a bot better — contact our support, and we’ll help you figure it out.