Short answer. Any member can open a Telegram group members list from the group's info page, unless an admin of a supergroup with 100 or more members has hidden it. A channel's subscriber list is visible to its admins only; ordinary subscribers see the count, never the names. Telegram's Bot API returns the count and the admins, not the full list.
The telegram group members list and the telegram channel subscribers list look like the same feature, and they are not. A group shows its roster to the people inside it by default. A channel shows its roster to nobody but its admins. This guide sets out who can see each list, how to read the count, how to hide what can be hidden, and what the tools that promise to export or extract a roster actually return.
Every Telegram figure below comes from a Telegram page read on 20 October 2026 and named where it is used, under the sourcing rule every Sendhaus guide follows. Where Telegram publishes nothing, the guide says so instead of borrowing a vendor's number.
Who can see a Telegram group members list or subscriber list
Who can see a Telegram members list depends on two things: the type of chat and the viewer's role in it. A basic group shows every member to every member. A supergroup shows its roster to members unless an admin hides it. A broadcast channel shows its subscribers to admins only. Someone outside the chat sees a count at most, and only when the chat is public.
Telegram's developer documentation states the group rule from the client's side. For supergroups, "the participant list is loaded on demand only if the user opens the member list (and even then, it might be hidden by admins)", while for basic groups clients "are always supposed to fetch and store the full participant list". Basic groups "can only have 200 members at max", and supergroups run to 200,000, according to the same page.
| Chat | Ordinary member or subscriber | Admin | Outsider |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic group (up to 200) | Full list | Full list | Nothing |
| Supergroup, list visible | Full list, loaded on demand | Full list | Count, if public |
| Supergroup, list hidden | Admins only | Full list | Count, if public |
| Broadcast channel | Count only | Subscriber list | Count, if public |
Searchers often say telegram channel members list when they mean a channel's subscribers; the rule is the same either way. The API makes the same split machine-readable. The channelFull object that describes a supergroup or channel carries a flag named can_view_participants, documented as "Can we view the participant list?", and a separate flag participants_hidden, "Whether the participant list is hidden." The client does not decide; Telegram's server answers the question for each viewer.
How to see members in Telegram group chats
To see members in a Telegram group, open the group, tap its name at the top of the chat, and scroll the info page: the members appear below the group's description and shared media. On desktop, the same list sits in the right-hand info panel. A search field at the top of the list finds a specific person by name or username.
That is the whole answer to how to find members in telegram group chats you belong to, and also to how to get list of members in telegram group rosters for any group with the list switched on. The telegram group members list in a supergroup loads in pages as the viewer scrolls, which is why a large group's list appears to build itself. In a basic group the list is complete from the start, because the client already stores it.
Three situations change what a member sees:
- The list is hidden. In a supergroup where an admin switched the setting on, members see the admins and nothing else.
- Anonymous admins. Since Telegram's September 2020 update, an admin can be made anonymous and post as the group itself rather than under a personal name.
- You have left or were removed. The list is gone with your membership; a public group still shows its count to outsiders.
A member list visible to everyone is also the raw material for the add-member and DM tools covered in the routes and limits for adding members, which is the reason Telegram gave admins a way to hide it.
How to get the Telegram group members number
The Telegram group members number appears directly under the group's name in the chat header, for example "4,318 members", and again at the top of the info page. Public groups and channels also show the count on their t.me preview page to people who are not inside. No admin rights are needed to read the number in any of these places.
For anyone asking how to get telegram group members number programmatically, Telegram's Bot API has one method for it: getChatMemberCount, documented as "Use this method to get the number of members in a chat. Returns Integer on success." The client API returns the same value as participants_count on channelFull, alongside admins_count, kicked_count, banned_count and online_count.
A count tells you size, not composition. A group can hold thousands of inactive or purchased accounts and still report a large number, which is the gap explained in what bought subscribers do to a count. Admins of large enough channels get a fuller picture from Telegram's own statistics, described in the channel statistics guide.
Can I see subscribers on a Telegram channel?
Only if you are an admin of that channel. A subscriber opening a channel's info page sees the subscriber count and the channel's details, but no names. The owner and any admin see a Subscribers entry on the channel's management page, which opens the telegram channel subscribers list with search and options to remove or ban people.
So the answer to "can i see subscribers on telegram channel" is no for subscribers and yes for admins, and the rule is enforced by Telegram rather than by the app. Telegram's reference for channels.getParticipants lists the error 403 CHAT_ADMIN_REQUIRED, "You must be an admin in this chat to do this", alongside 406 CHANNEL_PRIVATE, "You haven't joined this channel/supergroup."
The same rule answers how to see other telegram channel members. A subscriber cannot, from any client. People asking how to see telegram channel subscribers on a channel they do not run are asking for a list Telegram reserves for the channel's admins. The question also arrives as "telegram channel members list", but a channel has subscribers, not members, and only a group attached to it for comments has a member list of its own.
For admins who want to view telegram channel subscribers in bulk, the in-app list is the documented route. It is a management screen, built for removing and banning, not a reporting tool: Telegram publishes no export button for it, and the paging behaviour on very large channels is not documented anywhere on telegram.org.
How to see subscribers in a Telegram private channel
The rule for a private channel is the same as for a public one: admins see the subscriber list, subscribers see the count. The difference is that outsiders see nothing at all, because a private channel has no public t.me preview. Anyone asking how to see subscribers in telegram private channel spaces they do not administer will find no route, documented or otherwise.
Private channels admit people through invite links, and that gives admins a second view that public channels lack. Telegram's announcement of expiring links said admins can "see which users joined using each invite link". Splitting traffic across named links therefore shows who came from where, which the invite link settings guide covers in detail.
Admins asking how to get telegram channel subscribers list access for a private channel already have it: the list sits in the same place as on a public channel. For the owner, how to find subscribers on telegram channels they run comes down to three places: the Subscribers list, the per-link join lists, and pending join requests if the link requires approval. Telegram's channel FAQ adds one ceiling that matters here: the owner can "add subscribers (the first 200 only)". The list can grow past 200, but manual adding stops there.
How to hide members in a Telegram group
To hide members in a Telegram group, an admin opens the group's info page, goes into the group's editing screen and its member settings, and switches on Hide Members. Telegram's interface text describes the result: "Switch on to hide the list of members in this group. Admins will remain visible." The option exists only in supergroups with at least 100 members.
Telegram introduced the feature on 30 December 2022, in a post that framed it as protection against unwanted private messages. The wording is precise about what is hidden and what is not.
"Admins of groups with 100+ members can now choose to hide the member list. This way, if people don't send messages to the group, only its admins will know they were there."Telegram blog, 30 December 2022 update
The 100 figure is a server setting, not a fixed rule. Telegram's client configuration page lists hidden_members_group_size_min with a value of 100, described as the "Minimum number of participants required to hide the participants list of a supergroup", and the method behind the toggle, channels.toggleParticipantsHidden, fails with PARTICIPANTS_TOO_FEW below it. A basic group of up to 200 has to be upgraded to a supergroup before the setting appears.
For admins searching how to hide members in telegram group settings, the limits matter as much as the switch. A telegram group hide members list setting changes what the telegram group members list shows, but it does not hide people who post: their messages carry their names. It does not hide admins. And it does not hide the member count, which stays in the header for everyone.
| Item | Hidden from members? |
|---|---|
| Members who never post | Yes |
| Members who post | No, their messages show their names |
| Admins | No, "Admins will remain visible" |
| Member count | No |
| List as seen by admins | No, admins keep the full list |
How to hide the Telegram channel subscribers list and its number
A channel's subscribers are already hidden: only admins can open the telegram channel subscribers list, so there is no setting to switch on. The number is a different matter. Telegram documents no option to hide a channel's subscriber count, and the count shows in the channel header for subscribers and on the public preview for outsiders.
That covers both how to hide telegram channel subscribers and how to hide subscribers list in telegram channel management screens: nothing needs doing, because the list was never public. A Telegram bug report from 2023 titled "'Hide Members' button is shown in channels" records that the group toggle briefly appeared on channels, where it has no job to do.
On how to hide number of subscribers in telegram channel headers, Telegram's API reference for channels.toggleParticipantsHidden names only supergroups, and no other documented method or setting hides participants_count. A telegram channel hide subscribers request therefore has no documented answer on telegram.org. Making a channel private hides the count from outsiders, since a private channel has no public preview, but subscribers still see it.
How to export Telegram group members you administer
Telegram offers no export button for a group's member list, in the apps or in the Bot API. An admin who needs a record of the people in their own group can build one going forward with a bot: add the bot as admin, subscribe to chat_member updates, and store each join and leave as it happens. Members who joined earlier are not included.
The Bot API's update reference states the conditions plainly: a chat_member update arrives when "A chat member's status was updated in a chat. The bot must be an administrator in the chat and must explicitly specify "chat_member" in the list of allowed_updates to receive these updates." The bot sees each change from the moment it is added, with the user, the date, and the old and new status.
What a bot cannot do is read the roster that already exists. The Bot API offers getChatMemberCount for a total, getChatAdministrators for the admins, and getChatMember for one user whose ID the bot already has, which the reference says "is only guaranteed to work for other users if the bot is an administrator". There is no method that lists everyone. Building the join log is ordinary work of the kind covered under Telegram bot development and automation.
Telegram Desktop's data export is the other route people try when they want to export telegram group members. Telegram's 2018 announcement describes it as a way to "export some (or all) of your chats, including photos and other media they contain", as JSON or HTML. It saves messages and media; the announcement does not mention member rosters, and a group's message export names only the people who posted.
What a members scraper or extractor really returns
A telegram group members extractor is software that signs in as an ordinary user account and pages through a group's participant list through Telegram's client API, then saves the result as a file. It can only read what that account could already open in the app. It cannot read a channel's subscribers without admin rights, and it cannot read a hidden supergroup roster.
That last point is where the sales pages go furthest. A telegram hidden members scraper, when the roster is hidden, reads the group's message history and collects whoever posted. Telegram's own description of the feature says the people who post are not hidden, so the output is real accounts, but only the active subset. In a supergroup of 30,000 where 500 people write, the "hidden members" file holds about 500 names.
The same applies to every variant of the pitch, including offers to scrape telegram channel members. A telegram channel members scraper meets CHAT_ADMIN_REQUIRED on any channel the account does not administer. A telegram members scraper bot cannot exist as a real Bot API bot, because the Bot API has no list method; products sold under that name are user-account tools with a bot interface. And a service offering to scrape telegram group members online simply runs that user-account tool on someone else's server, with your login session handed to them.
For readers who arrived asking how to scrape telegram members, how to scrape telegram channel subscribers, how to extract telegram group members, or how to extract members from telegram channel rosters, the honest summary is that the server checks above set the ceiling, and no paid tier changes a server-side permission. Extracting subscribers list from telegram channel admin screens is possible only for the channel's own admins, through the in-app list.
| Claim | What Telegram documents | What the file contains |
|---|---|---|
| Extract any channel's subscribers | 403 CHAT_ADMIN_REQUIRED | Nothing, unless you are admin |
| Scrape hidden members | Hidden list; posters stay visible | People who posted |
| Members scraper bot | No list method in the Bot API | A user-account tool |
| Phone numbers included | Not an always-public field | Only numbers users chose to show |
The whole extraction market, including the request limits that tools quote and Telegram does not publish, is covered in the guide to Telegram scrapers. The short version: whether a list was copied or read in the app, it is a list of people who did not agree to be contacted.
What Telegram's terms say about extracting members
Telegram's Terms of Service say that Telegram "additionally prohibits data scraping as part of its Content Licensing and AI Scraping Terms, which apply to all users, businesses, and third-party services accessing the platform." No volume threshold is attached and no exception is made for small lists. A member list copied by a tool falls within that wording.
The privacy policy narrows what is public about any person in a list. It names "the screen name you choose, your profile pictures, and your username (should you choose to set one)" as always public. A phone number is not on that list, which is why member files that include numbers contain them only for people who chose to expose them.
The consequence usually arrives at the next step rather than the first. Lists are extracted to be messaged or added, and Telegram's channel FAQ is direct about that use: "Please do not send channel links (or other unsolicited messages) to strangers. If they report spam from your account, you may be banned from contacting other people, however good your intentions." The same pattern runs through cold DM scripts and automation and through the panels described in the Telegram SMM panel guide.
Above Telegram's own rules sits data-protection law. A username, user ID and display name identify a person, so a stored roster is personal data under the GDPR whether or not the group was public, and the ePrivacy Directive requires prior consent for direct marketing by automated means. This is not legal advice; obligations vary by jurisdiction.
What Telegram does not publish about member lists
Telegram publishes the permission rules for the telegram group members list and the telegram channel subscribers list, but not the limits around them. The reference for channels.getParticipants gives no maximum result count and no rate limit. No page states how many subscribers an admin's in-app list will page through on a very large channel, and no page describes an export format for either list.
| Figure stated as fact | In Telegram's docs? |
|---|---|
| Hide Members needs 100+ members | Yes, client configuration and the 2022 blog |
| Basic groups hold up to 200 | Yes, channels API page |
| Owner can add the first 200 subscribers | Yes, Channels FAQ |
| Admins see only the latest 200 subscribers | Not published |
| 200 members returned per request | Not in the method reference |
| 10,000-member extraction cap | Not published |
| A setting to hide a channel's count | Not documented |
The "latest 200 subscribers" figure is the one most often repeated on developer blogs. It may describe what some clients show, but it is a reported behaviour, not a Telegram statement, and a behaviour can change with an app update without notice. Treat it as unverified until Telegram documents it.
When a members list is the wrong tool
A telegram group members list or a telegram channel members list is the wrong tool whenever the goal is reach. A roster tells you who joined, not who wants to hear from you, and Telegram routes the right to message someone through that person's own action: subscribing, joining, or starting a bot. Growth that lasts comes from people choosing to arrive, which no list supplies.
Four situations make the point concrete. A competitor's channel cannot be read at all without admin rights. A hidden supergroup yields only its posters. A list of usernames grants no right to message anyone, because a bot cannot open the conversation and a user account doing it at scale is what the spam process catches. And recipients in prior-consent jurisdictions make an extracted list a legal problem before it becomes a platform one.
The alternatives are slower and they compound. Organic and paid routes are compared in how channels and groups actually grow, and placement work is the core of Telegram marketing and channel growth. Once people have opted in, the four broadcast routes Telegram supports reach them inside published limits, and what a bulk messaging service costs puts a price on doing it at volume.
Two niches deserve a separate warning, because they buy and sell member lists more than most. Investment groups trade rosters as leads, a pattern covered in what Telegram documents about crypto groups and bots. Affiliate marketers use them for DM campaigns that Telegram's own affiliate terms forbid, explained in DM marketing and the Telegram affiliate program. For the full picture of what we build instead, start at the Sendhaus home page.
Frequently asked questions
Can I see who is in a Telegram group without joining?
No. A public group shows outsiders its name, description and member count on its preview page, but the member list loads only for members. Telegram's API reference returns the error CHANNEL_PRIVATE, described as "You haven't joined this channel/supergroup", to accounts that are not inside.
Can channel subscribers see each other on Telegram?
No. Subscribers of a Telegram channel see the subscriber count but not the names. Only the channel's owner and admins can open the subscriber list, and Telegram enforces that on its servers with the error CHAT_ADMIN_REQUIRED for anyone else who requests it.
Why can't I see the members list in a Telegram group?
An admin has most likely switched on Hide Members. The setting is available in supergroups with at least 100 members and leaves only the admins visible to ordinary members. People who post in the group remain visible through their messages, and the member count still shows in the header.
Does hiding members in a Telegram group hide the member count?
No. Hide Members removes the list of names for ordinary members but leaves the member count in the chat header. Admins keep the full list. Telegram's interface text for the setting reads "Switch on to hide the list of members in this group. Admins will remain visible."
Can a Telegram bot get the list of group members?
No. The Bot API offers getChatMemberCount for the total, getChatAdministrators for the admins, and getChatMember for one user whose ID is already known. There is no method that lists every member. An admin bot can record joins and leaves from the moment it is added, through chat_member updates.
Is it legal to scrape a Telegram members list?
Telegram's Terms of Service prohibit data scraping under its Content Licensing and AI Scraping Terms, so it breaches Telegram's rules wherever you are. Separately, usernames and user IDs identify people, which makes a stored list personal data under laws such as the GDPR. Being visible in a public group is not a legal basis for processing it.
Sources
- Telegram API, channels, supergroups and basic groups — on-demand participant lists, lists hidden by admins, the 200 and 200,000 size limits.
- Telegram API, channelFull —
can_view_participants,participants_hidden,participants_countand related counters. - Telegram API, channels.getParticipants —
CHAT_ADMIN_REQUIREDandCHANNEL_PRIVATE. - Telegram API, channels.toggleParticipantsHidden — the hide toggle for supergroups and
PARTICIPANTS_TOO_FEW. - Telegram API, client configuration —
hidden_members_group_size_min, value 100. - Telegram Bot API reference —
getChatMemberCount,getChatAdministrators,getChatMemberandchat_memberupdates. - Telegram, Bots: an introduction for developers — bots cannot start conversations.
- Telegram blog, 30 December 2022 update — hiding the member list in groups of 100+.
- Telegram translations, ChannelHideMembersInfo — the interface text for the hide setting.
- Telegram blog, anonymous admins (2020) — admins posting as the group.
- Telegram blog, expiring invite links (2021) — per-link join lists.
- Telegram blog, data export (2018) — what Telegram Desktop's export saves.
- Telegram Channels FAQ — the first 200 subscribers and the warning about messaging strangers.
- Telegram Terms of Service — the data-scraping prohibition.
- Telegram privacy policy — which profile fields are always public.
- Telegram bug tracker, report 39085 — the hide toggle shown in channels.
- Regulation (EU) 2016/679 — personal data obligations.
- Directive 2002/58/EC, Article 13 — consent for direct marketing by automated means.
Been offered a member list?
Send the offer, the group or channel it came from and what you planned to do with it. You get a written read on what Telegram's documentation says the list can and cannot contain, and a consent-based route to the same audience.