
python-telegram-bot
We have made you a wrapper you can't refuse
The Lens
python-telegram-bot wraps Telegram's Bot API so you can build a bot without hand-rolling HTTP calls. It covers the whole API and adds higher-level helpers for handling commands, messages, and updates, so a working bot is a short script rather than a weekend. Mature, well-documented, LGPL-3.0, and free to install with pip.
It is built entirely on asyncio, which is the modern way to do this and also the main thing to know going in: it is explicitly not thread-safe, so it does not slot cleanly into multi-threaded designs. For the overwhelming majority of bots, that is a non-issue, you write async handlers and move on. The library has almost no running cost and the maintainers are clear they are not chasing donations or a business model.
Building anything on Telegram in Python, from a personal notification bot to a production service handling real traffic, this is the standard choice. Solo and team alike: free, no tiers, no gated features. The only reason to skip it is if you are not on Python, or you need a single one-off API call where the full library is more than you want.
The catch is small but worth naming: asyncio-only and not thread-safe. Design around that from the start and you will never feel it. Bolt it onto a threaded app late and you will.
Free vs Self-Hosted vs Paid
fully freeFree tier: The full LGPL-3.0 library, installed with pip. Everything is free.
Self-hosted: You run your bot on your own infrastructure. The maintainers note they have almost no running costs and do not take donations.
Paid: None.
Completely free and open source. No tiers, no gated features.
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License: GNU General Public License v3.0
Commercial OK but must share source of modifications.
Commercial use: ✓ Yes
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