Create a bot with BotFather, paste the token, and Telegram messages start arriving in the same queue as your website chat and WhatsApp. It takes a few minutes because Telegram has no approval queue. Included from the Starter plan.
Is the 14th still free for six?
AI answered · 2m
Can I move my booking to Friday?
Waiting for you · 6m
Do you do gluten free?
AI answered · 11m
Same person, three channels, one thread of history. This is the screen your team works in, not the bot.
A Telegram chatbot is an account created through Telegram's own BotFather tool that people message the way they message a person, and that something answers on your behalf. On HiQBot that something is the same AI agent running your website chat and WhatsApp: it answers from documents you upload, works out what the person wants, takes the booking, and passes the conversation to a person when it cannot finish it.
Telegram is the quickest channel here to switch on. There is no business verification, no template review and no per-message fee, which is why it is often the one to try first.
In the thread
Upload the files your team already answers from and it replies out of those. Where the answer is not in them it says so and offers a person, rather than inventing one.
It asks what your trade asks, and marks the contact hot, warm or cold as the conversation gives it something to go on.
Collects the date, time and details and files the booking against the contact. Connect Google Calendar and it lands on your team’s calendar too.
It picks up the language someone writes in and answers in it. Telegram skews international, so this earns its keep here more than on most channels.
Getting it live
Message @BotFather inside Telegram, pick a name and a username, and it hands you a token. This is Telegram’s own tool and it takes about a minute.
One field in the channel setup. There is nothing to verify, no business documents to submit and no template to get approved first.
Upload the documents your team already answers from. The agent replies out of those, and says when the answer is not in them.
Set what the agent handles alone, what it should book, and what should go straight to your team without it attempting an answer.
WhatsApp needs a verified business, an approved display name and templates Meta has signed off. That is Meta's process and it runs on Meta's timetable.
Telegram asks for none of it. You create the bot yourself and it works. If you want to see what an AI agent does with your real customer questions before committing to a WhatsApp rollout, this is the cheapest way to find out.
What WhatsApp asks for insteadOne contact
Someone asks a question on Telegram on Tuesday and follows up on your website on Friday. That is one contact with one history, so whoever picks it up can see what was already said.
Tools built as a Telegram bot keep that conversation inside Telegram, separate from everything else you run. It works until the same customer turns up somewhere else, which they do.
Each channel connection runs its own agent, so Telegram can answer differently from WhatsApp, with its own tone and its own rules. Your team never sees the split, and both land in the same queue.
It replies in whatever language the person writes in, which matters more on Telegram than on most channels.
The handover
Most Telegram tools treat this as a bullet on a feature list. It is the part that decides whether the channel is usable, so it gets a section here.
When the agent works out that something needs judgement, it checks who is on shift, assigns the conversation and passes the whole thread across. Your rep opens it already knowing what was asked and what was answered. The customer repeats nothing.
Live chat seats start at Starter, which is the same plan Telegram arrives on.
How handoff and live chat workSet the Telegram channel to live chat and no agent answers it. Messages go straight to whoever is on shift, and a person replies.
Credits are drawn by AI replies, so a channel your team answers does not draw them. It is set per channel, so Telegram can go to people while your website widget keeps running the sales agent.
Being straight about it
Groups, supergroups and channels. HiQBot handles private one-to-one chats with your bot and ignores the rest. If you need moderation and support inside a large community, a community tool is the right answer and we would rather say that now than after you have set it up.
Telegram broadcasting. Sending to a list is a WhatsApp feature here, not a Telegram one.
Solo. Telegram arrives on Starter, with Messenger, LINE, the shared inbox and live chat.
Mini apps, payments and games. Telegram supports them; we do not build on them.
No. HiQBot handles private one-to-one chats with your bot. Group, supergroup and channel messages are ignored. If what you need is moderation and support inside a large community, a community-focused tool is the better fit and we would rather say so now.
No. BotFather gives you a token and you paste it into one field. The whole connection is that.
No. The bot is created from your existing personal account through BotFather, and it becomes its own separate identity that customers message.
Nothing. Telegram does not charge per message the way WhatsApp does, so the only cost is your HiQBot plan. That makes Telegram the cheapest channel here to run at volume.
Starter and above, alongside Messenger, LINE, the shared team inbox and live chat. Solo covers website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram.
It is the channel you can have answering this afternoon, and the agent you set up here is the one that will run WhatsApp and your website when you are ready.