Moving a bot from Telegram to MAX without losing customers

If your customers book appointments, leave requests or check order status through a Telegram bot, you have probably noticed the changes already. Telegram works with interruptions, some customers write less often, and someone is already asking: "Do you have a bot in MAX?"

You can move calmly and keep in touch with your customers. You just need to understand two things from the start: a bot does not move with one button, and customers do not switch on their own.

I work on bots for Telegram and MAX. Below I go through what has changed, what carries over from a bot and what does not, how many people actually switch, and a seven-step migration plan. The data was checked as of 12 October 2026.

What changed in 2026

Telegram is throttled. On 10 February Roskomnadzor officially confirmed that it was slowing Telegram down across the country. Photos, videos and voice messages load worst, and in some regions the messenger sometimes barely works. No full block has been officially announced.
WhatsApp has been blocked since February 2026.
Advertising in Telegram is in question. In March the Federal Antimonopoly Service said that advertising in the messenger violates the advertising law, but promised not to fine anyone for it until the end of 2026. What happens from January is still unknown.
MAX has grown. According to the company, more than 90 million people a day used it at the beginning of October. According to Mediascope, in June MAX overtook Telegram in monthly audience in Russia for the first time: 86.2 million people against 75.7 million. Since April the messenger has officially been spelled in Cyrillic, but this article keeps the name MAX for convenience.

But a large MAX audience does not mean your customers are already there. Many keep using Telegram through a VPN and are in no hurry. So a move needs to be planned, not just announced.

Why you cannot simply copy a bot

In both messengers a bot looks similar: a person writes, taps buttons, gets an answer and leaves a request. But inside, Telegram and MAX have different connection rules, different buttons and different features. So what moves from Telegram to MAX is not the whole code but the bot's logic.

What carries over:

the scenarios: which questions the bot asks, in what order and what it does with the answers;
texts, menus and buttons (rebuilt according to MAX rules);
the knowledge base, if the bot answers customer questions;
the server and the CRM connection. They can stay shared between both messengers.

What does not carry over:

subscribers. The list of Telegram bot users will not get into MAX. Each customer has to open the new bot themselves;
chat history. In MAX the bot starts the conversation from scratch;
files. Images and documents uploaded to Telegram have to be stored on your side and uploaded to MAX again;
some Telegram features. According to a developer comparison on vc.ru, MAX bots have no payment buttons like Telegram, no inline mode, polls or reactions, and a bot can edit a message only within 24 hours. Payments have to be connected separately, for example through a payment link or a mini app.

MAX has its own advantages too. A bot can get the message history of a chat and the list of groups it belongs to, and send files of up to 4 GB (a Telegram bot gets 50 MB).

Who can create a bot in MAX

In Telegram anyone can create a bot. In MAX only a verified business can:

a company or a sole proprietor. Verification is available through Gosuslugi, T-Business ID or Alfa ID;
a self-employed person. Verification only through Gosuslugi.

Verification is completed by the head of the business or a person with signing authority. Ordinary individuals and non-residents of Russia cannot create an official bot yet.

After the business is verified, the bot goes to moderation, and only after that does MAX issue the key for connecting it to your server. This usually takes from one day to several working days, so leave some margin in your migration plan.

How many customers actually switch

There are almost no open statistics for bots, but there is data on channels. The logic is the same: a person needs a reason to open a new messenger.

The agency Agenda compared 200 large channels in MAX with the same channels in Telegram in March 2026. On average about a quarter of subscribers moved to MAX. Author blogs move best, up to 65%, and news channels worst.
The pension fund GAZFOND Pension Savings moved about 30% of its channel audience to MAX in March and April. According to the company, sales in MAX went roughly as well as in Telegram.
Lead.Media, which itself sells migration services, gives these benchmarks: a plain "we have moved to MAX" announcement brings 3-5% of the audience, and an announcement with a gift only for those who moved to MAX brings 25-40%.

The conclusion is simple. "We have moved, subscribe" hardly works. What works is a benefit for the customer, time and repetition.

Step-by-step migration plan

Step 1. Save your customers' contacts while Telegram still works

The most valuable part of a bot is not the code but the customers. If you do not have their phone numbers in a CRM or at least in a spreadsheet, start there. Ask for the number in the bot during the next booking or order, with consent to data processing.

If Telegram stops opening for good, a customer without a phone number will be lost together with the chat.

Step 2. Describe what your bot does

Draw a diagram: which buttons the menu has, which questions the bot asks, where a request goes and which notifications the customer and the employee receive. It takes an hour, and without such a diagram the move turns into guesswork.

Step 3. Register your business in MAX and create the bot

Verify your company, sole proprietorship or self-employed status at business.max.ru, create the bot and wait for moderation. Prepare a name, a description and a profile image for the bot in advance.

Step 4. Move the logic, not the code

The right setup looks like this: one server, one database, one CRM and two separate adapters that talk to Telegram and MAX, each in its own language. Then a request from either messenger ends up in one place, and changes to the scenario are made once.

This is how my open example RM_Syst_MAX on GitHub works: a Telegram bot and a MAX bot open the same mini app and use a shared server and database.

According to developers on vc.ru, moving a simple bot takes 2-3 days, a medium bot 5-7 days and a complex bot with a mini app 2-3 weeks. A lot depends on how carefully the original bot was built.

Step 5. Launch the MAX bot next to Telegram, not instead of it

Do not switch off the Telegram bot on launch day. Let both run in parallel for at least a month or two. Some customers will switch quickly, some gradually, and some will stay in Telegram for a long time.

Step 6. Move customers with a benefit

Place the link to the MAX bot wherever customers already meet you:

in every Telegram bot message: booking confirmation, reminder, order status;
on the website next to the request button;
in your business listings on maps, if the platform allows such a link;
on receipts, packaging, the checkout counter and business cards as a QR code;
in your email signature.

And give a reason to switch. For example: "Booking reminders now also come in MAX. Connect via the link and we will add 300 bonus points to your next visit." Do not make the move the main topic of every message; one line with a benefit is enough.

Step 7. Measure the result

Compare how many customers received the invitation and how many of them opened the MAX bot. For different places (website, receipt, map listing) it is better to make different links or QR codes, so you can see what works and what does not.

MAX risks worth knowing in advance

A bot can be blocked without explanation. This is written directly in the MAX rules for bots dated 11 June 2026. There are real stories too. An online shop described on vc.ru how in January MAX restricted the account the shop used to send order notifications to buyers, while support replied with templates. A developer on Habr described how his bot was deleted a month after the move and restored only after a formal pre-trial claim.
Mass messaging is limited. As a rule, a bot cannot write first to a person who has not started it, and marketing messages without consent are prohibited.
iPhone. In June 2026 MAX was removed from the App Store because of sanctions. Some customers with iPhones may have trouble installing it, so check the current situation before launch.
The platform changes quickly. MAX rules, documentation and features are updated almost every week.

So the main advice: do not keep your customers in a single messenger. Phone numbers, email, the website and the CRM should stay with you whatever happens.

What it looks like in practice

One of my projects, KupiSpisok, works exactly this way: a shopping list app opens from both Telegram and MAX. The logic and data are shared, and the entry points are set up separately in each messenger. Bookings, a catalogue, request intake or a customer account can be organised the same way.

Frequently asked questions

Should I move if my customers are still in Telegram?

There is no need to leave completely, but adding MAX as a second channel is worth it. This matters first of all for businesses with a mass audience across Russia, for those whose customers already ask about MAX and for those who attract customers with Telegram ads: their future after 2026 is unclear.

Can a bot be moved automatically?

No. MAX has its own interface for bots, so the logic is moved by hand. If the bot was built in a no-code builder, some services offer conversion to MAX, but Telegram-specific elements still have to be set up again.

Will Telegram bot subscribers move over?

No. Each customer has to open the MAX bot themselves. That is why steps 1 and 6 matter so much.

Should I switch off the Telegram bot?

No. During the move it is better to keep both bots: they can work with one database and one CRM.

Can a self-employed person create a bot in MAX?

Yes. According to the MAX documentation, self-employed people connect through Gosuslugi. Ordinary individuals cannot yet.

Can I send messages to customers in MAX?

You can write to those who opened the bot themselves. Mass marketing messages without consent are prohibited by MAX rules, and accounts are blocked for them.

How much does a migration cost?

It depends on what your bot does. A basic bot with a menu and an agreed scenario costs from RUB 15,000. The cost of a migration is estimated after reviewing the current bot: how many branches and integrations it has and whether there is a mini app.

Summary

Moving to MAX is not about an "export" button but about not losing customers along the way. The order is:

save contacts -> describe the bot -> launch a second bot alongside -> move customers with a benefit -> keep backup channels.

Moving a bot from Telegram to MAX while keeping the scenarios and the CRM connection. Send a link to your current bot, and you will get an estimate of the scope and timing. What else bots for both messengers can do is described in bots for business, and contacts and projects are on the page Roman Mikhailov, developer.